The Crowd (1928)

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

King Vidor (screenplay) &
John V.A. Weaver (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 February 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles and downfalls.

Plot Keywords:

New York City | 1900s | Fourth Of July | Marriage | Date

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Eleanor Boardman	...	Mary
James Murray	...	John 'Johnny' Sims
Bert Roach	...	Bert
Estelle Clark	...	Jane
Daniel G. Tomlinson	...	Jim
Dell Henderson	...	Dick
Lucy Beaumont	...	Mary's Mother
Freddie Burke Frederick	...	'Junior' (John Sims Jr.)
Alice Mildred Puter	...	Daughter

Also Known As:

One of the Mob (USA) (working title)
A Multidão (Portugal) [pt]
A Turba (Brazil) [pt]
Czlowiek z tlumu (Poland) [pl]
Die Mühlen des Lebens (Austria) [de]
Ein Mensch der Masse (Germany) [de]
Halk (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Ihmiset väkijoukossa (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Kansan mies (Finland) [fi]
La folla (Italy) [it]
La foule (France) [fr]
O anthropos ton mazon (Greece) [el]
Y el mundo marcha (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Portugal:17 (director's cut)

Filming Locations:

Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

King Vidor shot nine different endings before settling on the one used in the finished film, because MGM did not like to release films without a positive ending.

Quotes:

John 'Johnny' Sims: Marriage is not a word, it's a *sentence*!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Edge of Outside (2006)

Fascinating, compelling, depressing

Like most of the silent tragedies I've seen (and there haven't been many), "The Crowd" was hard to like. That didn't stop it from being a finely directed and acted drama. Like any film from any era that avoids the traps of trend-conscious filmmaking, "The Crowd" was built to last. When you make a movie with a good, solid story and inspire the cast to give brilliant performances, it's difficult to go wrong.

It's not a fun movie -- most of the time we're spent watching James Murray shoot himself in the foot, scene after scene. He's a really pathetic creature, but the director, King Vidor, portrays him and his story without passing judgment.

Worth the price of admission alone, Vidor's eye for detail in old New York City. In a justly famous montage and tracking shot near the beginning, he shows us Gotham so well, and in such great detail, that hardly a director since has been able to match him. His nomination of Best Director at the first Academy Awards was completely deserved (and his loss to Frank Borzage for the creaky "7th Heaven" was, arguably, the first of Oscar's major blunders.)

It's a bleak world view, that's for sure, but it keeps your attention and fills your eye.