Nonureva Really Surprised!

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

evanston_dad I had wanted to see "The Crowd," King Vidor's silent classic about navigating the anonymity of big-city American life, forever, but couldn't ever find it. It finally aired again on TCM and I got a chance to see it for myself. What a marvelous film, a perfect example of a silent film director knowing how to use a purely visual medium for utmost impact.I've seen people debating the ending and whether it's happy or not. Apparently Vidor picked it out of six or so other options under pressure from the studio to end the film happily. But I think this was a case of a director subversively appearing to accommodate the demands of a studio while sticking to his guns. I personally did not feel like the ending of "The Crowd" was happy. Sure, we see the protagonist and his wife and surviving child laughing happily with others in a movie theater, but was I the only one who found the rows and rows of patrons, mechanically bobbing up and down like automatons, slightly disturbing?"The Crowd" received two Academy Award nominations in the institution's debut year: Unique and Artistic Picture and Best Director (Dramatic Picture). The first award went to "Sunrise" (can't argue with that) while the second went to Frank Borzage (which I can).Grade: A

IMDBcinephile The thing about King Vidor's "The Crowd" is that not only does it supplement wonderful performances and perambulating cameras - but that it also takes influence from expressionistic works and in doing so, creates a world where the crowd is dwarfed, and we take only one narrative from all these people."Don't let the Crowd get into opposition". James Murray portrays a simple, reckless human being called "John", who was born in 1900 just 124 years subsequent from the conception of America. Impressively throughout the years, he becomes older and then takes his place at work. He meets Mary, a woman he loves unconditionally and wants to settle down with. All the simplicity is a backdrop to the turbulent situations; one scene is reminiscent of "Way Down East" (1920) and much of the architectural shots represent "Metropolis" (1927), wherein they have an inherent likeliness; the lighting, the craning. Supposedly, the money was used to inherit much of the paraphernalia that would be used to move the camera around. This is one of the landmarks of tracking shots, simplicity and washing away the Hollywood grandeur. Vidor is known for creating this magnum opus. Looking at his oeuvre, it seems that he has never toppled the film (In grandeur, though, he has gone beyond this film - "Hallelujah", "War and Peace", "Duel in the Sun" and even being uncredited in "Wizard of Oz" - he's subversive in this which became incomparable to his body of work, even before that - "The Big Parade" and taking the theme in this film further with "La Boheme"). Sure they all seem better, but taking into consideration the message, more potent and of the period.There are vignettes that stay with you and ideas that move you to the point of gut-wrenching horror, such as when one of their children get run over through excitement, and we crane away to the overwhelming crowd. And in one scene, where he quits his job due to the lack of concentration, whereas before, he was putting his nose to the grindstone and disregarding his wife. It traverses through fantasy, near the falls and going through the Love Tunnel (once again, another shot which integrates a sense of beauty) to an unhappy life and struggle throughout the age. It says "Don't pass judgement to people you don't know" and therefore gives an anodyne to many I think. The message is a positive one.Vidor started off as an usher and through doing so had a burning passion for films and Filmic ideas. This film for him was an experimentation and MGM gave him leeway to do what he must - one of the biggest successes he had under his belt enabled him - Vidor said "The studio could handle a failure".Much of it feels poignant as well; James Murray shushing the crowds down below his house is quite well done; the face will never leave my mind, for it has been ingrained in there. His gritty and truthful style spotlights a time in the 20's, where people were augmentative in New York and where jobs became more problematic to get, as well as the welfare of your family, kept under control. It's well done and the film deserves recognition on a DVD (I watched it on a VHS transfer on DVD. The film is relatively pristine actually).In conclusion, I feel that even in the advent of sound, the film pushes the boundary of the medium. Imbued in pantomime, as Vidor recalls. The film is bittersweet and leaves off with a fascinating closure, which is steadily within the tone of the Film. The end scene does drain I admit and it will put audiences off with its form of communication, but all in all, the conduciveness to its kinetic power will impress cinematography buffs and will also ensure people of Vidor's greatness. One scene, where John walks up the stairs, illustrates his understanding of lighting and I was swept away by it. Just don't expect a felicitous experience.

Steffi_P It's often said of silent pictures that they reached the pinnacle of their expression at the very moment that they were made obsolete. This is something that can never be proved, since no-one can know where the medium would have gone had talkies not come along in the late 1920s. It is true however that this period saw a number of cinematically perfect motion pictures, which can be regarded today as classics in the same manner that great novels or musical symphonies can. The Crowd, a deceptively simple tale, is among the most exceptionally lovely.The story, by director King Vidor and John Weaver, is a poignant tale of one man's eventual acceptance that, while he may never be a great man in the conventional sense, he is a hero to his family. The Crowd is not however one of those great captivating works of screen writing that would be excellent however it was done. Almost all of its appeal comes through the way Vidor has realised it. This man is just so good at coming up with the simplest ways of expressing a familiar concept. At the first scene of the protagonist's birth the moment is carried by a long shot of the proud father – keying us in not to the event itself but to the emotions involved. Throughout, Vidor is framing incidents against the backdrop of the big city, the huge buildings and masses of people. Towards the end there is even a shot of John Sims making his way through a massive cemetery. Despite the small scope of the story this large canvas gives the movie an almost epic feel, and grants the little story its sense of far-reaching importance.Vidor was of course a master of cinematic technique, but unlike some of the very showy directors of this time (such as F.W. Murnau) he seeks to wind his camera trickery into the physical logic of the action. So for example one of the most obtrusive angles is the upward tilt on the trolleybus steps, but this is from John's point-of-view, so it makes sense. A little after this we get the most obtrusive camera movement, as we swoop down the slide, but again this is following the characters. The attention-grabbing nature of these shots is important because it gives the right tone to the romantic Coney Island visit, but Vidor does it in such a way that we are focused on the people in the story and not the technical wizardry behind it. Of course, there is the one very famous shot travelling shot going up the skyscraper, but this works because it is a linking piece of narrative. Every time the characters are on the screen, it is all about them.Vidor deliberately cast two small time players in the lead roles. While James Murray and Eleanor Boardman are not exactly exceptional actors, they work well here because of their capacity for realism and their inherent likability, and their lack of star quality actually enhances their ordinariness. Murray for example is a funny guy, but he is not funny like a comedian, he's funny in the way that someone one knows and works with might be a bit of a joker. Boardman had more experience that Murray and is somewhat more the professional actress, but it is her tenderness and restraint which shines through here, and her rapport with Murray appears strong.So, The Crowd is an immaculate piece of silent storytelling. However this does not necessarily make it the relic of a now-extinct art form. Motion pictures did not change so much when the talkies arrived, and the techniques that King Vidor perfected here would stand him in good stead for some very fine movies well into the sound era. Cinema is all about making images speak to us in universal tongues. Sound would add another layer to the mix, but with images as powerful this it would detract nothing.

Hitchcoc Most of us aren't winners and most of us aren't losers. "The Crowd" is the story of a man who has had his dreams taken from him by the fact that there are just so many of us, hence the title. He does his work each day. He parties. He loves. He hopes. And like with most of us, life throws him curves and he does what he can. Unfortunately, the death of a child is a big curve and it's hard to recover from that. I was really moved by this film. I generally find silent films curiosities. This one had the charm and the depth that any movie has. Yes, he seems like the kind of guy with the big ideas that we all know. The patience of his loving wife is more than he deserves. The portrayal of all this is marvelously done and pulls out a few tears. For anyone who wants one more chance, this is a nice movie. I understand that the lead is a man who succumbed to the misfortunes of life and paid a price that could have been like that of the protagonist. The cinematography is another thing that really works well in this film. King Vidor did incredible street shots showing the power of anonymity.