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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Early Film on the First World War, September 23, 2001
This review is from: Big Parade [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The Big Parade is a lengthy film but, for the most part, it is lively and fast-paced. At the beginning, I thought the film was the classic tale of a naive, spoiled rich kid (played by the great John Gilbert) drawn to the battle field by the parades and glamorization of the war. It is so much more than that. The main character, Jim Apperson, acually adjusts to soldier life very well. He quickly acquires two close buddies (played by Tom O'Brien and Karl Dane), demonstrates impressive innovation and ambition (creating a shower out of a barrel) and--of course--gets a French girlfriend, Melisande (played by Renee Adoree). The first half of the film is a bit slow at times, although the antics of O'Brien and Dane provide comedy relief that is often hilarious (especially Dane's character). It is definitely worth the wait when Jim's unit goes off to battle. Melisande desperately clings to Jimmy not to leave (symbolism that foreshadows Jim's ultimate fate). Once on the battlefield, the fighting scenes are as well-done as any I've seen on the First World War. The troops slowly move through the devastated landscape, preparing for the next sniper attack. The three buddies end up in a trench together and spit in a target to decide who will go over the top and take out a German machine gunner (the WINNER goes over the top), Jim goes after a German he has wounded in order to finish him off and then finds he is unable to when he sees that his enemy is just a young kid. When Jim realizes the horror of war, only one thing really matters: the French girl he left behind. He must find her again! The film is one of the funniest, suspense-filled, and touching films I've seen (yes, it's all those things and more). Give it a try!
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Film that Deserves a Proper DVD Restoration, December 27, 2003
This review is from: Big Parade [VHS] (VHS Tape)
In many ways, King Vidor's The Big Parade did for WWI films what Oliver Stone's Platoon did for Vietnam War films: it brought home the realities of the war in a fashion that better represented what had actually happened. In the process, it is thoroughly entertaining: scenes of typical silent melodrama are quickly replaced by serious thematics (eg, "patriotic" mob peer-pressure & bursts of nationalist fervor), fun male-bonding scenes, wonderful light romance and comedy, and finally, compelling and often very realistic scenes of warfare. The film is full of marvelous subtle allegorical references (eg, "mother knows best" comes to mind) and plays-on-words (the curse-rhyming soldier songs make one think of the title, which rhymes with the French-originated "charade"). I cannot praise this film highly enough for its modern story-structure and production values, which were eons ahead of the times. I agree with the previous reviewer who said that the Big Parade does not best The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, primarily due to its later arrival, its more narrow theme, and the fact that John Gilbert was not Rudolph Valentino. But I do feel that in a funny way it completes what that film was trying to do; namely, by filling in its two greatest weaknesses: its reliance on silent melodrama and its lack of time dedicated to the actual horrors of fighting the Great War. Thus it is a perfect complement to that film. As interesting trivia, both stars died shortly after the silent era came to a close, Gilbert of alcoholism/heart failure and Renée Adorée of tuberculosis. The actor who played Slim, a Dane, shot himself in the head after the talkie era had reduced him to selling hotdogs outside the studio, making his fate in the film all the more eerie...
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16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Memorable Film of WWI, May 22, 2002
This review is from: Big Parade [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Along with the earlier FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE and the slightly later WINGS, THE BIG PARADE is one of the three great World War I films of the 1920s--and the most financially successful. Made at a point when most producers believed the public only wanted to forget the horrors of World War I, THE BIG PARADE is generally regarded as the single greatest financially successful film of the entire silent era. The story divides into two parts. In the first, spoiled rich boy John Gilbert whimsically joins up, ships out to France, and winds up in a small French village where he flirts and falls in love with Renee Adore. This portion of the film is leisurely told with many comic flourishes--and provides a necessary contrast to the second portion of the film, which begins when the troops are given orders to move out. The scenes in which Renee Adore searches frantically for Gilbert among the departing men are full of memorable images, as are the the scenes in which the company progresses slowly toward the front, first picked off by snipers, then by machine guns, and then facing the hell of "no man's land." At the time of its release, THE BIG PARADE was considered an anti-war film. Seen today, it feels more like a balanced vision than anti-war per se. Matinee idol John Gilbert, who defied convention by allowing himself to be photographed covered in the muck of battle, is seen to great advantage here, as is Renee Adore and army buddies Tom O'Brien and Karl Dane. Although THE BIG PARADE doesn't really best the earlier FOUR HORSEMEN, it remains a landmark of the late silent era, a memorable film of World War I made by those actually old enough to remember it. Recommended.
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