Kirk Douglas excels in the role of Colonel Dax, who tries to save a group of ordinary soldiers from a senseless execution used to set an example. The abomination that is war as experienced by the unit is quite at odds with the notion of battle entertained by cynical generals, for whom military “business” is merely a game of gilded gestures. In his adaptation of Humphrey Cobb’s eponymous anti-war novel, Stanley Kubrick employs a grand visual style that combines long tracking shots with striking compositions. Spectacular scenes leave room for bitterly ironic moments that eloquently capture the senseless cruelty of the war machine both on the battlefield and before a military tribunal held in a Baroque hall.