British Paths of Glory

King and Country (1964)

Directed by Joseph Losey this film based on the novel “Return To The Wood” stars Dirk Bogarde and Tom Courtenay. During World War I a British soldier is put on trial for desertion.

Inevitably this film will live in the spectre of Paths of Glory (1957) and while it does not reach the level of the Kubrick film it is still a decent effort in it's own right. The plot is a fairly standard piece about the nature of war in the trenches and the failure to understand Shell shock by the officers of the time. While the film is well made the thought in your mind is that this is always a cheaper version of Paths of Glory which never helps matters.

4/5