Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Antonius Block I found it tough to rate this film, because the strength of its WWI action footage is offset by a weak build-up and silly romance. The film is commendable in showing us the horrors of war in a dramatic hellscape, but at 151 minutes, it's far too long, and would have been better if the 90 minute build-up had been edited down. It's to great fanfare that a rich young American (John Gilbert) enlists, and it is nice that the film (eventually) contrasts this tone of those scenes to the reality of war, since this is precisely the disillusionment the world went through. He befriends a couple of blue collar guys (Karl Dane and Tom O'Brien), and oddly enough, there's very little concept of military command early on. The men go to France, get settled into a village, and after inexplicably shoveling a manure pile the first night, they're free to carouse about and hit on the local women, one of whom is Renee Adoree. The film moves at a snail's pace, with drawn out scenes and gags that aren't funny, culminating in a highly melodramatic goodbye scene with Adoree when the men are finally called up to the front. Here is where the film gets interesting, though it's not until the 105 minute point before we see anything that resembles authenticity. At first our heroes are walking calmly through a forest while snipers shoot at them, advancing despite soldiers falling until they reach a tree line, at which point the Germans simply raise their hands in surrender. Good grief. Eventually they reach pockmarked, barren fields, and after facing explosions and chemical weapons, hunker down. The film's silly tone is finally broken when one of them is hit, and another screams out into the night "I came to fight - not to wait and rot in a lousy hole while they murder my pal! Waiting! Orders! Mud! Blood! Stinking stiffs! What the hell do we get out of this war anyway!" before crawling out and trying to save him. Upon finding him dead, he screams "They got him! They got him! GOD DAMN THEIR SOULS!" and then charges a machine gun nest. It's meant to have high emotional impact, and at least it's action, but it seems a little ridiculous.It does get better still though, and I have to give the film credit for showing the devastating impact of war. The cinematography is awe-inspiring and frightening. Men advance like ghostly zombies through smoke, gunfire, and explosions, emerging through haze in darkened scenes splashed with pyrotechnics. There is a touching scene with an enemy soldier in a pothole, impressive as it predates 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. The human empathy and feeling that we're all brothers resonates all the more, having come just moments after a murderous rage. The aftermath is also good. I loved the brief scene in the hospital, the shots of the French abandoning bombed out buildings, and later the family reunion. As mother and son embrace, director King Vidor overlays a powerful montage of maternal memories of the boy through the years, my favorite sequence.The last 45 minutes has gravitas, fantastic scenes, and a real message, and is easily 4 out of 5 stars. However, I can't overlook the first 105 minutes, and it's unlikely I would want to watch the film again because of them.

talisencrw Recently in approaching the milestone of seeing my 5,000th film (at least by my IMDb list of my shoddy recollections), I wanted to make it a very special film, so it was between the blus of this and 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. That was a very special work too, but in retrospect, I felt this was an even finer film. I haven't seen much of Vidor's work (only 'The Champ', 'Hallelujah' and 'The Fountainhead'--all of which I greatly admired), but I knew he was a great American director to be reckoned with, for any cinephile worth his salt. Plus, I had always been intrigued by the then-sex symbol status of ill-starred John Gilbert (especially since my favourite actress ever, Great Garbo, was so enraptured by him).This was remarkable. I was astounded by how Vidor (who said beforehand he wanted to finally make a film that wouldn't simply be gone from theatres in a week, but would play on for years, and that he would put forth a much greater effort if that could be the case, especially if either about steel, wheat or war) mixed elements, emotions and atmosphere so expertly. Even though it was a first-watch, since it was a silent film I thought it would be all right to throw on the Jeffrey Vance commentary, which contained four interview snippets from Vidor, late in his life in the 1970's. It was a wonderful cinephilic experience, and the book that enclosed the blu ray release was even more telling, with tons of pictures and essays about the American landmark of silent cinema.

wes-connors Clean-shaven young John Gilbert (as James "Jim" Apperson) gets caught up in the patriotic fervor leading the peaceful United States into The Great War (aka World War I). In joining "The Big Parade" of enlisted men, Mr. Gilbert leaves behind his pretty sweetheart and wealthy lifestyle - and ships out for war-ravaged France. There, Gilbert bonds with two lower-class soldier buddies: spitting laborer Karl Dane (as "Slim" Jensen) and rotund bartender Tom O'Brien (as "Bull" O'Hara). Fortunately, France provides feminine distraction in the form of Renée Adorée (as Melisande). Gilbert takes Ms. Adorée for a walk, and falls in love… King Vidor's "The Big Parade" is one of the most beautifully produced and directed silent epics of the 1920s. Mr. Vidor gets the finest personnel at MGM - the studio certainly regarded, with the late 1925 release of this film and "Ben-Hur", as the best in the business. With these films, MGM had considerable evidence to back up boasting about having the Biggest Stars and the Biggest Pictures in the Business (for about two decades).The film is also a personal triumph for silent idol Gilbert, who was receiving, and handling, some of the best parts Hollywood had to offer. Gilbert shaved off his suave moustache, and really does seem like the ordinary (but wealthy) looking soldier called for by the script. Gilbert manages both the comedy and drama scenes extraordinarily well. The lengthy "comic" parts go on too long; and, this is the film's main weakness - but, the actors are not at fault. And, Gilbert's "wheel-barrel" scene is the most memorable comedy interlude. Contrastingly, the comic Dane excels in his most dramatic moment.There were no "Academy Awards" at the time - but, "The Big Parade" won "Best Picture" honors from "Photoplay", "Quigley Publications", and "The New York Times"; it was released too late in the year to overtake Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" at "Film Daily". Only Quigley offered a "Best Director" honor, which went to Vidor; in hindsight, Eisenstein's "Potemkin" would have to be considered better. And, Gilbert's "Jim" would have faced stiff "Best Actor" competition from Chaplin's "Tramp" (and Gilbert's own appearance in "The Merry Widow"). John Arnold's photography should also be noted, as well as always dependable Hobart Bosworth and Claire McDowell. Do watch "The Big Parade" until the ending. Even if you guess (or know) what will happen, it's beautifully done. This is because Vidor makes you think about Gilbert's American and French sweethearts, instead of the obvious… ********* The Big Parade (11/5/25) King Vidor ~ John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Karl Dane, Tom O'Brien

theskulI42 King Vidor, like descendant such as Steven Spielberg, became the biggest, most famous directors of their time both for their willingness and desire to give the people what they wanted, across as many genres as possible, to as many people as possible, and The Big Parade depicts that desire in plentiful spades.The film is nominally a war film, taking place during World War I, where the wimpy, idle son of a rich businessman (John Gilbert) is forced by expectations to join the Army, and he is sent to the frontlines in France, where he befriends a few working-class soldiers, as well as finding a sweetheart, French cutie Renee Adoree. Their courtship features the second and third genres of the film, romance and comedy, as the sweet scenes where he teaches her how to chew gum is as charmingly endearing as the love scene where their attempts to whisper sweet nothings are hampered by their constant reliance on their separate translation books; and what is romance without its cousin melodrama, who shows up in chunks to make you weep, lest you be too happy and not affected. There's tragedy and reunions in perfectly modulated chunks, and although I might have rolled my eyes once or twice, it's mostly damn successful.A grand, populist epic, The Big Parade delivers on everything it promises (and it promises a lot), making it one of the better achievements of the entire silent era.{Grade: 8.5/10 (B+) / #2 (of 5) of 1925}