I Humbly Beg You, Show Mercy To These Men.

In all my years, to never have watched Paths Of Glory. I can understand my reticence to pick up Barry Lyndon, it looking so unlike the Kubrick we all know and love, but to ignore his breakout film? The film that got him the Spartacus gig? Which in turn allowed him to go on to be possibly the greatest filmmaker to have lived? For shame. 


But now rectified!

Paths of Glory wasn't Kubrick's first feature (that honour belongs to either The Killing or Killer's Kiss, depending on whether you count the latter as a feature due to its run time - which in turn probably depends on the version you're watching), but it was his first to really make people sit up and take notice. I'm sure no small part of this is due to the casting of Kirk Douglas, who was just about to receive his third Oscar nomination in less than a decade - though not for this film.


Douglas plays Colonel Dax of the French military, commanding troops against the Germans in the First World War. General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders his subordinate General Mireau (George Macready) to send his troops on what will effectively be a suicide mission to capture the strategically important Anthill. Mireau in turn orders Dax to take charge of this operation, having had his opinion swayed by the promise of promotion. Dax resists but eventually follows orders, leading his troops onto open ground where the majority are promptly slaughtered. Some troops even refuse to leave the trench, under such heavy fire that they know they will get nowhere, inspiring Mireau to order his artillery men to open fire on his own troops to inspire them to charge. The artillery men refuse without written orders (as is protocol), infuriating Mireau, who decides to execute 100 of them for treachery. Broulard manages to convince him that three would be enough, one from each company, to make an example.


The three are selected for various reasons - one to cover up a grave error by his superior; another because he is a 'social undesirable'; and a third just by pure bad luck, despite the fact that he is a valiant and courageous soldier. Dax, a lawyer in the civilian world and outraged by what is happening considering the suicidal mission they were all sent on, takes it upon himself to defend themselves in the court martial that is convened to try them. The court martial is a preposterous affair, however, and branded such by Dax, who fails to get the men off. Dax does repeatedly try, submitting further evidence to Broulard in order to try and sway for clemency, but he fails every step of the way. Ultimately, Broulard offers Dax the promotion he was going to give Mireau (after indicting Mireau for the order to attack his own men), prompting Dax to violently challenge Broulard on his assertion that this was all in order to move up the ranks - Dax has always had his men's best interest at heart, and is disgusted by any inference to the contrary.


It is a powerful premise and a terrifically executed story. Douglas is magnificently torn and conflicted, struggling with navigating his own best interests, those of his men, and how best to make his way through the intricate labyrinth of the hierarchy of military life. He knows it is unfair, but he also knows kicking and screaming means nothing in the army. If proper protocol isn't followed you may as well just hand yourself over for a misconduct charge.


Menjou, Macready and the entire support cast perform very well. The three men on trial present entirely opposite faces to the world, perfectly matched to provide a snapshot of human nature in the microcosm of an army jail, and  played wonderfully. 


Shot in and around Germany, with Americans playing French military, it is a little discombobulating to watch at times, but a little suspension of disbelief allows you to fall into the world Kubrick has created. Maybe not entirely, but as discussed before (here, here and here), he never truly lets you fully into the sphere of the film, instead too happy to keep this world at arm's length from the audience. In this world the maestro is unafraid to show off the stylistic flourishes that would become his trademarks - the faces, the tracking shots, the thematic struggles - all in the wonderfully constructed world of trench warfare and palatial court-martials. 


A riveting film in every way, Kubrick did more than make his mark with this film - he shouted to the world that he is here, and he is not going to stop. And thank god for that. 5 stars.

Kiss Me, Boy, For We'll Never Meet Again.

Stanley Kubrick was nominated for three Academy Awards in one night on four separate occasions, winning only once for Best Visual Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey. On the other three occasions he went home empty handed, and on each of those occasions he was nominated in the categories of Best Script, Best Director and Best Picture. That's a pretty impressive nomination achievement, and a scandal that he never picked up on statue on those nights for one of his primary roles in filmmaking. Especially as he is such a groundbreaking and revered filmmaker.


The first of these three brilliant (yet unrewarded) trifectas was for his black and white Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. The second was for his controversial A Clockwork Orange (which I just remembered I watched a while ago and haven't written up - scandal! It'll have to come next.) His last triple nomination was for his epic period piece Barry Lyndon, which is the film we are all here to discuss today. (He did receive a final nomination for his last war film Full Metal Jacket in the Screenplay category, but still, empty handed.)

Where to start with Barry Lyndon? It's a good three hours long. It has the biggest aperture used in film history, utilising a lens developed for NASA to use with the Apollo missions to the moon. Any scenes where candles were meant to light the set were shot using only candlelight (hence the revolutionary lenses.) Many of the costumes were actual period pieces, bought at auction. Production had to be shifted from Ireland to England after Kubrick received work that his name was on an IRA hitlist for shooting a film in Ireland featuring English soldiers. The shoot went for 300 days. It was truly epic in so many ways.


Ryan O'Neal plays the eponymous character, who begins the story as lowly Redmond Barry, the son of an Irishman killed in a duel related to an argument about horses. As he grows up his mother refuses to marry, instead doting upon Redmond, who in turn falls in love with his cousin. Unfortunately, she is torn between Redmond and an army captain, who will bring fortune into the family. Redmond is discouraged from destroying their chance at wealth, but is angered and challenges the captain to a duel, believing he has killed the captain and subsequently fleeing for Dublin with the only money his mother has managed to squirrel away - twenty guineas. In fact, the captain has not died, as the fight was rigged. However, shortly after leaving Redmond is robbed by highwaymen of his money and horses, and is forced to walk the five miles to the next town.

Broke, horseless and still on the run, Redmond signs up with the British army, his only resort for survival. Whilst enlisted he is sent to Europe to fight in the Seven Years War, where he comes across a family friend, another captain in the English army who informs him of the rigged duel. The latter captain is shortly killed, leaving Redmond all the money he has, and Redmond soon deserts, impersonating a courier. He is, however, discovered by the Prussian army, and forced to either join their ranks or be tried as a deserter. He joins them and manages to save a Prussian captain's life. So, at the end of the war, he is offered a job working for the Prussian Minister of Police, the captain's uncle. There he is charged with infiltrating the confidence of one Chevalier de Balibari (Patrick Magee), a fellow Irishman whom the Prussians suspect of being a spy. They want Redmond to uncover his spying, but once in his employ his cover collapses due to his joy of being near a fellow countryman and the two end up working together. Ultimately they are forced to flee, and begin to travel Europe as professional gamblers, cheating the whole way.


Whilst on this jaunt they come across Sir Charles Lyndon and his wife, the Countess of Lyndon (Marisa Berenson.) Redmond sees in the Countess an opportunity for him to gain status and wealth, and when Sir Charles dies he is quick to marry her, assuming the title of Barry Lyndon. Sir Charles and the Countess have a young son, Lord Bullingdon, who does not approve of the marriage, but Barry and his new wife soon add a new child, Bryan. The marriage is not happy, however, and Barry's mother soon joins them and begins to worry about Barry's future - if the Countess dies, everything will go to Lord Bullingdon unless Barry can secure himself some true status of his own. He goes about lavishing money around to entertain persons of interest in the hope of currying favour and gaining a Lordship of his own, but after a very public confrontation with a now older Lord Bullingdon (Leon Vitali), he falls steeply out of favour. Bullingdon has meanwhile left the family home. Bryan is thrown from a horse and dies, seeing Barry turn to drink and the Countess turn to religion, with Barry's mother taking over the management of the vastly reduced estate and firing the Reverend who has been the Countess' solace and the tutor for both Lord Bullingdon and subsequently Bryan. Upon hearing of this, Bullingdon returns and challenges Barry to the famous duel that occurs towards the end of the film, managing to wound Barry and seeing him lose a leg. Whilst Barry is recuperating, Bullingdon takes control of the estate and offers Barry an annuity of 500 guineas is he promises to leave England and never return, otherwise his creditors will soon be upon him and he will end up in jail. Barry accepts and returns to his previous life as a gambler, only with much less success - he never sees his wife again.


That's the general gist of the story. Actually, I think that fairly well runs through the plot, but my god it is damn hard trying to cut that down into a bite-sized synopsis. It is a wonderful and slow story, not told with any rush but, in Kubrick's manner, without really anything within it that doesn't add to everything else. O'Neal in the lead does very well, keeping his character together perfectly, giving him a cavalier attitude that accepts most of what comes to him with a certain stoicism that really makes you like him. The supporting roles are fantastic, particularly the large one taken on by Magee.

The noted costumes (which won an Oscar) are perfect, but this film is all about Kubrick and the Oscar-winning cinematography from John Alcott. Little can be said about Kubrick and his style that hasn't been said before, but the photography is brilliant. Inspired by certain artists of the time, the picture really does take on the form. The muted colours and broad external expanses and stunning, and when matched with the candlelit interiors that truly transport you into the world of the Lyndons and Barrys. The trickiness of shooting in such low light with such a huge aperture and the miniscule focal length that provides is never really a problem - despite what I'm sure must be extremely finicky direction and blocking to ensure that the action remains as much in focus as is possible (why does the focus puller not get an Oscar?), the action plays out tremendously naturally. Of course, much of it is seated, as one expects in period pieces of this time, but there never really seems to be a soft focus issue. (I'm sure if there was, Kubrick simply would have retaken and retaken until the problem no longer showed... driving many a person crazy in the process.)


It's a masterpiece, through and through. It is compelling throughout, beautiful to look at and perfectly paced. I'd put off watching it because, quite frankly, it always appeared to be kind of boring, but boring it most definitely is not. I will definitely have to reassess how I arrange my Kubricks in order of preference now (an almost impossible task in and of itself.) 5 stars.