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The Big Parade is a 1925
1925 in film

Events...
 silent film
Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
 which tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the Army and is sent to France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 to fight in World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare
Trench warfare

Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static. Trench warfare arose when a revolution in fire power was not matched by similar advances in mobility , resulting in a slow and grueling form of defense-oriented warfare in which both sides constructed elaborate and heavily arme...
, and finds love with a French girl.

The film was groundbreaking for not glorifying the war or its human costs, exemplified by the lead character's loss of a leg from battle wounds.






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The Big Parade is a 1925
1925 in film

Events...
 silent film
Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
 which tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the Army and is sent to France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 to fight in World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare
Trench warfare

Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static. Trench warfare arose when a revolution in fire power was not matched by similar advances in mobility , resulting in a slow and grueling form of defense-oriented warfare in which both sides constructed elaborate and heavily arme...
, and finds love with a French girl.

The film was groundbreaking for not glorifying the war or its human costs, exemplified by the lead character's loss of a leg from battle wounds. It heavily influenced all subsequent war films, especially All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). It was adapted by Harry Behn
Harry Behn

Harry Behn, also known as Giles Behn, was an American screenwriter and children's author....
 and King Vidor
King Vidor

King Wallis Vidor was an acclaimed United States film director whose career spanned nearly seven decades.He was born in Galveston, Texas, Texas, where he survived the great Galveston Hurricane of 1900....
 (uncredited) from the play by Joseph Farnham
Joseph Farnham

Joseph White Farnham was an United States playwright and an Academy Awards-winning film writer and film editor of the silent movie era to the early 1930s....
 and the story Plumes by Laurence Stallings
Laurence Stallings

Laurence Stallings was an United States playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer. The World War I veteran was noted for his anti-war book The First World War: A Photographic History....
, and directed by Vidor. It stars John Gilbert
John Gilbert (actor)

John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover", he rivaled even the great Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw....
, Renée Adorée
Renée Adorée

Ren?e Ador?e was a French actress, who had appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s....
, Claire Adams
Claire Adams

Claire Adams was a Canada silent film actor and benefactor. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the daughter of Stanley Wells Adams, a Wales-born accountant, and his Canadian wife, Lillian Adams ....
, Karl Dane
Karl Dane

Karl Dane was a comedian and actor mainly of the silent film era. At the peak of his career he was working alongside stars such as Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert , and King Vidor....
, Robert Ober and Tom O'Brien
Tom O'Brien

Tom O?Brien, Thomas O?Brien, or Tommy O'Brien may refer to:*Tom O'Brien , British trade unionist and Member of Parliament*Tom O'Brien , 19th century baseball player...
.

The Big Parade was one of the greatest hits of the 1920s, and made Gilbert and Adorée major stars. Tragically, Renée Adorée would soon be diagnosed with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
 and die only a few years later. The film is the highest grossing silent film in cinema history (taking in $6,400,000 at the box office, $22,000,000 worldwide.) In some larger cities this film was shown for a year or more continuously.

After the film's producers found a clause in Vidor's contract, entitling the director to 20% of the net profits, studio lawyers called for a meeting with him. At this meeting, accountants played up the costs of the picture while downgrading their forecast of its potential success. King Vidor was thus persuaded to sell his stake in the film before receiving his percentage. However, the film's tremendous success did establish Vidor as one of MGM's top directors for the rest of his career.

In 1992 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry

The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress....
.

Composer Carl Davis
Carl Davis

Carl Davis Order of the British Empire is an American Conductor and composer who has been living in the UK since 1961.He has made England his home and married English actress Jean Boht....
 created an orchestral score for the film in the 1980s, and it was restored and released on video in the late 1980s as part of the MGM and British television Thames Silents project.

Cast

  • John Gilbert
    John Gilbert (actor)

    John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover", he rivaled even the great Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw....
     - James Apperson
  • Renée Adorée
    Renée Adorée

    Ren?e Ador?e was a French actress, who had appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s....
     - Melisande
  • Hobart Bosworth
    Hobart Bosworth

    Hobart Bosworth was an American movie actor, film director, writer and film producer.Born as Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth, he was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and of John and Priscilla Alden on his father's side and of New York's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New World, on his mother's side....
     - Mr. Apperson
  • Claire McDowell
    Claire McDowell

    Claire McDowell , was an American actress of the silent film. She appeared in 360 films between 1908 in film and 1945 in film.She was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California, aged 88....
     - Mrs. Apperson
  • Claire Adams
    Claire Adams

    Claire Adams was a Canada silent film actor and benefactor. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the daughter of Stanley Wells Adams, a Wales-born accountant, and his Canadian wife, Lillian Adams ....
     - Justyn Reed
  • Robert Ober - Harry
  • Tom O'Brien - Bull
  • Karl Dane
    Karl Dane

    Karl Dane was a comedian and actor mainly of the silent film era. At the peak of his career he was working alongside stars such as Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert , and King Vidor....
     - Slim
  • Kathleen Key
    Kathleen Key

    Kathleen Key was an United States actress who achieved a brief period of fame during the silent era. She is probably best remembered for playing Tirzah in the 1925 film Ben-Hur ....
     - Miss Apperson
  • Rosita Marstini
    Rosita Marstini

    Rosita Marstini was a dancer, stage personality, silent and sound film actress from Nancy, France....
     - Melisande's mother
  • Julanne Johnston
    Julanne Johnston

    Julanne Johnston was an American silent film actress born in Indianapolis, Indiana.Johnston is known for being on William Randolph Hearst's yacht The Oneida during the weekend in November 1924 when film director and producer Thomas Ince died there under mysterious circumstances....
     - Justine Devereux
  • George Beranger - (as Andre Beranger)
  • Frank Currier
    Frank Currier

    Frank Currier , was an American actor and film director of the silent film. He appeared in 133 films between 1912 in film and 1928 in film. He also directed 19 films in 1916 in film....
  • Harry Crocker - Soldier (uncredited)
  • Dan Mason - (uncredited)
  • Carl 'Major' Roup - Extra (uncredited)
  • Carl Voss
    Carl Voss (film extra)

    Carl Voss was an American World War I veteran who besides appearing as a film extra and military film technical advisor commanded a private army of up to 2112 former servicemen who acted as extra s in 232 films from 1923 to 1940....
    - Officer (uncredited)


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