Valquria G
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Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
11/25/23
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Alexander B
The film is a little lop sided as the first half is boring and the second half is very entertaining. Aside from that it's a great film with production values that hold up very well.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/08/23
Full Review
William L
The Big Parade might initially scare off some viewers through its complete adherence to convention at first, delivering a relatively lighthearted, patriotic depiction of WWI with plenty of cliches - the lonely sweetheart, the camp camraderie, the foreign lover. However, it's ultimately revealed that the establishing scenes were entirely for a particular purpose, to contrast with Vidor's sweeping, at the time horrifying depiction of the trench warfare of the War to End All Wars that takes the audience by surprise. There's no heroic scene of the protagonist seizing a Kraut flag to take home to his jubilant family with only a distinguished scar to remind him of the day. However, there are soldiers marching to a slow death, decimated towns, and the horrors of industrialized warfare. Don't get me wrong, it's riddled with stereotypes and melodrama, but only because it helped to establish them a century ago, and everyone has copied from the inspiration. (4/5)
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/28/21
Full Review
william d
I like silent comedies, but I tend to doze off during silent dramas. That didn't happen this time. I realize "I stayed awake for the whole thing" is not much of an endorsement, but The Big Parade has other things going for it as well, such as a decent story, the performances of John Gilbert and Renee Adoree, and some good battle scenes (although the latter would be surpassed five years later by "All Quiet on the Western Front.")
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
After the US enters World War I, the feckless son (John Gilbert) of a wealthy industrialist impulsively joins the Army and is shipped off to France, where he falls in love with a peasant girl (Renée Adorée) and is tested in battle. I last saw this classic film some 20 years ago, late at night on TCM; the 2013 Blu Ray was a gift to myself when I recently received a big screen TV and, my God, this movie still holds up as a masterpiece of cinema! The most profitable film of the silent era, it was the Star Wars/Titanic of its day, reportedly taking in around $20 million -- adjusted for inflation, that's about $700 million in 2019 dollars! -- and it's easy to see why: for one thing, the story is simple but solidly constructed -- loosely based on Laurence Stalling's autobiographical novel Plumes, Harry Behn's scenario gradually establishes the characters, rather than go straight into any elaborate plot; director Vidor keeps things humming along, emphasizing humor and humanity, with a series of set-pieces that are thoroughly charming and often laugh-out-loud hilarious (the "departure of the soldiers" sequence, with Adorée chasing after Gilbert as his platoon marches to the front, is undeniably one of the great moments in cinema history) before shifting into a somber mode as the soldiers meet their respective fates on the battlefield, a piece of spectacle and suspense that still dazzles; and there's the great cast, led by Gilbert in his prime -- easy to see why he was one of the biggest stars of the silent era -- as he marvelously portrays the arc of a callow youth growing into a bitter but still hopeful manhood, and he's perfectly matched with the delightfully determined Adorée and, as Gilbert's soldier pals, the amusing Karl Dane and Tom O'Brien. The Blu Ray retains Carl Davis' magnificent 1988 score, a symphonic work that enhances the story and visuals and never detracts. The Big Parade is a must for students of cinema, and a grand treat for anyone curious to explore silent film.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Well done silent film from 1925. I've always found it difficult to watch these silent movies, but this one comes close to being top of the genre.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
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