Before there was Ordinary People, Blue Valentine, Marriage Story, etc., there was The Crowd, a wonderfully done story about everyday life with camerawork and cinematography ahead of its time.

A tough watch. Like my viewing of "Greed", it was interesting to watch a silent drama, since so many of the silent films that remain of interest to modern audiences tend toward the visually fantastic - comedy, science fiction, horror, action. A nuanced portrayal of family life without heroes or villains, I found it interesting that King Vidor chose not to hit the audience over the head with intertitles and instead allow visual expression and even lip-reading to help tell the story.

This film is average 🤏

A silent film that feels modern. Great story, acting and directing.

A modest financial and critical success upon it's initial release it was substanstial and worthy and a powerful analysis of a young couple's struggle for existence in the city. Hailed as one of the greatest silent films, it is about ordinary people. It had been released just as the Great Depression hit and audiences had sought escapist entertainment over realism.

The direction and camera techniques were clearly ahead or their time. Unfortunately, the story was not.

A major champion of many of the components of the quintessenitally American domestic drama, featuring variously an inflated sense of self-importance, the confidence in the American Dream, the highs and lows of marriage, intimate tragedy, the draw of the city, and contrasting personal and professional success. Takes a clearly disenchanted view of the modern way of life of 1928, in which personal prosperity was placed above all else, and empathy was in short supply (Arthur Miller was clearly taking notes); John's initially dismissive remarks towards the clown and subsequent joy at being able to fill his position when his ambitions fall short may have been somewhat predictable, but it's still powerful (which is at least in part due to Murray's depiction of the character). While the film ends on an undeniably positive note, the Sims' troubles are far from resolved, but they are drowned out in the face of personal reconciliation among the family and an innate hope for future success. In 1928 with the market soaring, how many directors were willing to take a stab at the dark undertones of American prosperity theology? Taps into insecurities and hopes on a cultural level, and still deeply affecting even if every component has been dissected and adapted into another property at some point over the last century. (4/5)

Excellent movie considering it is not a talkie. Characters tell their stories just with facial and body gestures in a very meaningful and emotional way. It is a story of an ordinary man coming to grips with the fact that he is ordinary. Despite this, his wife and son love him dearly and, after all, what is life all about? Love will find a way.

The best, GREATEST romance movie ever made!

'The Crowd' is strong in its early scenes of the life of a young man, played by James Murray. He goes to New York to make it big, and is immediately swallowed up into the masses, a cog in the mighty machine of an office, and the shots director King Vidor uses to show this are fantastic. He then meets a young woman (Eleanor Boardman), and there are some lovely scenes of them courting at an amusement park, and then at Niagara Falls on their honeymoon. From there the film almost gets too realistic as it trundles through various phases of life. We see him in awkward family gatherings, tying one on with his friend (Bert Roach) and a couple of party girls, having marital arguments, becoming a father, giving his kids horsey rides, hitting incredible high points but also enduring a deep tragedy, struggling through difficult times, and getting depressed. In many of those, there are so many little moments that heighten the realism; how silly and petty the arguments are, needing to help his kids relieve themselves at the beach, and on and on. Most people will relate to at least some of the parts of the film, and it shows just how similar lives in the past were to our own, even though its trappings and technology were of course different. Vidor essentially shows us the universality of experience. He also shows us that ultimately love and sticking together are the way to persevere through adversity. I don't see the film as one of the greatest silent films of all time as some do, but there's a depth and quality to the film that certainly make it a good one, and worth seeing.

It is pushed by the power that it is fun to make movies and it can not be helped. Camera work that licks over Manhattan and looks up at the building, the beauty of shaping that big people gather and wander through, the wonderful love scene in Niagara, the trembling of the hero's hand, the production of the last s scene. I was overwhelmed by the power of the movie, independent of the good or bad of the theme of this movie.

A well made film about life and the struggles of the individual in making a living to support one's family. 1001 movies to see before you die.

An everyman with aspirations of greatness never quite makes it as tragedy upon mishap befall himself and his family. it's business as usual in the cold rat race of life.

A movie about being one and everyone among the crowd. Altthough the story speak to us today the pace of the film and the characters melodramatic backstory look quite out-dated today.

Easily the greatest film of its time. Vidor not only narrates an emotional and powerful roller-coaster of a story that will have you on the edge of your seat (which reflects the main theme of the film which is to persevere in the situations we and life put ourselves in), he also incorporates ingenious camera techniques that many directors use in modern films, yet were considered impossible and absurd during his time.

One of the most impressive silent film ever made. Even it's been over 85 years since its release, King Vidor's The Crowd still manages to leave strong impressions in modern auduences' minds.

A movie like this would never be made today and i am surprised it was back then. Its really just the story of an ordinary mans life with only one or two unique things that happed to him. This must have struck a chord with audiences at the time for being so real. While not being the most dramatic or entertaining film it gets credit in my book for taking a chance and doing something first. In a way the film somewhat reminds me of the recent "inside Llewin Davis" where the ending is not happy or sad, life just goes on. Also keeping that kind of seemingly boring premise interesting is difficult and King Vidor pulls it off. I also think remembering the title of this film as you watch helps to understand it better.

Perhaps one of the most underrated and overlooked silent films ever made.

This film is a brilliant answer and living example to those that perpetuate the myth that America used to be pretty much perfect prior to the social decay of the 1960's and beyond - the belief that there was a golden era when equal opportunity was available to all via the free market. This film is over 80 years old, and it could have been made today, with very few changes other than the addition of sound . . . and still seem current and edgy. It could have easily been titled "The American Dream" . . . something sold to "the crowd" as a practical aspiration, and this film reveals that it was no more true in 1928 (prior to the stock market crash and the great depression) than it is today. Brilliant film. One of the very best I've seen from the 1920's. I also must add that the soundtrack is the best I've heard thus far in a silent film.

Damn! The premise of this film - man struggles against his own dopiness to provide for his family during depression - mightn't seem too hook-worthy. And, unsurprisingly, this wasn't a big hit when released, but it's not exactly escapism. It has its fair share of (character-based) humour, but it can be pretty bleak and heartrending. It features despair and tragedy and even suicide. No wonder it wasn't a great success way back when. Yet it's been reevaluated since its debut, and frankly, it has deserved that reevaluation. It really sucks you in. On the one hand, it's a fascinating background on the dark side of the American Dream in the 1920s - the way people lived, played and worked (or, as often as not, didn't work). The scenes in the office, the beach, the street, and especially the home have a genuine sense of realism and mise-en-scene. It may even capture the essence of a typical, struggling 1920s family. Yet "The Crowd" isn't a documentary - at its heart is a story with remarkably empathetic, endearing characters - a story and relationships familiar to many - making The Crowd - a truly timeless classic. Vidor's sweeping camera moves, his naturalistic way with his the brilliant, unaffected actors, and his minimal use use of title cards, make The Crowd stand head and shoulders above most of its contemporaries. It is poignant drama, as opposed to melodrama. A BIG American film, that in many ways feels more like a small European one. And that is intended to be a compliment.