"The Big Parade", a war-romance starring John Gilbert, established Vidor as one of MGM's top studio directors for the next decade. The film would influence contemporary directors G.W. Pabst in "Westfront 1918" and Lewis Milestone in "All Quiet on the Western Front", both 1930. Producer Irving Thalberg arranged for Vidor to film two more Gilbert vehicles: "La Bohème" and "Bardelys the Magnificent", both released in 1926. In "La Bohème", a film of "great and enduring merit", leading lady Lillian Gish exerted considerable control over the film's production. "Bardelys the Magnificent," a picaresque swashbuckler mimicked the films of Douglas Fairbanks. Vidor would spoof the movie on his own "Show People" (1928) with comedienne Marion Davies.