This is an older film by Stanley Kubrick that neither my wife nor myself have watched so it was automatically put on the list. I doubt that we will ever watch his earliest films made independently of the major studios but I certainly intend to watch all of the others eventually. His most famous collaboration with Kirk Douglas is of course Spartacus but before that they had made this lesser known film set during the First World War.

With both sides of the war bogged down in trench warfare, French General Mireau is ordered by his superior General Broulard to capture a key German position known as the Anthill. Mireau assigns the task to Colonel Dax who insists that it is impossible and agrees to make the attempt anyway rather than be separated from his men. Following a night reconnaissance mission that is bungled by cowardly the lieutenant in charge, the attack takes place the next day. Despite Dax valiantly leading from the front, it is a complete failure with massive casualties, everyone being forced to turn back and one third of the men not even leaving their trenches due to the same cowardly lieutenant. Enraged, Mireau wants to court martial a hundred men for cowardice but Broulard manages to talk him down to three men, one from each company. Dax is disgusted by the farce and gets himself appointed as defense counsel for the accused men.

As with the better known Dr. Strangelove, this is a darkly humorous anti-war film. It’s not exactly subtle in its messaging either. Mireau condemns armchair generals but his own base of operations is a finely appointed chateau. The all important objective that everyone cares so much about bears the ignoble name of the Anthill. The opening conversation between Mireau and Broulard is itself a fine display of hypocrisy and dissembling. Mireau is at first aghast at the difficulty of the task and the losses it would entail but talks himself into being confident of success after being tempted by the offer of a promotion,  One of my favorite scenes is when Dax asks Mireau about the casualties he expects and the first thing he says is that about five percent of the troops will be lost due to their own artillery fire. It’s a little blatant how Dax, played by Kirk Douglas, is the one good man in this scenario while everyone else are fools, cowards or selfish pricks, but the approach works well enough and the film is wickedly fun.

I do have a complaint that the film doesn’t feel at all French, with the court martial process in particular being very American. Jokes like Mireau commenting that the Anthill is pregnable and Dax responding that this sounds like a woman is having a baby add to the acidic humor but reinforce the sense that these are all English speakers. I understand that this film is trying to make a point and is not at all concerned about historical accuracy but it still seems a bit too casual about the setting to me. This is especially relevant as the incident is actually based on a real event that happened in 1915. It’s a small thing maybe but I found it rather distracting.

The film includes a well done combat scene that must have been very impressive at the time but the focus is really on the after battle consequences. I suppose the best gauge for how trenchant its criticism is can be seen in how it was subsequently barred from multiple Western countries after its release. Modern audiences have long learned to be more cynical so it’s not as shocking but it’s still a wonderfully smart and entertaining film.