The Big Parade

This article is about the 1925 film. For other uses, see The Big Parade (disambiguation).

The Big Parade
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKing Vidor
Screenplay byStory:
Laurence Stallings
Scenario:
Harry Behn
Titles:
Joseph W. Farnham
Produced byKing Vidor (presented by)
Irving Thalberg (uncredited)
Starring
CinematographyJohn Arnold
Edited byHugh Wynn
Music byWilliam Axt
David Mendoza
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Incorporated
Release date
  • November 5, 1925 (1925-11-05) (USA)
Running time
151 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent film,
English intertitles
Budget$382,000[1]
Box office$18–22 million (theatrical rental)

The Big Parade is a 1925 American silent war drama film[2][3] directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane.[4][5][6] Written by World War I veteran Laurence Stallings, the film is about an idle rich boy who joins the U.S. Army's Rainbow Division, is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes a friend of two working-class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl. A sound version of the film was released in 1930. While the sound version of the film has no audible dialog, it featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process.

The film has been praised for its realistic depiction of warfare,[7] and it heavily influenced a great many subsequent war films, especially All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).[8] The Big Parade is regarded as one of the greatest films made about World War I,[9] and, in 1992, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.[10][11]

  1. ^ H. Mark Glancy, 'MGM Film Grosses, 1924–28: The Eddie Mannix Ledger', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 12 No. 2 1992 pp. 127–44
  2. ^ "The Big Parade (1925)". AFI Catalog. American Film Institute. Retrieved April 28, 2022. Genre: Drama; Sub-genre:World War I
  3. ^ "The Big Parade (1925)". Allmovie. Retrieved April 28, 2022. Genres: Drama, War
  4. ^ Variety film review; October 11, 1925, p. 36.
  5. ^ Variety film review; December 2, 1925, p. 40.
  6. ^ Harrison's Reports film review; December 5, 1925, p. 195.
  7. ^ Phillips, Richard (July 17, 2009). "Several movies well worth revisiting". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved May 24, 2020. The Big Parade's battle scenes are stunning and effectively recreate the horrors of the first imperialist slaughterhouse—the unrelenting machine-gun fire, heavy artillery, poisonous gas attacks and shell-shocked wounded soldiers.
  8. ^ Reinhardt, Bernd (April 7, 2020). "Rediscovering Hallelujah (1929), director King Vidor's sensitive film with all-black cast". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved May 24, 2020. His film The Big Parade (1925) influenced other anti-war classics such as Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Silver was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Wharton, Andy Marx, Dennis; Marx, Andy; Wharton, Dennis (December 4, 1992). "Diverse pix mix picked". Variety. Retrieved September 17, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 17, 2020.