The Crowd (1928) by King Vidor! *Full Film with Soundtrack

Couple of notes! 1) This movie is only available with one official soundtrack (that I’m aware of), made by Carl Davis in 1981. That soundtrack is NOT in the public domain. I sourced music from Epidemic sound that felt thematically correct, but by all means, mute it and play your own if that works! Silents would have had different music depending on the theater back in 1928 anyway! 2) The watermark! I hated doing it, but it was to cover up another watermark that was on the print from when it was under copyright. I tried to make the Moronic Logic watermark as small as possible just to cover the original one. 3) This print originally had French subtitles! (Thanks Cee-Jay) I carefully removed them to the best of my ability, but black bars might occasionally be visible where they overlapped with the image! I again tried to make them as small as possible so as not to be distracting. They definitely appear in scenes where the text is on the screen via a newspaper, book, or handwriting. I also missed one subtitle completely. 4) The print seemed to be moving too fast for my liking, so I slowed it down to the speed wikipedia mentioned the original film would have run at. 98 minutes. It still feels a bit fast tbh but it’s a bit better than it was imho. 5) The records! There are two scenes in here where music is indicated by records or singing. Because those original recordings are also in the public domain I included them. Audiences at the time would have been humming those songs to themselves in the theater, so it seemed like a good opportunity to share that with a modern audience. Fans of “Jaws“ will recognize one of them. 6) I am posting this simply to get more of my friends and supporters here to watch it! If and when a nice restoration becomes available, I will be purchasing that immediately and encourage all of you to as well. 7) YouTube extras! I mentioned this in a comment, but for those of you reading the fine print and want to learn more about King Vidor- check out this documentary “The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor“ from 1973. You get to hear him talk about his films and early cinema straight from his own mouth. It only has 5 reviews at the moment on Letterboxd so I know most of you haven’t seen it! Here’s the link- As for the movie... It’s great! According to “Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards“, King Vidor’s “The Crowd“ actually was picked to win the Oscar for Best Unique and Artistic Picture over Murnau’s “Sunrise.“ It was studio head and Academy founder Louis B. Mayer that demanded the award go to “Sunrise.“ Sunrise is also a fantastic film, but winning the award has kept that movie in print (It was the first silent film on blu-ray), while The Crowd had all but vanished from view. Louis B. Mayer called The Crowd “that damn toilet film“ because The Crowd was potentially the first film to show a toilet. Claims that “Psycho“ was first are clearly erroneous, though it MIGHT have been the first to feature a flushing sound. Correct me in the comments, please. Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: TRADITIONAL String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158: Tempo Di Menuetto Part 2 Vienna Waltz String Quartet No. 9 in A Major, K. 169: II. Andante String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158: Andante String Quartet No. 3 in A Major, Op 41: Adagio, Part 1 String Quartet No 2 In D, K. 155: 2. Andante String Quartet in D: Andante String Quartet No. 11 in E Flat Major, K. 171: I. Adagio - Allegro Assai Eine Kleine Nachtmusic String Quartet No 13 K173 Allegro Canon In D Major (String Quartet Version) Streichquartett No. 3, ’Kaiserquartett’ In C Major, Op. 76: III. Menuetto Version 1 Divertimento in F major, K. 138: II. Andante String Quartet No. 2 In D Major, K. 155: I. Allegro String Quartet in F Major Allegro JOHANNES BORNLÖF O Holy Night (Piano Version) The Rose And The Thorn GAVIN LUKE Beyond Imagination HAMPUS NAESELIUS Remembering a Heartbeat