Pulp writer Jim Thompson adapted a World War I novel that Kubrick read as a teenager into a screenplay, which was produced thanks to the enthusiasm of Kirk Douglas. A French battalion is roundly defeated by Germans in an ill-advised campaign conceived by the ambitious General Mireau (George Macready). Douglas stars as Colonel Dax, a lawyer in civilian life, who volunteers to defend the surviving soldiers facing court-martial. Adolph Menjou costars.