The Big Parade
About The Big Parade
In 1917, idle Jim Apperson enlists, trains with Slim and Bull, and falls in love with Melisande on a farm in Champillon. At the front Slim and Bull are killed and Jim is shot in the leg. He comes home with the leg gone, leaves Justyn, and goes back to France. Melisande runs into his arms.
Cast & crew
More about The Big Parade
King Vidor directed. Wikidata also lists George W. Hill. The English Wikipedia credits Vidor alone. Laurence Stallings, a World War I veteran, wrote the story. Joseph Farnham and Harry Behn are the other writers on Wikidata. Irving Thalberg and Vidor produced. John Arnold photographed it. William Axt is the composer on Wikidata. Wikipedia times it at 151 minutes. Wikidata says 141 minutes. Premiere November 5, 1925. Wikidata also lists November 19, 1925. Wikipedia states a budget of $382,000 and worldwide theatrical rentals of $18–22 million. A 1930 reissue carries a synchronized score and effects, with no dialogue, on both sound-on-disc and sound-on-film. Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane are billed with Gilbert and Adorée.
Themes
Background
Jim joins the Rainbow Division after the United States enters the war in 1917.
In film history
Selected for the National Film Registry in 1992. Wikipedia ties its battle scenes to later war films, especially All Quiet on the Western Front.
Making
Stallings wrote from his own war. The 1930 issue added music and effects without spoken lines.
Audiences
Wikipedia gives worldwide theatrical rentals of $18–22 million on a $382,000 budget.
Look
John Arnold photographed the march, the woods, and the shell hole.
Music
Silent in 1925. The 1930 reissue uses a synchronized score and effects, issued both on disc and on film. Wikidata credits William Axt.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 1992.
Notes
- Slim is a Southern construction worker. Bull is a bartender from the Bronx.
- Jim and Melisande bond over chewing gum before the unit is ordered up.
- Justyn is Jim's fiancée at home. His brother Harry and Justyn are in love by the time Jim returns.
- Wikipedia says the film heavily influenced All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).
Scenes
- Melisande runs after the column and kisses Jim before he goes up.
- Jim finds Slim dead and is shot in the leg.
- He returns to the farm on one leg and Melisande runs to him.
Influenced
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-big-parade)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Big Parade.webm)
