Dress Parade on AllMovie

Despite his accomplishments as an actor, Donald Crisp's talents as a director were slight at best. What makes Crisp's Dress Parade work are the engaging star performances of William Boyd and Bessie Love. Filmed on location at West Point, the story concerns a brash young cadet (Boyd) who is humanized via his love of the commanding officer's daughter (Love). Naturally, our hero has to be thoroughly disgraced at one point in the proceedings, the better to set the stage for a spectacular redemption. Cliched though it may be, Dress Parade had the advantage of a surface authenticity; besides, Bessie Love is so gosh-darned cute.