Editing Paths of Glory (section)

====Issues with "colloquial English" dialogue====
In his December 26, 1957, review for ''The New York Times'', [[Bosley Crowther]] credits Kubrick for creating a visually "terrific", highly intense picture. In particular, Crowther draws attention to the story's execution scene, which he describes as "one of the most craftily directed and emotionally lacerating that we have ever seen." He does, though, also identify two "troubling flaws" that he saw in the film, one being within the "realm of technique", the other within the "realm of significance":<ref name="NYT"/>{{blockquote|We feel that Mr. Kubrick{{snd}}and Mr. Douglas{{snd}}have made a damaging mistake in playing it in [[wikt:Special:Search/conversational|colloquial]] English, with American accents and attitudes, while studiously making it look as much as possible like a document of the French Army in World War I. The illusion of reality is blown completely whenever anyone talks....<br>As for the picture's significance, it comes to an inconclusive point. Its demonstration of injustice is like an exhibit in a bottle in a medical museum. It is grotesque, appalling, nauseating{{snd}}but so framed and isolated that, when you come away, you are left with the feeling that you have been witness to nothing more than a horribly freakish incident.<ref name="NYT"/>}}

The absence of any spoken French or suitably accented English dialogue in a highly focused portrayal of French soldiers continued to be a point of debate in American critical analysis of ''Paths of Glory''. Philip K. Scheuer, who wrote about films for the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' from the 1920s to 1967, was another reviewer who addressed the issue again in the newspaper's January 16, 1958, edition.<ref>[https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8w37zj1/entire_text/ "Philip K. Scheuer papers"], Special Collections, [[Margaret Herrick Library]], Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California. Retrieved archive profile July 24, 2022.</ref><ref name="Scheuer">Scheuer, Philip (1958). "Views Diverge on War Film: Question of Foreign Accents Raised by 'Paths of Glory'", ''Los Angeles Times'', January 16, 1958, p. B11. Retrieved via ProQuest, July 25, 2022. {{ProQuest|<!--ProQuest data goes here  --> }}</ref> In a follow-up discussion about the "controversial war picture", in a commentary subtitled "Question of Foreign Accents Raised by 'Paths of Glory{{' "}}, Scheuer cites the style of speech used in the film and the screenplay's "weak" ending as two reasons he omitted the production from his "selection of 1957's best".<ref name="Scheuer"/> Like Bosley Crowther, he found the "[[linguistic]]" aspects of the dialogue wholly distracting. "In 'Paths{{' "}}, Scheuer writes, "the actors all...employ ordinary colloquial English{{snd}}much of it, I felt, delivered badly{{snd}}although Adolph Menjou, being of French descent, did convey a certain quality of Frenchness," adding, "The others were simply Hollywood types."<ref name="Scheuer"/>