Review #990: The Crowd (1928)

Title: The Crowd
Year: 1928
Director: King Vidor
Country: US
Language: N/A

French director Jean Luc Godard was asked in the 1960's why more films were not made about ordinary people, and his response was "The Crowd had already been made, so why remake it?" King Vidor's picture was a modest critical and commercial success upon release, but was not immediately hailed as a masterpiece due to audiences desiring escapist entertainment over stark realism following the wake of the Great Depression. Filmmakers would not embrace the genius of The Crowd until after World War II. 

Vidor presents the life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles and downfalls.

MGM head Louis B. Mayer hated The Crowd when it was first released, mainly due to the film's realistic cynicism, which can still prove jarring for people whose only exposure to silent cinema is that of comedy (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd). It's a groundbreaking and courageous picture that has no major stars, lacks in any real plot, lacks in dramatic conflict and is about ordinary people. It has the same cinematic current as post-war neo-realism and, although there is no standout acting that chews the scenery, is absolutely engaging from start to finish. 

The main theme of The Crowd is the loneliness in being one of the crowd, subject to its fleetingly concerned curiosity in moments of untimely tragedy and its active indifference to the individual’s plight. The crowd doesn't care when our loved ones pass away, no matter how much they mean to us. Vidor exemplified this theme using MGM's extravagant resources. He combined naturalistic filming, on occasions using hidden cameras on the streets of New York, with expressionistic use of studio sets, lighting and camera placement to heighten moments of personal crisis.

Much of Vidor's techniques would still have been considered innovative even after the sound period was in full swing, as the limitations of early sound (specifically how far a camera could be from a microphone) prevented such masterful framing. The Crowd is certainly a unique picture that deserves the love it gets from film-buffs.