Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

frankwiener "You'll look gorgeous in an officer's uniform. I'll love you even more then." Justyn Reed (Claire Adams) to Jim Apperson (John Gilbert)For me, this is one of the most significant lines in this very, very "big" movie. Contrast these silly and superficial words against Justyn's disgusted reaction to the sight of a seriously disabled Jim when he returns from the war. This contrast from the beginning to the end of the movie summarizes its very serious and somber message about the unrealistic glorification of war as it compares with the very real experience of those who are called upon to do the actual fighting. As Jim endures the horrors of battle, Justyn doesn't even wait for his return before she takes a passionate interest in his own, nerdy brother, of all people.More than any other silent director, King Vidor's exceptional work in both this picture and "The Crowd" succeeded to awaken my appreciation to the very special beauty and value of the silent film. I can't say that all silent films are of this caliber, but, after so many years and so many technological advances in the movie business, they both maintain their viewing appeal and their relevance to our lives.The battle scenes rank among the most impressive portrayals of combat that I have witnessed on film and are the successful results of painstaking efforts not only by director Vidor but of the uncredited MGM production manager, Irving Thalberg. While they are not as graphic as such modern films as "Saving Private Ryan", they nevertheless strongly convey the nearly impossible challenges of serving on the front lines of physical conflict. Beyond these striking battle scenes, so far ahead of their time, I was very moved by the scene of Jim with his parents, played by Claire McDowell and Hobart Bosworth. I don't believe that this scene would have been as potent without the outstanding directing ability of Vidor. Also, the image of Mrs. Apperson standing at the front door as her son departs for war in a faraway land depicts the pain and torment of all mothers in this dreaded predicament as well as any that I have ever seen, and it will linger in my mind for a very long time.Although the first 75 minutes could have been shortened, I believe that the director wanted to develop the human characters of the three central soldiers as fully as he possibly could, and the result is that the viewer even more strongly empathizes with them and their excruciating circumstances on the battlefield. The growth and transition of Jim Apperson's character during the course of the film is a remarkable achievement by both Vidor, the director, and Gilbert, the actor. The performance of Renee Adoree as Melisande is delightful, and I regret that her film career was so tragically cut short as the result of her fatal illness at age 35. While some reviewers disliked Karl Dane's performance as Slim, I found him to be a very likable personification of Disney's Goofy who is suddenly placed in the midst of a major war, facing it with admirable, almost inhuman, bravery and fearlessness. Slim, even as a humanized Goofy, is the one you want with you in a foxhole. He is man's fearless, loyal, and best friend.The 1988 musical score of Carl Davis contributes significantly to the emotional impact, successfully communicating what spoken dialogue obviously cannot achieve in a silent movie. This is one silent movie that will hopefully enhance an appreciation for this very important era of film-making in other viewers as it did for me.

calvinnme John Gilbert (a favorite of mine) is so funny, tragic, and REAL in this film. I really felt for his character (Jimmy). The first night he's away from his comfortable home, I could see the loneliness and longing in his face. The battle scenes were extraordinary - the musical score really captured the chaos and destruction of war. The scenes with the fireworks and explosions with all those men dying were breathtaking and heart wrenching. My favorite scene is when Gilbert is hitting on the French girl by the creek and he keeps stroking his finger up and down her arm and trying to kiss her. He's so nonchalant about it as if it came naturally and was improvised. I found myself smiling and softly laughing at the tender scene. That's really fine acting when a performer can make a small scene stand out like that. To me it is more memorable than the highly dramatic scene when Jimmy is out on the battlefield screaming that the Germans have killed his friend and sets out to kill the enemy - still a wonderfully acted scene, but the former just help to enforce my opinion of Gilbert as one of the finest actors ever to grace the silver screen.One scene that tugs at my heart is when Jimmy returns home and sees his mother for the first time on crutches, minus his leg. Didn't you get tense too, as the young doughboys make the march through that field with all the snipers in the trees? I also like the scene where he gives gum to Renee Adoree and she's never chewed it before. Very cute! She was another who couldn't survive the transition to sound, not because of her voice, but because of tuberculosis with which she was diagnosed in 1930. She didn't follow doctor's orders and died of the disease in 1933.Highly recommended. It's one of the only silent films that Warner Brothers has bothered to press rather than burn to DVD in the post-DVD era, and I am grateful for that.

Steffi_P We all know of course that the father of film is DW Griffith, that he fleshed out the basic canon of cinematic technique, and that one way or another we owe it all to him. But it wasn't Griffith who turned a burgeoning art form into the professional movie-making workshop that was classic-era Hollywood. Such a development could not be pinned down to one picture or one person, but The Big Parade and its producers Irving Thalberg and King Vidor, are as good a demonstrative example as any.Let's look at Irving Thalberg first. His name is fairly familiar, mainly because the award that bears his name still crops up from time to time at the Oscars. What he did is not so well known, partly because he never took a screen credit, and partly because respecting producers is rather unfashionable these days. He was nevertheless behind some of the finest titles of Hollywood's early glory days. Not an intrusive, busybody producer like David O. Selznick, and never took a direct creative hand. He was instead a great organiser, with a knack for picking out the best material and putting together the ideal team to bring it to life. For the Big Parade, he had tried to acquire the rights to the acclaimed anti-war play What Price Glory?, but found they had already been nabbed by Fox. Undeterred, he hired the services of What Price Glory?'s writer Laurence Stallings, commissioning him to fashion an original story in a similar vein.And with this story, Stallings effectively outdid himself. The Big Parade is the perfect anti-war fable, astonishingly simple and pure in its construction. Rather than bombard us with scenes of combat and associated horrors, it immerses us in ideas one at a time. We begin with patriotic fervour, then move onto the drudge of soldiering as work, the build-up of camaraderie, the desperate passion of wartime romance and the pain of separation, each dealt with intensely, but succinctly and without repetitiveness. Only then do we move onto scenes of action, and again each of these is played for a different effect – anticipation, tension, tedium and finally a descent into chaos. It actually presents war as a rather fun adventure, one that is only spoiled by the unfortunate business of killing each other. This may seem a somewhat weak or naïve treatment of the subject to the average pacifist civilian, but in fact it's incredibly accurate and sensitive, because this it is the way war is viewed by the majority service personnel. To a soldier, soldiering is enjoyable, even if fighting is not, and it is this paradox that Stallings has captured.Stallings's outline was given a screen writing makeover by Harry Behn and Joseph Farnham, after which Thalberg handed over all creative control to director King Vidor, a true master of his craft. Vidor's aim is always to make the image complement the mood of the scene. There isn't a single shot, or even a single item in the frame that is out of place, and like Stallings he is economic and succinct in his expression. Take the early scene of the titular parade where Jim decides to enlist, which is very brief for such pivotal event. We move from a grand shot of the marching column, to a shot of John Gilbert with flags waving in the background, to a close-up of Gilbert's foot tapping in time to the music. The scene can afford to be so short not only because of the simplicity with which these images show what is going on, but also because of that constant sense of movement, which means the rhythm and thus the mood is not disturbed. Every shot is not only telling a piece of the story, it is a part of the tone of the scene.But let's forget those clever folk behind the scenes for a moment. It's the stars that people pay to come and see. John Gilbert, a screen legend in his day, gives a fantastic performance, doing little with his face, but conveying his emotions and intentions through the way he carries himself. Renee Adoree is charmingly naturalistic, animated and energetic but never once being unrealistic or theatrical. But what is marvellous about the interplay between these two is that Gilbert's character doesn't speak French, and Adoree's doesn't speak English. And yet the two lovers are able to understand each other through gesture and context – and so do we in the audience! What better proof of the power of these images over that of words? The Big Parade is thus not any one person's film – it is a superb melding of cinematic talents. It is around this period that the dominance of the major studios was gained, and the system of vertical integration known as the studio system was established. This system would often be a straitjacket for arty and egotistical directors, but it can't be denied it delivered the goods. It was the beginning of the era when film-making was at its most professional. People like Thalberg and Vidor were not only savvy to what the public wanted, they also respected the integrity of what they are creating. Thus The Big Parade not only proved to be a phenomenal box office success, but it has endured as an ageless classic.

MartinHafer I noticed that some reviews referred to this as the greatest war film ever or the greatest silent or the greatest silent. Well, while this is very debatable. You could easily argue that WINGS (1927), ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) or WESTFRONT 1918 (1930) were all possibly better WWI films--but doing so does all the films a disservice. After all, can't they all be great films and who says any one of these (or another) is the greatest? And, each is amazing in its own way. Plus, how can you compare a silent to a sound film? And what about films about other wars? And what about non-war silent films? While I could see some flaws in THE BIG PARADE, you can't really compare it to films made later (technically they were so different and the style of storytelling changed a lot over the years). This film earns a 10 relative to other films of the day--other films made about 1925 aren't any better. The film has many pluses--large and rather realistic battles that are very emotionally draining, good acting by the lead (John Gilbert's performance was relatively subdued and very effective) and the story was very touching--such as when the hero's mother sees him towards the end of the film. Sure, there are a few minuses (the love between Gilbert and Renée Adorée seemed too shallow and brief to be so strong) but they are so outweighed by the strengths that they seem petty to dwell on in this review.Compelling and very watchable over 80 years later--this is one of the great silents.