The Big Parade
Release date 5th November 1925
Country : USA
Running time : 141 mins
Genre : War
Starring John Gilbert
 Screenplay by Harry Behn
Directed by King Vidor

Three buddies join the army in the Great War. Two are killed, the third loses a leg but falls in love with a French girl. They are reunited after the hostilities.

Wonderful war film with very moving love story, the final sequence never fails to reduce me to tears. It is John Gilbert's finest hour. He shaved off his moustache for the film. That, together with being togged throughout in drab khaki instead of smartly tailored clothing, proved to him and to his bosses at MGM that he was a fine actor. 

 

This picture almost became a routine programmer but Irving Thalberg saw a preview and was so excited by it that he convinced director King Vidor that it could be made into a historic war film, and together they reshot the picture from beginning to end with a new slant.