The Big Parade – Silent (1925)

Description

The Big Parade is a 1925 American silent war drama film directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O’Brien, and Karl Dane. Written by World War I veteran, Laurence Stallings, the film is about an idle rich boy who joins the US Army’s Rainbow Division and 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.

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

Cast:

• John Gilbert as James Apperson
• Renée Adorée as Melisande
• Hobart Bosworth as Mr. Apperson
• Claire McDowell as Mrs. Apperson
• Claire Adams as Justyn Reed
• Robert Ober as Harry Apperson
• Tom O’Brien as Bull
• Karl Dane as Slim
• Rosita Marstini as Melisande’s mother
• Harry Crocker as Soldier (uncredited)
• Julanne Johnston as Justine Devereux
• Kathleen Key as Apperson sister
• Carl Voss as Officer (uncredited)
• George Beranger as German soldier
• Frank Currier
• Dan Mason