critics consensus

King Vidor's dynamic direction brings expressionist style to the American Dream in The Crowd, a powerfully humanist picture about the struggle for self-actualization. Read critic reviews

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The Crowd Photos

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Movie Info

Young John Sims (James Murray) weathers the death of his father and travels to New York City in search of success. Instead, he becomes a low-level worker in an enormous office of a nameless corporation. After he meets a beautiful young woman (Eleanor Boardman), things seem to be looking up, but before long the newlyweds are sullen and bickering, and the arrival of their children leaves John feeling trapped in a dead-end existence. Then tragedy strikes, causing him to reassess his life.

Genre:

drama
Director:

King Vidor
Producer:

Irving Thalberg
Release Date (Theaters):

Feb 18, 1928 wide
Runtime:

1h 44m
Production Co:

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Cast & Crew

Eleanor Boardman
Mary

James Murray
John

Bert Roach
Bert

Estelle Clark
Jane

Daniel G. Tomlinson
Jim

Dell Henderson
Dick

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Crowd

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (1)

Vidor, playing to that crowd, sternly warns against going it alone.

December 15, 2014 | Full Review…

Richard Brody
New Yorker
The Crowd is a masterpiece - moving, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful. It's a must for anyone interested in the roots of moviemaking, and it's a good choice to show to someone who thinks they wouldn't like silent films.

September 11, 2013 | Full Review…

Alonso Duralde
Linoleum Knife
The camera style owes something to Murnau, but the sense of space -- the vast environments that define and attack his protagonists -- is Vidor's own.

February 26, 2013 | Full Review…

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
A drab actionless story of ungodly length and apparently telling nothing.

July 7, 2008 | Full Review…

Variety Staff
Variety
Plot in The Crowd is structured as the progression of a life, with all the undulations of ups and downs driven by the director's faith in human emotion.

February 25, 2007 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Fernando F. Croce
Slant Magazine
Throughout this subject Mr. Vidor shrewdly avoids the stereotyped conception of setting forth scenes, and in more than one case he uses his camera in an inspired fashion.

March 25, 2006 | Full Review…

Mordaunt Hall
New York Times
In this powerful silent drama from director King Vidor, James Murray gives a superlative performance as an idealistic young man trapped in a dead-end job whose ambitions are dogged by tragedy.

August 12, 2014 | Full Review…

Allen Eyles
Radio Times
A truly great work of art: a one-of-a-kind blend of domestic drama and a depiction of urban geometry.

May 9, 2014 | Rating: 10/10 | Full Review…

Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
A remarkably prescient picture.

February 26, 2013 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

TV Guide
King Vidor made a visually striking, influential feature about ordinary people and their anonymous, impersonal lives in the Big City

June 10, 2011 | Rating: A- | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Occasionally pushes its patriotism motif too far, but is extremely successful in all other ways, particularly in its strong portrayal of a full circle self-realization, love story, and sweeping portrait of America.

July 5, 2010 | Rating: 73/100 | Full Review…

Gabe Leibowitz
Film and Felt
Casts a dark shadow over the American Dream.

May 22, 2007 | Rating: A+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews