directed by: King Vidor
written by: Laurence Stallings, Harry Behn, Joseph Farnham
starring: John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Karl Dane, Tom O'Brien
comment: 27th August. 2017
-"Am I dead yet?"
The Big Parade offers a typical hollywood fairy tale "friendship, love, war" in such a pure and given the circumstances non-over-emotional extract that it's impossible to hold grudge against it. The distribution of events through the time line corresponds more with reading a novel than today's understanding of film stucture, but that's the case with many of the original blockbusters.
The machinery of war is depicted rather monumentally. The double exposures of the troops and explosions make the still alive marching soldiers already look like ghost who have no business with the world of the living and who will stop only after they reach the afterworld. The most heartwarming character for me was Karl Dane's Slim. I shed a reall tear or two reading the actor's actuall biography.
My favourite silent films tell different stories differently, but I will not go as far as my younger self to directly condemn this "other" mainstream point of view.
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