The Big Parade
Short description
The Big Parade follows Jim Apperson, the idle son of a wealthy American industrialist, who enlists in the army when the United States enters World War I. Sent to France with the Rainbow Division, he befriends two working-class soldiers, and the shared hardship of trench warfare dissolves the class barriers between them. Amid the fighting he falls in love with a young French woman. The film is a silent drama built around the contrast between Jim's comfortable upbringing and the reality of the front.
King Vidor directed the film, from a screenplay by Harry Behn, with Irving Thalberg producing for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the earliest of the ten Vidor films listed, preceding Show People, Hallelujah, Stella Dallas and others through to Solomon and Sheba. John Gilbert plays Jim, with Renée Adorée as Melisande and Hobart Bosworth and Claire McDowell as his parents. The film runs 151 minutes.
The Big Parade was a major commercial success, with a worldwide box office of 11 million dollars. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.9 from around 7,800 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.6 from roughly 130 votes, indicating a strong and durable reputation among viewers. A critics' rating of 9.3 from 14 reviews is considerably higher than the audience scores on both platforms.
What's left behind the scenes
- The U.S. War Department (precursor to the Department of Defense) provided the film's producers with over 200 army trucks, approximately 4,000 soldiers, and over 100 aircraft for filming.
- Once, director King Vidor (1894-1982) complained to Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) of "MGM" that he was tired of making films that lasted only a week in theaters before losing audience interest. He then told Thalberg about his vision for a realistic war film. Thalberg was enthusiastic and tried to acquire the rights to Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959) and World War I veteran Laurence Stallings' (1894-1968) Broadway play "What Price Glory?" The rights to the play had already been purchased, so Thalberg hired Stallings to come to Hollywood and write a screenplay for a new, realistic war film that Vidor dreamed of making. Stallings wrote "The Big Parade," an anti-war story that eschewed traditional notions of heroism, focusing instead on a love story between an American soldier and a French woman. After Vidor finished filming (which cost $200,000, or approximately $2.1 million in 2003 dollars), Thalberg showed this version to an audience in Colorado. The audience reaction was positive, and Thalberg decided to make the film more epic, resulting in Vidor directing a war film without many battle scenes. Thalberg and Vidor reshot the famous scene of troops marching in formation, adding 3,000 extras, 200 trucks, and 100 airplanes. Soon, Vidor moved on to other projects, and at Thalberg's direction, George W. Hill (1895-1934) completed filming the remaining scenes. The result was a hit, becoming "MGM's" most famous (and highest-grossing) silent war film.
Auditions in India
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