Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3035 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Running time: 104 minutes

Customer Reviews

waiting for the ship to come in
Made in 1926-27 by King Vidor, with brilliant cinematography by Henry Sharp of huge crowd scenes, often with superimposed layers of film, this is a classic; beautifully acted and scripted, it is one of the best films of the silent genre.
It follows the life of John Sims, born on July 4th, 1900, who is average in every way, with great hopes and dreams, struggling to make a living in New York City. Every scene is full of symbolism, representing man searching for his uniqueness among the masses, and with the eventual acceptance of himself as an individual.
There are quite a few moments of comic relief (the Christmas Eve conversation with the in-laws is hilarious), but most of it is tragic; as he finds out after a death in the family, "the crowd laughs with you always...but it will cry with you for only a day".

This was an experimental film for Vidor, and one of the many risks he took was casting an unknown actor, James Murray, to play John, and the choice was a good one. Eleanor Boardman (who was married to Vidor at the time) is marvelous as John's long suffering wife Mary. Also excellent is Bert Roach, who plays John's best buddy Bert.

There is a famous camera shot early in this film, that was made with the help of a scale model, which seems as though one is going up the side of a skyscraper, through a window, and into an office. It also is a film without a heroic figure, which made the studio hesitant to release it; little did they know it would stand the test of time, and would be still seen by many, 75 years later, and appreciated as a work of cinematic art.
The restoration is excellent, and it is enhanced by an orchestral score by Carl Davis.

King Vidor's enduring classic of the Amercian silent screen
"The Crowd" is rightly considered one of the enduring classics of the American silent screen. King Vidor's 1928 film tells the story of an average man, John Sims (James Murray), married to the average woman, Mary (Eleanor Boardman, who might be the most beautiful actress I have ever seen in a silent film), told in a naturalistic style (for the most part; there are some obvious exceptions such as the distorted sets and strange perspectives) that enhances its simple truths. Murray had been an extra until Vidor made him a star, knowing that his story would never work with a leading man in the role of the American everyman. John Sims is one of the faceless office workers (#137) in New York City, a dreamer who secretly writes advertising slogans hoping one will be his big break. He finds Mary and proposes, honeymooning in Niagara Falls and then returning to live in a Manhattan flat overlooking the noisy el-train. Years go by and John has made nothing of himself to improve the lot of his wife and two children. The pivotal point in the film comes when the long dreamt for success finally arrives, only to be followed by a brutal tragedy. Yet while the characters find themselves trapped in the depths of despair, the audience will certainly recognize the uplifting ending, especially since it is obviously a reflection of themselves. Still, even with its final sense of hope, the film offers no solutions, an idea audiences would have been uncomfortable with if it had been made more explicit. Vidor was nominated for an Oscar, the first year the awards were given, but lost out to Frank Borzage's "Seventh Heaven," a more popular film that enjoys no where near the reputation of "The Crowd" today. My Top 10 Silent Film list is still being developed, but this one has got to be on it.

In a word: masterpiece
"The Crowd" is quite simply one of the most powerful and moving films ever made. I have had the pleasure of watching it many times over the years, both alone and as part of a "crowd", and its impact has always been the same: leaving me and the rest of the audience breathless with emotion. Directed and co-written by the wonderful King Vidor (surely one of the greatest talents ever to work in the Hollywood system) and featuring extraordinary cinematography from Henry Sharp that still startles 80 years after the fact, "The Crowd" is one of those rare instances where everything comes together to form a perfect artistic whole. An integral part of that artistic perfection is the acting from the two leads, James Murray and Eleanor Boardman, who give riveting, true-to-life performances as the film's symbolic "everyman and woman", John and Mary. Anyone who believes the old chestnut that silent film acting is too artificial and stylized to work for modern audiences should see this film. I know that the term masterpiece gets used far too frequently and lightly these days, especially apropos Hollywood cinema, but IMO "The Crowd" is one instance when it is truly merited. Thanks to the combined efforts of Thames Television and composer Carl Davis (a great talent in his own right and major friend to lovers of silent Hollywood film), we are fortunate today to have a beautifully remastered and re-scored copy of "The Crowd" but sadly it is only available on VHS, and even this is discontinued, or through the occasional cable TV screening. Surely , this is a film that demands a major DVD release...hello, Criterion?