Born of the Fourth of July, young Johnny Sims has it made. His father belives that he will one day become president of the USA. And he can, if he sets his mind to it. Anyone can do anything they set their mind to.
Johnny's father dies when he is 10, and that is but one of many pitfalls for Mr. Sims. As he grows up, like many before him, John (James Murray) sets out to make his mark in New York City. "All I need is an oportunity," he claims. However, he doesn't get that great job. John ends up as faceless worker #137 in a work-a-day job in a large office building of an insurance company.
John has few friends, but one friend, Bert (Bert Roach) sets him up on a blind date with Mary (Eleanor Boardman). Later that night, John proposes to Mary and they are wed sometime later.
It is now Several years later, and John and Mary have two kids, a boy and a girl. John is still stuck in his going nowhere dead-end job. One day, John wins $500 dollars in an ad contest, and it seems like things are going great; things will pick up right away. But lady luck shines on the Sims family for only the briefest of minutes. Tragedy strikes the Sims family. On top of it all, John looses his job. John is forced to take a job he mocked and laughed at years before. Now he is being mocked and laughed at.
This movie is a great example of the average life of the average work-a-day man and women. King Vidor captures the sorrow and heartbreak of the main characters in a way that probably could not be recreated in this day and age. John Sims is just an average person, and Vidor captures that aspect.
This story paralelles life in Hollywood - and New York to some extent. How many people come to those respective cities expecting to land their dream job modeling or acting. "I am so beautiful, I'm so great. I will be great," they all think. Everyone wants to succeed and beat the crowd.
John Sims has the same apirattion. He wants to succeed. "All I need is an opportunity," he says. But it never comes. The story is the same now as it was then - not everyone is good enough to be an actor or Model. Not everyone will succeed. This is the point that King Vidor hits home that is still effective today as it was then.
Plot: 
The story is like that of a lot of people "I'll go to New York... Hollywood... and i'll become famous!" It doesn't happen to everyone, and that's the point King Vidor delivers effectivly.
Visual Effects:
The special effects, very much ancient today as the movie is from 1928, were very good back in the day. Cinematography is exceptional: worth the price of admission alone, there is famous tracking shot near the beginning of the film where the camera pans through a crowd of people, up the side of a building, flys in through a window only to focus on our protagonist, John Sims. This is by far one of the best pieces of cinematography ever.
Sound:
This is s silent film, and with all silent films, the music is essential. The Crowd has a great score that fits the mood of the picture very well. In one or two scenes, though, the score does go off track and takes away from the film. This is negligable, though, but noticable, none-the-less.
Character Development:
Atmosphere:
I did not find The Crowd hard to get into, but not being accustomed to silent films can make them hard to get into, and The Crowd is no exception.
Reading all the title cards takes away from the actual acting itself, but only some times, if there are too many of them. This is not so for The Crowd, where there few title cards. King Vidor uses acting instead of heavy dialogue to make a great film.
Realism:
This film wonderfully realistic. The life of the protagonist - which was supposed to be so great - is never the way it was inteded to be. The main character, John Sims, does not become president, but becomes your joe average work-a-day New Yorker.
If fact, MGM did not want a "sad" ending to this film; they wanted something like "they win the lottery and live happily ever after!" This would have ruined the film, and in fact, there were no less than seven "happy" endings filmed. Test audiances hated the "happy" ending, and so it was that the film kept it's "sad" ending.
Warren’s Rating:
8.58/10Is the movie worth your time to watch?
02-02-05
