THE BIG PARADE Movie Review
1925 King Vidor
King Vidor's epic silent film would have a better reputation today if its major themes hadn't been stated so much more forcefully and memorably five years later in All Quiet on the Western Front. As it is, this one is still a landmark of the silent era, but some of its conventions are dated, and Vidor lets sentimentality soften the horror of his subject. When novelist Erich Remarque and director Lewis Milestone look at World War I from a foot soldier's point of view, romance is a brief and realistic subplot. In Vidor's work, based on a play by Joseph Farnham, the romantic relationship takes up the first half of the film.
The two films begin identically, though on opposite sides of the conflict, with young men answering the call to enlist at the declaration of war. As a title card puts it: “What a thing is patriotism! We go for years not knowing we have it. Suddenly—Martial music! … Native flags! … Friends cheer! … and it becomes life's greatest emotion!”
Jim Apperson (John Gilbert) is the spoiled son of a wealthy family. Slim Jensen (Karl Dane) is a New York construction worker. Bull O'Hara (Tom O'Brien) is a Bowery bartender. The three join up and find themselves in the same unit. After disappointingly brief training scenes, they're in France, billeted in a farmhouse where Jim meets Melisande (Renee Adoree), a cute gamine. Their flirtation is tentative at the outset and runs into all of the expected obstacles, and a few of the unexpected. It leads up to the famous “farewell” scene that has been copied many times since. The moment builds beautifully, riding on the energy that's going to carry the second half. But changes in audience expectations have made the conclusion of the scene unintentionally comic.
Some of the film's humor has aged poorly, too. Slim is meant to be something of a horse-faced buffoon, but he's such a grotesque, slobbering caricature with exaggerated features that he actually becomes frightening at inappropriate moments. Once the film moves to the war itself, those criticisms are forgotten. The title refers to troops heading for the front, “An endless column surging forward over roads that were never retraced.” The battle scenes are intense, focused more on individuals than on mass attacks. Specifically, the focus is on Gilbert, and he's excellent. This role made him an international star. If they'd given Oscars when the film was made, he'd certainly have been a strong contender. His portrayal of the changes that a young man goes through in the transition from callow layabout to disillusioned veteran has lost nothing. Toward the end, he says, “Waiting! Orders! Mud! Blood! Stinking stiffs! What the hell do we get out of this war anyway!—Cheers when we left and when we get back!
But who the hell cares … after this?” His expression says much more. Years later, in World War II, it would be called “the thousand yard stare,” a haunted unfocused look. In the last reels of The Big Parade, Gilbert makes it seem completely real.
Cast: John Gilbert (James Apperson), Renee Adoree (Melisande), Hobart Bosworth (Mr. Apperson), Claire McDowell (Mrs. Apperson), Claire Adams (Justyn Reed), Karl Dane (Slim), Robert Ober (Harry), Tom O'Brien (Bull), Rosita Marstini (Melisande's Mother); Written by: Harry Behn; Cinematography by: John Arnold; Music by: William Axt, David Mendoza. Producer: Irving Thalberg, MGM. Awards: National Film Registry ‘92. Running Time: 141 minutes. Format: VHS, LV.