Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
The Last Parade Synopsis
The first film produced by Harry Cohn's brother Jack, and a version of this film's plot was used in 1937's "End of the Trail" that also starred Jack Holt as the good-man-gone-wrong who is executed. War-time buddies Cookie Leonard (Jack Holt) and Mike O'Dowd (Tom Moore) return from World War One and returning home, Mike becomes a police officer but Cookie finds his old job as a reporter on the Herald is no longer vacant, and he takes up with gangster/bootlegger A. C. Marino (Robert Ellis.) They are both in love with Molly Pearson (Constance Cummings), a nurse who looked after them in a field-hospital in France. Cookie, in order to save someone else kills Marino but is charged with murder and is arrested by his old friend Mike. Molly and Mike watch Cookie walk the last mile to the electric chair.
The Great Shadow Synopsis
Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.
"The Last Parade" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "The Great Shadow" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
The Last ParadeBoth films share