The introduction of the Academy Awards at the end of the silent era was one of the very fortunate events in the history of cinema. The Awards, by giving just enough Hollywood myth and glamour to grand silent films, prevented them from being forgotten and lost like many of such films being made only a few years earlier. One of those fortunate films was The Crowd, 1928 Oscar-nominated drama directed by King Vidor.
The plot follows the life of John Sims, born on the Fourth of July in 1900. Losing his father at a young age, John (played by John Murray) moves to New York City at 21 with aspirations of making a mark in the bustling metropolis. His cheerful disposition and ambitions are often at odds with the more prosaic reality of being just another of many clerks in large corporations. One day a colleague named Bert (played by Bert Roach) asks him to go on a double date, during which he would meet and fall in love with a girl named Mary (played by Eleanor Boardman). Two of them marry and soon have a child, but their life is hardly idyllic, since they live in a small, cramped apartment and John barely earns enough to make ends meet. The greatest challenge to their marriage will be a tragedy that would wreck John’s career and nearly put an end to his marriage.
Despite being a big-budget studio project, The Crowd stands out as an art film. This was due to producer Irving Thalberg’s vision for MGM as big enough to produce prestigious works beyond mere commercial success. King Vidor, who had made a lot of money for the studio with The Big Parade, had enough clout to make this project possible. His direction transforms a simple narrative about everyday individuals into an epic tale set against the backdrop of New York City, emphasizing the protagonist’s role as a simple and often helpless cog in the relentless machinery of society. Vidor’s masterful use of moving cameras and visual effects in The Crowd represents the pinnacle of silent cinema techniques that were soon snuffed out by the advent of sound and had to be rediscovered decades later.
The script balances melodrama with realism, incorporating subtle details like featuring a toilet seat for the first time in Hollywood cinema, enhancing the film’s authenticity. Filmed guerrilla-style on New York City streets, The Crowd serves as a captivating time capsule of the city in the 1920s, subtly reflecting societal challenges amidst references to Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties, the latter embodied by hedonistic Bert. Yet, it also shows that the Roaring Twenties weren’t happy for everyone and that the Simmses had to struggle to make ends meet just as millions of other Americans would be forced to do after the Wall Street Crash. The casting in The Crowd is impeccable, with unknown actor James Murray delivering a compelling performance as John Sims, making the audience root for him despite his obvious imperfection. Eleanor Boardman, Vidor’s wife who was pregnant at the time, is perfectly cast as John’s beautiful but suffering wife. Both actors have great chemistry together, while transcending the limitations of silent cinema acting.
Despite its success at the box office and excellent reviews, The Crowd faced challenges at the Oscars due to being disliked by MGM head Louis B. Meyer and his deliberate sabotage, which led to it only receiving two nominations despite its artistic merit. In 1934 Vidor made a sound sequel Our Daily Bread showing challenges for the Simmses during the Great Depression and starring Tom Keene and Karen Morley. The tragic fate of James Murray, who battled alcoholism after his role in The Crowd, left a lasting impact on Vidor and added a poignant layer to the film’s legacy.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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