The Big Parade (1925)

Silent War. - The Big Parade review by Steve

Hollywood evaded WWI after the armistice, but this success launched a wave of productions about the war over the next 10 years. It was made only eight years after the US joined the conflict, so there must have been real life experience either side of the camera.

This invented the rules for platoon films, partly because it follows a predictable path: the initial patriotism on the home front; the drilling of a group of civilians into a fighting unit; the boredom of waiting and the virile furlough pursuits. Then the young soldiers confront the German army, and are stopped dead on the western front.

Yet there isn't an overwhelming impression of authenticity.  The story is dominated by a romance between its charismatic star- John Gilbert- as a rich doughboy, and the French Renée Adorée as an exuberant farmer's daughter. The cute comedy of their mutual incomprehension is utterly charming.

King Vidor’s epic gave audiences an initial vision of screen war: the fighter planes, the army camps, the anti-aircraft artillery and chemical weapons. A veteran may have felt too many punches are pulled in the interests of tasteful entertainment. It is groundbreaking, but better, more incendiary combat films were coming.