The Big Parade is a 1925 silent movie. It was directed by King Vidor. It stars John Gilbert as James Apperson and Renée Adorée as Melisande. It was adapted by Harry Behn and King Vidor from the play by Joseph Farnham and the autobiographical novel Plumes by Laurence Stallings.
It tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I. He becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.
In 1992 The Big Parade was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The Big Parade was one of the greatest hits of the 1920s earning gross rentals of $4,990,000 in North America and $1,141,000 overseas on a budget of $382,000 during its initial release, The film ultimately grossed $18–$22 million in worldwide rentals and is sometimes proclaimed as the most successful film of the silent era.