war story that dispensed with traditional concepts  of heroism, focusing instead on a love story between a Yank soldier  and a French girl. After Vidor completed principal photography (at a  cost of $200,000, approximately $2.1 million in 2003 dollars),  Thalberg took the rough cut and previewed it before live audiences  in Colorado. The audiences responded favorably, and Thalberg decided  to expand the scope of the picture, as Vidor had created a war  picture without many scenes of war. He had Vidor restage the famous  marching army column sequence with 3000 extras, 200 trucks and 100  airplanes. After Vidor moved on to another project, Thalberg had  other battle scenes shot by director George W. Hill (qv). The  result was a major hit that proved to be MGMs most profitable  silent picture.