The big parade

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Movie
German title The great parade / also the parade of death
Original title The Big Parade
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1925
length 141 minutes
Rod
Director King Vidor
script Harry Behn
production Irving Thalberg
music William Ax
Maurice Baron
David Mendoza
camera John Arnold
Charles Van Enger
cut Hugh Wynn
occupation

The Grand Parade is an American anti-war film directed by King Vidor from the year 1925 . It is set against the backdrop of the First World War .

action

The United States enters World War I on April 6, 1917 . The young Jim Apperson, coming from a wealthy family and so far more of a spoiled idler , is infected by the war euphoria of his family and friends. He signed up as a volunteer and was shipped to France a little later. In a training camp in the village of Champillon , he and the other recruits lead a seemingly carefree life. Jim becomes friends with construction worker Slim and bartender Michael, who are also stationed in the same unit as him. In France, he falls in love with the local peasant girl Melisande, although at first the two of them can only communicate with one another with great difficulty. Jim has a remorse because he has a fiancée named Justyn in New York. When Melisande learns of Justyn's existence, she is initially sad and runs away. However, they come together again for a great embrace when Jim's unit is suddenly transferred to the front.

There the young soldiers are confronted with the horrors of war. As soon as they approached the front, the unit was attacked by a German airman. Jim's friends Slim and Michael die in the Battle of Belleau Wood , and he is shot in the leg. As a result, he is stuck in a crater together with a German whom he had previously seriously wounded. Jim wants to kill the defenseless German first, but makes a different decision and gives him a cigarette. Nevertheless, the German soldier dies a little later. Jim is eventually found by his comrades and taken to a hospital.

Shortly after he woke up, Jim learned from another patient that Melisande's home village of Champillon had passed into different hands four times. Jim is worried and despite his unhealed leg, he escapes the hospital. Melisande and her mother have since fled Champillon, which is why Jim finds their house empty and damaged. Jim collapses and is taken to the hospital again, his leg has to be amputated . After the end of the war, he returned home as an invalid. Justyn has meanwhile fallen in love with Jim's older brother Harry, but that doesn't bother Jim, since he only has to think of Melisande. On the advice of his mother, Jim travels to France again, where he finally finds Melisande and can take her in his arms.

background

The film is based on the story Plumes by war veteran Laurence Stallings, which he wrote on behalf of the production company MGM and based on which Harry Behn wrote the script. Stallings had lost a leg himself in the war.

The big parade came about for a very high budget for the time of around 200,000 dollars. After a positive test screening, several scenes were re-shot, including most of the battle scenes. The film premiered on November 5, 1925 in Los Angeles and became the first great success of the newly founded MGM Studios. In the United States alone, it grossed $ 5,000,000, making it the second most successful silent film of all time after The Birth of a Nation (1915). John Gilbert and Renée Adorée became stars through the film.

The great parade is considered to be the first realistic war film that does not glorify heroic death, but condemns it. He paved the way for productions such as Nothing New in the West , West Front 1918 and numerous other anti-war films .

Awards

The grand parade was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Photoplay Awards in 1925 .

In 1992 it was accepted into the National Film Registry .

Reviews

The film service writes that in addition to its sensational financial success, the film is one of "the great and impressive anti-war films in Hollywood". The Big Parade still impresses today “with its credible demeanor, impressive crowd scenes (200 tanks were used in one scene) and its deeply humane disposition. A masterpiece of film history that relentlessly denounces the horrors of war. "

literature

  • Patrick Vonderau: The big parade. In: Thomas Klein, Marcus Stiglegger , Bodo Traber (eds.): War film (= Reclams Universal Library 18411 = film genres ). Reclam, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-15-018411-8 , 39-41 (with references).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The great parade (film service). Retrieved February 26, 2020 .