The Crowd (1928)
An ordinary office clerk arrives in New York believing he is destined for greatness, but marriage, poverty, and a family tragedy grind down his ambitions until he and his wife find a fragile happiness in small moments.
The Crowd was King Vidor’s unsparing look at anonymous urban life and one of the first twenty-five films selected for the National Film Registry, in 1989. Vidor reportedly shot seven alternate endings before MGM accepted his bittersweet original.
Background
The Crowd was director King Vidor’s unsparing look at the anonymity of ordinary urban life, following an office clerk who arrives in New York convinced he is destined for something extraordinary, only to watch marriage, financial hardship, and a family tragedy slowly grind down his ambitions. Vidor reportedly shot several alternate endings for the film before settling on the more bittersweet version that MGM ultimately released.
What to watch for
Watch for how the film visualizes the sheer scale and indifference of the city around its central character, including shots that emphasize how small and interchangeable he and his family are within the vast urban landscape, a visual argument for the film’s title. It was among the first twenty-five films selected for the National Film Registry when the registry was created in 1989, recognized for its unusually honest, unglamorous portrait of ordinary American life rather than the more conventional success stories Hollywood typically told.
