The Crowd

The Crowd (1928) 

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: King Vidor

Starring: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark, Daniel G. Tomlinson

From: MGM

A film I did not even know of until a few days ago was worthwhile.

This was viewed last night during TCM's weekly Sunday night silent movie showcase. As people rated it high both here and elsewhere, it seemed worthy of me giving it a shot. Thankfully it proved to be very good. It is melodramatic but thankfully not cloyingly or bombastically so. It follows a man named John Sims, who was born on the 4th of July, 1900. As an adult he moves to New York City. One night on a double date he meets a swell gal named Mary; he asks for her hand in marriage THAT NIGHT and she accepts. They soon then get married and naturally, the relationship is rocky as they barely knew each other before getting hitched. All this is shown with frequent scenes in the hustle & bustle of NYC.

It is a movie influenced by such German filmmakers as F.W. Murneau so it was always striking to look at with both the camera movements and some scale models that were used. The story always intrigued and while the couple (who had a pair of kids) experienced its share of tragedies The Crowd did not wallow in misery and there were uplifting moments too. The cast-filled with unfamiliar names by design-all did a nice job of expressing themselves w/o the benefit of speech. Unfortunately, James Murray (John) in real life experienced a downfall and in a few eerie ways it matched his character here. Both were too proud to accept help for others and at one point John had thoughts of suicide while Murray died young, possibly due to his killing himself.

In 1934 the main characters returned-played by different actors-for Our Daily Bread; perhaps one day I'll check that out, as it is rather easy to find online. For certain, this is worth the effort of seeing if you enjoy the silent film genre.