When Hollywood director King Vidor fell in love with and married one-time model-turned-actress Eleanor Boardman in 1926, their union produced two children and six movies. Their final cinematic effort, “The Crowd,” is considered by many the greatest silent picture ever made.
Vidor’s classic World War I drama “The Big Parade” became the most profitable film in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer history (a rank it held until “Gone With the Wind”). As a result, producer Irving Thalberg gave the director a chance to make a seemingly non-commercial film about the average man’s journey through life. MGM could afford an experiment now and then, Hollywood’s boy wonder assured Vidor without seeing a screenplay.
The end result was so offbeat the studio delayed its release and nervously reworked it, omitting a prominent character played by a rising young star. The finished film grossed nearly $1 million. MGM’s Louis B. Mayer vetoed the picture’s Academy Award chances because Vidor dared to show a toilet in the film family’s modest apartment. Boardman’s co-star, newcomer James Murray, managed to hide a serious drinking problem during filming but allowed it to destroy a promising career and died tragically young.
In addition to his interviews with Vidor and Boardman, the author had access to studio memos, telegrams and other documents, plus virtually every draft of the screenplay, enabling him to track the project from rough idea to problematic finished product. The book describes deleted scenes as well as alternate finales—including a happy ending the studio clumsily sent out with a “take your pick” note. Details of the 1928 film’s release and restoration are also included, along with biographical sketches of the cast and crew and a listing of unbilled actors and creative personnel, many previously uncredited.
“ ‘The Crowd’ is practically plotless. And yet every incident is so brilliantly directed and acted that the film blazes to life. The shots are simple, yet full of emotional power; King Vidor treats his characters so lovingly and with such understanding that one cannot help but share his feelings. ‘The Crowd’ is the finest American silent film I have ever seen,” says Oscar-winning film historian Kevin Brownlow, who wrote the forward. “Jordan Young’s research is worthy of his subject. I read it at one gulp, and found it as fascinating as I had hoped.”
Vidor’s classic World War I drama “The Big Parade” became the most profitable film in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer history (a rank it held until “Gone With the Wind”). As a result, producer Irving Thalberg gave the director a chance to make a seemingly non-commercial film about the average man’s journey through life. MGM could afford an experiment now and then, Hollywood’s boy wonder assured Vidor without seeing a screenplay.
The end result was so offbeat the studio delayed its release and nervously reworked it, omitting a prominent character played by a rising young star. The finished film grossed nearly $1 million. MGM’s Louis B. Mayer vetoed the picture’s Academy Award chances because Vidor dared to show a toilet in the film family’s modest apartment. Boardman’s co-star, newcomer James Murray, managed to hide a serious drinking problem during filming but allowed it to destroy a promising career and died tragically young.
In addition to his interviews with Vidor and Boardman, the author had access to studio memos, telegrams and other documents, plus virtually every draft of the screenplay, enabling him to track the project from rough idea to problematic finished product. The book describes deleted scenes as well as alternate finales—including a happy ending the studio clumsily sent out with a “take your pick” note. Details of the 1928 film’s release and restoration are also included, along with biographical sketches of the cast and crew and a listing of unbilled actors and creative personnel, many previously uncredited.
“ ‘The Crowd’ is practically plotless. And yet every incident is so brilliantly directed and acted that the film blazes to life. The shots are simple, yet full of emotional power; King Vidor treats his characters so lovingly and with such understanding that one cannot help but share his feelings. ‘The Crowd’ is the finest American silent film I have ever seen,” says Oscar-winning film historian Kevin Brownlow, who wrote the forward. “Jordan Young’s research is worthy of his subject. I read it at one gulp, and found it as fascinating as I had hoped.”
