War, it is often said, brings out the best and the worst in man... Stanley Kubrick clearly considered 'Path of Glory' as an effective comment on men exposed to repulsive circumstances
The threatening morning of December 7, 1941a quiet Sundayis shattered by waves of Japanese planes bombing U.S Navy's base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sending all its battleships to the bottom of the ocean... The scene is taken in brief, with few shots of airplanes and some explosions in the ocean...
Among the few ships that escape, in one piece, is the destroyer Cassidy protected by Lieutenant William McConnel(Tom Tryon).
Out on patrol, in high seas, a cruiser, commanded by Captain Torrey Rockwell (John Wayne), is having gunnery practice... It is this ship that serves as temporary operational headquarters for the survivors of the aerial attack...
In the aftermath of the surprise military strike, Torrey receives orders to amass his small fleet of warships and engage the enemy
Photographed in black and white, the film has several characters, most of them very mature and realistic...
Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), a commander whose drunken wife (Barbara Bouchet) has committed adultery with a pilot (Hugh O'Brien). He relieves his anger by brutally raping a young nurse (Jill Haworth), and later, to save from being a total failure, defies orders by flying a reconnaissance plane and takes off alone to situate the hidden Japanese fleet in a very hazardous mission...
Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a sardonic wartime officer and a peacetime script writer who gives moments of sane observation, specially in a scene with Wayne discussing danger...
Patricia Neal, a mature and understanding Navy nurse who loves Captain Torrey and informs him that his son from whom he hasn't seen since for many years, is a naval officer on the island...
Brandon De Wilde is Jere, the young opportunist hoping to keep out of the way his PT boat assignment by leading a soft staff job
Henry Fonda is the admiral in command of the Pacific theater; Dana Andrews is the weak Admiral Broderick and Patrick O'Neal is a well-connected congressman-turned-officer Cmdr. Neal Owynn...
