04/27/2026
Ancient and Medieval congratulates Dr Andrew Simpson on the huge success of his score for the 1925 silent film The Big Parade
On 23rd April at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, Dr. Andrew Simpson and his seven-piece band performed his new score for King Vidor's 1925 silent film, The Big Parade.
The film is the story of Jim Apperson, a lazy son of a rich industrialist who enlists in the US Army during World War I. At training camp he meets Slim and Bull, who become his pals before they are shipped off to fight in France together. While billeted at an idyllic farmhouse all three fall for Melisande, a farm girl; but it's Jim Melisande falls for just before the lads are called to the front and to face their entrenched enemy.
The score Dr. Simpson wrote is the longest (2.5 hours) he has ever composed. The score combines multiple styles of music (humorous motifs, band marches, popular song, and cacophony for example) to enhance the audiences' understanding of and engagement with the characters and the complex, nuanced depiction of warfare and patriotism King Vidor created one hundred and one years ago.
