The Crowd

Running time: N/A

This famous silent film displays a remarkable combination of poetry and social realism in depicting the life of a quite ordinary man and his family in New York City. The Crowd is one of the great movies of the silent era. Director King Vidor’s extraordinary film about the life of an average young man (just one of the crowd) is unequivocally American, despite the influence of German Expressionism (in particular, the impressive sets and cinematography). John grows up, works an uninspiring job, marries Mary, has children, experiences love and happiness and disillusion and loss. Despite his setbacks, he perseveres and abides, as we all must. "The crowd laughs with you always…but will cry with you for only a day."