"The Crowd" is King Vidor's experimental triumph, a snapshot of the common man that perfectly captured not only the exhilarating whir and unbridled optimism of the Roaring Twenties but also the cruel realities of life without a social safety net. Vidor conned his studio bosses into letting him make this little movie, with a comparatively small budget, in exchange for Vidor's future commitments to commercial, big-budget pictures that were MGM's bread and butter.
Vidor cast his wife, the beautiful Eleanor Boardman, as the plain Jane female lead Mary. Reports say Boardman was nonplussed at having to look so ordinary on screen, especially since she was the prototypical movie star -- snooty and obsessed with clothes and all issues of personal style.
For the hero, John, Vidor literally picked a face from "the crowd" -- a little-known actor named James Murray whose own life and ultimate fate eerily mirrored those of the character he played. A few years after "The Crowd," the troubled Murray was a suicide, jumping to his drowning death. While his character in the film doesn't kill himself, he does come awfully close -- his suicidal impulse to jump from a railroad trestle is aborted only for the love of an adoring son.
I would love this movie if for no other reason than the gorgeous tracking shot up the side of the skyscraper at the beginning, where we meet John at work, a faceless functionary at a giant, depersonalized corporation that seems to be model for modern corporate America.
This movie is worth seeing, even with the happy ending Vidor chose from seven he shot. Actually, I kind of like the ending -- John, Mary and son fade back into "the crowd"; it seems like the most logical and happiest fate they could hope to attain.
This is truly a great film.
Vidor cast his wife, the beautiful Eleanor Boardman, as the plain Jane female lead Mary. Reports say Boardman was nonplussed at having to look so ordinary on screen, especially since she was the prototypical movie star -- snooty and obsessed with clothes and all issues of personal style.
For the hero, John, Vidor literally picked a face from "the crowd" -- a little-known actor named James Murray whose own life and ultimate fate eerily mirrored those of the character he played. A few years after "The Crowd," the troubled Murray was a suicide, jumping to his drowning death. While his character in the film doesn't kill himself, he does come awfully close -- his suicidal impulse to jump from a railroad trestle is aborted only for the love of an adoring son.
I would love this movie if for no other reason than the gorgeous tracking shot up the side of the skyscraper at the beginning, where we meet John at work, a faceless functionary at a giant, depersonalized corporation that seems to be model for modern corporate America.
This movie is worth seeing, even with the happy ending Vidor chose from seven he shot. Actually, I kind of like the ending -- John, Mary and son fade back into "the crowd"; it seems like the most logical and happiest fate they could hope to attain.
This is truly a great film.