The Crowd (1928 film)

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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1989.

The Crowd is a 1928 American silent film directed by King Vidor and starring James Murray, Eleanor Boardman and Bert Roach.

The film is an influential and acclaimed feature which was nominated at the very first Academy Award presentation in 1928, for several awards, including a unique and artistic production for MGM, as well as the award for best director for King Vidor.

Why It Rocks

1. Partially influenced by German films such as The Last Laugh, and similar American films like as 7th Heaven and Sunrise, The Crowd is meant to serve as a statement about urban life in the 20th century. It deals with the tyranny of the mob, the soullessness of consumer society, implacable fates, and the pitiless odds against success.
2. King Vidor offers a different form of social commentary than the earnest pessimism of an F.W. Murnau film or the Christian-tinged optimism from Frank Capra’s films. Vidor’s “crowd” is cold, skeptical, indifferent, and his characters’ lives are determined by forces out of their control. It got to the point where the MGM boss was angry and studio executives were confused.
3. The plotline follows protagonist John Sims, from his birth in an upper-middle-class family to his attempts to establish a career in New York City. He wants to make a name for himself, but instead, he’s a mere cog in the business machine. His illusions of individuality can’t protect him from society’s temptations: he goes on a blind date with a secretary, Mary, when he should be studying for night school. Then later that night decides to propose to her after reading an advertising placard. When his dreams of success fall short, and he’s unable to advance himself as a result, he lashes out at his wife with increasing frequency at his wife and ignores his responsibilities as both a husband and a father. Then a family-related tragedy puts him even more over the edge, which would be very difficult to recover from.
4. Moments of documentary-esque, such as a scene on a double-decker bus, are similar to devices taken from German expressionism, similar to when a young John ascends a staircase built in a stretched perspective.
5. James Murray manages to capture the callowness and inreponsibilty of his character John Sims (although he struggles with expressing real emotions during the story’s darker moments.). His co-star Eleanor Boardman (and Vidor’s new bride), does a good enough job as John’s wife, even of she seems a bit miscast at times with how her character’s meant to be like.
6. This film would inspire other filmmakers to tackle similar subjects, such as Frank Capra with Meet Joe Doe, who was unable to find an ending – similar to King Vidor with this film. In a way, this film can serve as a precursor to films like 1999's American Beauty and 2004's Crash

Bad Qualities

1. The acting ranges from natural and unforced to overwrought and histrionic. A honeymoon at Niagara Falls shows the rising passion between John and Mary that’s charming and psychologically astute, and flip-flopping between those two over minor events gives it an autobiography feel. But yet, Vidor has trouble presenting the tragic elements of the story, mostly using the semaphore style of acting, during moments that called for more restraint
2. While Vidor could draw a reasonable premise, he’s unsure what to do with it. He created John Sims, and yet there’s no real answer for John’s problems. It seems like he has no real insight to the lives of everyday people, and looks down on them, despite being sympathetic to them.
   • In the director’s biography, it’s revealed he had grappled with a recalcitrant plot that would only permit very depressing endings. The lack of a proper decision is most visibly shown in the last third, which he repeatedly reshot. There’s also some inconsistency, as there’s a scene where John’s about to throw himself off the bridge over the railyard, but by the end of the scene, he’s on a different bridge.
3. As previously mentioned, James Murray has more difficulty expressing real emotions as the story gets darker. On a related note, his co-star Eleanor Boardman, despite being a talented and sophisticated actress, seems miscast as a gum-chewing secretary. And for scenes where she’s supposed to be destitute, she has beauty that defies her position.