King Vidor’s “The Crowd”

The Crowd laughs with you always …. but it will cry with you for only a day.”

King Vidor’s masterpiece, The Crowd, is a landmark of Hollywood’s silent era. The delirious joy and horrific sorrow of Johnny Sims (James Murray) and his beautiful Mary (Eleanor Boardman) remains intimate and touching even today. Theatergoers in 1928 were shocked by the visceral impact of this film. It is a simple story of boy meets girl, boy marries girl, love and tragedy amid the humdrum routine of daily life in the big city, told with poetic beauty and startling realism.