The Crowd
About The Crowd
John Sims, born on the Fourth of July in 1900, loses his father at twelve and comes to New York at twenty-one. He takes a desk at Atlas Insurance. On a Coney Island double date arranged by Bert he proposes to Mary, and she accepts. They quarrel, she leaves, and they reconcile when she says she is pregnant. They have a son and a daughter. John wins $500 for a slogan and buys presents. Their daughter is killed by a truck. He quits, refuses a job from Mary's brothers as charity, and thinks of suicide until his son pulls him back. He takes work as a sandwich-board man. Mary, about to leave with her brothers, stays. The family laughs together at a vaudeville show, one row inside a full house.
Cast & crew
More about The Crowd
King Vidor directed. He and John V. A. Weaver wrote the screenplay. The story is credited to Vidor and, without a credit, Harry Behn. Joseph Farnham wrote the titles. Irving Thalberg produced. Henry Sharp photographed it. Hugh Wynn edited. It opened in New York on 28 February 1928 and went into general release on 3 March.
Themes
Look
Henry Sharp photographed the New York streets and the office floor where John's desk is one of many.
Music
Carl Davis wrote a score for the 1981 restoration by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill.
Preservation
Brownlow and Gill restored the film in 1981. The Library of Congress named it to the National Film Registry in 1989. It entered the U.S. public domain in 2024.
Notes
- James Murray plays John. Eleanor Boardman plays Mary. Bert Roach plays Bert.
- At the first Academy Awards it was nominated for Unique and Artistic Production, for Thalberg and MGM, and for Best Director, Dramatic Picture, for Vidor.
- Kevin Brownlow and David Gill restored it in 1981 and released it with a score by Carl Davis.
- In 1989 it was one of the first 25 films named to the National Film Registry.
- It entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
- John's raise, in the Wikipedia plot, is eight dollars.
Scenes
- John proposes to Mary on the Coney Island date Bert arranged.
- Their daughter runs into the street and is hit by a truck.
- The family sits laughing in a vaudeville audience that fills the frame.
Also available
- Internet Archive (lafoulethecrowd1927kingvidorvosttcm)
