One of the greatest silent films ever produced and regarded as one of the greatest films made about World War I, The Big Parade has influenced several subsequent war films and been praised for its realistic depiction of warfare.

The idle son of a rich businessman joins the Army when the U.S.A. enters The Great War. He is sent to France, where he becomes friends with two working-class soldiers and falls in love with a Frenchwoman he must leave to move to the frontline.

Starring John Gilbert, “The Great Lover” of the silent era rivaled in popularity only by Rudolph Valentino.  The film will be introduced by Mr. Gilbert’s grandson, Gideon Fountain.

Gideon Fountain’s maternal grandparents were Hollywood movie stars, John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy. Gilbert died young, at age 37, but Gideon was fortunate to be able to grow up knowing Leatrice Joy, who lived a few streets away, in Riverside, Connecticut. She was hugely charismatic, exactly the way you would imagine a movie star would be, and, over the years, she recounted many of her experiences with John Gilbert.

In typical Hollywood fashion, they were only married to each other for two years, but, during that time, their marriage was the subject of hundreds of fan-magazine articles, and they both continued to fascinate the American public for decades.

Gideon lives and works in Greenwich, Connecticut, selling posh real estate.