Nearly a century after it was first released in cinemas, King Vidor’s THE CROWD is finally making its Blu-ray debut.
Flicker Alley and Blackhawk Films have announced a brand-new restoration of Vidor’s celebrated 1928 silent masterpiece, bringing the landmark drama to home entertainment in a special Flicker Fusion edition featuring exclusive bonus material, three musical scores and limited edition slipcover artwork.
On the heels of his massively successful The Big Parade (1925), Vidor delivered another masterpiece with THE CROWD, an effortlessly relatable treatise on the human condition that is every bit as soul-stirring today as it was when it first arrived nearly a century ago.
King Vidor’s THE CROWD will be released in a limited spot gloss slipcover edition on 8 December 2026 and is available to pre-order now via the Flicker Alley website.
Starring virtual unknown James Murray as born-on-the-fourth-of-July American everyman Johnny Sims and the illuminating Eleanor Boardman as Mary, Vidor explores the contradictions of being alive, balancing the existential dread of becoming an insignificant cog in an oppressive system with the sublime beauty of simply maintaining one’s soul in the face of eternal struggle and impossible loss.
THE CROWD comes to home entertainment for the first time in a brand-new restoration from Blackhawk Films, made possible through the generous support of the Sunrise Foundation for Education & the Arts.
Featuring three musical scores: a rousing original piano composition by Antonio Coppola, a momentous orchestral score by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and a fascinatingly modern xylophone accompaniment by Illya Amar.
Bonus Materials Include:
- Audio Commentary – By Kevin Stoehr, author of King Vidor in Focus: On the Filmmaker’s Artistry and Vision
- Skyscraper Symphony (1929) – From the collection of the George Eastman Museum, director Robert Florey’s avant-garde “city symphony” offers New York City’s Manhattan as a high flying trapeze act, paying tribute to a towering and ever-growing skyline
- The Paths of The Crowd (2026) – A behind the scenes exploration of the film’s lost deleted sequences and alternate endings
- Ko-Ko’s Magic (1928) – Ko-Ko and Fritz the Dog head to Coney Island to ask the eternal question: Is the pen mightier than magic powder? From Max Fleischer’s Inkwell Imps series and directed by Dave Fleischer, Ko-Ko’s Magic features a brilliant new restoration by Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored with music by Charlie Judkins
- Johnny and Mary (2026) – A visual essay about King Vidor and his protagonists
- Image Galleries – Featuring productions stills and promotional material
- Booklet Insert – A brief overview of the production from Jordan Young, author of King Vidor’s The Crowd: The Making of a Silent Classic
- Limited Edition Spot Gloss Slipcover – Optional packaging upgrade with exclusive artwork, available only at FlickerAlley.com
- English SDH Subtitles
- Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity in Motion
- All Region Encoding (A,B,C)
Ready to revisit one of silent cinema’s most enduring classics? Discover what makes King Vidor’s THE CROWD such a fascinating piece of film history and explore everything included in the new Blu-ray restoration.
