The Road to Glory

Director: Howard Hawks Howard Hawks

Overview

Set in the French trenches, this WWI melodrama was cowritten by William Faulkner and directed by Howard Hawks. Hard-drinking Captain La Roche (Warner Baxter) delivers the same hollow speech to each wave of fresh soldiers assigned to his command, only to see them senselessly slaughtered by the Germans. La Roche's new officer is chipper Lieutenant Denet (Fredric March), who doesn't comprehend the futility of his assignment. Both men fall for beautiful nurse Monique La Coste (June Lang), who prefers Denet. La Roche's troops welcome "Private Moran" (Lionel Barrymore), the eldest private in the army and a grizzled veteran. In reality, Moran is La Roche's father. In a battle, La Roche is blinded. His father helps him direct artillery fire at the front, but both men are slain. Although he has won the girl and La Roche's command, Denet is forced to give the same pointless speech to his doomed recruits. Although Hawks had directed an earlier film of the same title, The Road to Glory (1936) was not a remake of that picture, but of a popular French war movie, Les Croix des Bois (1932), from which studio executives cannibalized combat footage for use in the new version.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/28/2013
UPC:	0024543878759
Original Release:	1936
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Presentation:	[B&W, Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:41:00
Sales rank:	41,965

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Fredric March	Lt. Michel Denet
Warner Baxter	Capt. Paul LaRoche
June Lang	Monique
Lionel Barrymore	Papa LaRoche
Gregory Ratoff	Bouffiou
Victor Kilian	Regnier
Paul Stanton	Relief Captain
John Qualen	Duflous
Julius Tannen	Lt. Tannen
Theodore von Eltz	Major
Paul Fix	Rigaud
Leonid Kinskey	Ledoux
Jacques Lory	Courier
Jacques Vanaire	Doctor
Edythe Raynore	Nurse
George Warrington	Old Soldier
Louis Mercier	Soldier

Technical Credits

Howard Hawks	Director
Darryl F. Zanuck	Producer