UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Antonius Block '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.

sbasu-47-608737 A very surprisingly mature treatment of a subject at that age, when not many have really attempted such maturity, at least in Hollywood (there were of course Euro movies, delving in different serious aspects). In Hollywood, even when some attempts were made, the main focus was lost, trying to cater the masses (e.g. Way Down East). But this movie doesn't lose the focus, till the end. The subject here is the treatment of Human Ego. Every person deep inside, considers himself/ herself to be special, and hence not really a part of the mass, but one who destined to rise to the cream. Many times, this belief is strengthened by their parents/ other really caring persons, which might have a disastrous effect, when the speciality of the person isn't too far away from the statistical 'Average' The movie chronicles of one of such person, who could luckily get a girl, Mary, who wasn't average in real sense, but she wasn't something of fantasy either, these loving and motherly women, ready to forgive the husbands errant ways, not due to belief, but only for love/ care (he would be lost without me - indicates both the aspects). The ending might be confusing, it has confused a few of the reviewers too, but it isn't depressing or even confusing. It is the acceptance of the facts, that We are after all a part of the crowd. Still we have our specialities (Juggling, Advertisement catch-words), through we can stand a bit away from it. But for that we have to accept that we are not so different from the mass, that we can make our own path, and then make the stream follow us. In fact on this aspect, the movie not only ends in a happy, but in a positive note too. There are a few points - which might have been missed, the transformation of the hero, from one living in his fools paradise, to real life, comes when his son, (the second one with unconditional love, along with Mary, his wife), and the only one still with full faith on him, declares "When I grow Up, I want to be like you" , and then he has to prove himself to be worth of that faith, even if it meant starting from the bottom. He had his talents, and that gets him start. The second was the support of his wife, who proudly shows the neighbour in the theater, her husband's creation, and the man seems to be suitably impressed. Both of these hints on the probable 'creaming' of the hero. Though, alas, the Great Depression was just moments way, and in real life, he would have been crushed, being at the bottom rungs. A positive movie need not end with the hero made overnight millionaire or sensation. It is the note at the ending, which gives the viewer the faith that he has moved into right path.Director, King Vidor, has quite a few brilliant movies in his portfolio, and this one could rank near the top of them,As a foot-note, he (Director) seems to have been really in love with his wife, Eleanor, the heroine in the movie. The close-ups, or the poses in the honeymoon sequence and even later (e.g. picnic) really brought out her delicate beauty, as well as her acting prowess. I wonder what went wrong within a few years after this.

frankwiener Thanks to Turner Classic Movies, for the first time in my long film viewing life I have learned to appreciate silent movies, at least the best of them, and I believe that "The Crowd" stands very tall among this group.The story of John (James Murray) and Mary (Eleanor Boardman) Sims in 1928 could easily be the timeless story of a struggling couple in any major American city today, including their hopes, dreams, celebrations, and, alas, calamities. As a working stiff for over 40 years, some of them occurring in the very cold, impersonal cities of New York, Boston, and Washington, I could very much relate to the struggles of the Sims, thanks mostly to the very effective direction of King Vidor and the excellent dramatic efforts of Murray and Boardman. In addition, Bert (Bert Roach), as the jovial, successful, and socially adept colleague of John, literally bounced off the screen as someone who could have realistically been one of my own co-workers during this century.What I value most about this film is Vidor's ability to contrast the impersonal, dispassionate, and often cruel world of the big city and its large organizations against the very human, emotional story of one, single family living somewhere within the endless surge of the multitudes. The film also allows us a rare glimpse of New York City life almost 90 years ago. For ninety minutes, I felt as though I were right there, battling the world as my parents and grandparents did during those times, which, in so many ways, are not very different from our own era today as we still struggle to attain the good life.I only wish that John did not recklessly lure his kids from across the busy street by holding the toys out of the apartment window, but that was John. What irked me even more was that after misfortune strikes the family, the parents failed to watch Junior as closely as they should have. Hadn't they learned by then? I was saddened to read of the tragic, true life of James Murray. For me, it made the tribulations of the fictional John Sims even more sorrowful.

Michael Neumann At a time when movies were learning how to indulge audiences with epic romance and timeless fantasy, King Vidor's simple story of ordinary people struggling against the relentless anonymity of big city life must have come as something of a revelation. Vidor stylishly combined realistic backgrounds with natural performances and in doing so was able to avoid the usual histrionic overkill of silent screen melodrama. The beautifully realized story follows an ambitious young man to bustling, metropolitan New York City, where his big dreams are slowly crushed under the accumulating pressures of work load and home life until, gratefully, he sinks to the level of the downtrodden masses he'd previously laughed at. Unlike so many other Jazz Age relics the film has aged remarkably well; decades later it's still an emotional experience, and a perfect example to modern audiences of the visual eloquence achieved at the height of the silent era.