The Big Parade (1925), directed by King Vidor. This is a long film that has something of the structure of the much later, The Deer Hunter in that it contains three acts and a denouement. The first act takes place just before and just after America declares war on Germany in 1917. Here we meet worker Slim, barman Bull, and wealthy wastrel Jim. The film focuses mostly on Jim. Once war is declared, these three enlist and find themselves in the same troop. Act 2 brings these three along with their compatriots to France and a small village where they engage in various hijinks that involve chewing gum and a large barrel. Jim, who has left a girlfriend and fiancé back home, now falls for a young French woman, Melisande. The two of them engage in an amusing courtship that for a time involves both Slim and Bull, and that also involves communication since neither Jim nor Melisande speak the other’s language. Much of this act is played for humour. Slim, by the way, chews tobacco, spits accurately, and looks amazingly like Mortimer Snerd. Act 3, which begins over an hour into the film, gives us the “big parade,” that is the marching of soldiers and guns to the front lines. Here the film takes a serious turn and we see the horrors of battle. Two of the three buddies die and the third, Jim, is wounded. Ultimately this wound causes the loss of Jim’s left leg. In the denouement, Jim returns home to a hero’s welcome, one he finds difficult to accept. He returns to France and finds Melisande who is ploughing a field behind a horse. For a long silent film (over 2 hours) The Big Parade does hold my interest, and of course its anti-war sentiment is welcome. I also like the friendship that forms between three fellows from such differing backgrounds (classes). Jim’s maturation is well done, and the acting of the three men is natural and convincing.  

The Invaders (1912), directed by Francis Ford and Thomas H. Ince (both uncredited). In 1912 western films were a dime a dozen, but this one is special. First the story: it tells of a treaty between the U.S. government and Native people, a treaty that is promptly broken by the White people. The Native chiefs do attempt to renegotiate, but to no avail. The result of this broken promise and refusal to budge is warfare and tragedy. Second, the Native people here are portrayed by actual Native people, apparently members of the Uglala Sioux people. They share the screen with their White counterparts on a pretty equal footing, and in each group we have a father/daughter relationship that has its growing pains. This shared focus with actors who look suitable for their roles gives the film an air of authenticity that works well. Oh, and being a silent film, it also gives us some romance, some pathos, and not a few exaggerated gestures. The brief and doomed friendship between the Native woman and the young Captain White is a precursor of Delmer Daves’s Broken Arrow (1950). The lead-up to the final battle plods along, but once the battle begins things move along at a furious pace.