King Vidor's The Crowd (1928) tells the story of John Sims, born on the Fourth of July, 1900, as he grows up and tries to become a "big man." Tracing his difficulties as he moves to New York City, The Crowd documents the struggles of the individual to rise above "the crowd," an entity alternately depicted in the film as sinister and as sheltering. Separateing oneself from the crowd is how one become wealthy and powerful, but getting out of step with the crowd can result in disaster and ruin. How is a man supposed to understand where that fine line exists?

Click here for an historical analysis of the film.

Questions to Think About:

What are the defining events in John Sims's life?

What is the crowd, and what governs its actions? Who makes up the crowd? Is John a part of it? Is Bert? Are workers and bosses both equally part of the crowd? Are women part of the crowd?

The character of Mary is a funny paradox, vascillating between Victorian and modern womanhood, sometimes a True Woman, and sometimes modeling herself as a New Woman. Discuss Mary's identity. Which is she mostly? Why does she act like a New Woman, and what does she get for doing so? Compare her to the Lillian Gish character in The Birth of a Nation.

Much of The Crowd concerns paradigms of masculinity. What is it that makes a man a man in the world of this film? What manly characteristics make one stand out among the crowd? How does John Sims measure up as a man? In what ways can teh dramatic shape of the film be seen as a discourse on the significance of manliness in 1920s America? How would this story be told differently if it had been told by Mary, rather than John?

Is the story of John Sims a tragedy? How might it have been viewed by audiences then differently than we view it today?

Further resources for studying The Crowd:

Read Mick LaSalle's review of The Crowd from the November 8, 1995, San Francisco Chronicle.

Check out The Internet Movie Database pages for The Crowd.

Learn more about silent films and the study of film in general at the American Film Institute site.

Prepared by Professor Catherine Lavender courses in The Department of History, The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York. Send email to lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu
Last modified: Friday 4 June 1999