"The crowd" follows the fortunes of a couple consisting of John (James Murray) and Mary (Eleanor Boardman) Sims.
The story is about the American dream not coming true. The man is a newspaper boy and despite all his dreams about becoming a millonaire he remains a newspaper boy (figuratively speaking).
The misfortune remains however not limited to a disappointing career so that the story of the film starts to resemble the Biblical story of Job.
The production company was afraid that the sadness of the story would hurt the result at the box office, and so the ending is happy. But it is one of the most mixed happy endings I have ever seen.
Because of their mutual love the couple survives their misfortunes and the film ends when they go to the theatre, having their first happy evening in a long time. So the modern book of Job story ends happy.
After this scene however the camera zooms out and the couple becomes part of the anonymous mass of the theater audience. They are still little people. The American dream remains without reach.
Stylistically the film is very interesting. Some scenes (for example the scene in which John as a young boy is confronted with the death of his father) are influenced by German expressionism. The daily life in New York is an important element in the film and in this respect the film is an American counterpart of a "city genre" that was popular at that time in Europe. See for example films like "Berlin, Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt" (1927, Walter Ruttmann), "Man with a movie camera" (1929, Dziga Vertov), "Menschen am Sonntag" (1930, Robert Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer and Rochus Gliese) and "A propos de Nice" (1930, Jean Vigo).
The film is however above all innovative where it comes to depicting an anonymous crowd. Not very astonishing given the title. This is done on the streets but also in a theatre (ending scene) and in a hospital (when Mary delivers their first child).
The most famous example is however in the beginning of the movie. The camera moves up along the facade of a gigantic skyscraper. On a certain floor the camera goes inside and we see an endless room with countless identical desks. The camera slowly moves towards John Sims' desk. This scene has had a great influence on the way in which office spaces would be depicted in films to come. Two very clear examples are "The apartment" (1960, Billy Wilder) and "The trial" (1962, Orson Welles).
The story is about the American dream not coming true. The man is a newspaper boy and despite all his dreams about becoming a millonaire he remains a newspaper boy (figuratively speaking).
The misfortune remains however not limited to a disappointing career so that the story of the film starts to resemble the Biblical story of Job.
The production company was afraid that the sadness of the story would hurt the result at the box office, and so the ending is happy. But it is one of the most mixed happy endings I have ever seen.
Because of their mutual love the couple survives their misfortunes and the film ends when they go to the theatre, having their first happy evening in a long time. So the modern book of Job story ends happy.
After this scene however the camera zooms out and the couple becomes part of the anonymous mass of the theater audience. They are still little people. The American dream remains without reach.
Stylistically the film is very interesting. Some scenes (for example the scene in which John as a young boy is confronted with the death of his father) are influenced by German expressionism. The daily life in New York is an important element in the film and in this respect the film is an American counterpart of a "city genre" that was popular at that time in Europe. See for example films like "Berlin, Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt" (1927, Walter Ruttmann), "Man with a movie camera" (1929, Dziga Vertov), "Menschen am Sonntag" (1930, Robert Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer and Rochus Gliese) and "A propos de Nice" (1930, Jean Vigo).
The film is however above all innovative where it comes to depicting an anonymous crowd. Not very astonishing given the title. This is done on the streets but also in a theatre (ending scene) and in a hospital (when Mary delivers their first child).
The most famous example is however in the beginning of the movie. The camera moves up along the facade of a gigantic skyscraper. On a certain floor the camera goes inside and we see an endless room with countless identical desks. The camera slowly moves towards John Sims' desk. This scene has had a great influence on the way in which office spaces would be depicted in films to come. Two very clear examples are "The apartment" (1960, Billy Wilder) and "The trial" (1962, Orson Welles).