The Ending of "The Crowd" (1928)
Eric Miller
StormChaser
"Eric Miller" <mil...@dellepro.com> wrote in message
news:3d580...@news1.prserv.net...
> Do you think it's happy or sad?
>
>
>
I watched THE CROWD the other day.
I don't think the ending is good or bad so
much as tacked on. In other words,
it was a studio decision because of a business
gripped in final reel-itis. No matter what happened
before, end it wrapped in a valentine. Hollywood
was afraid to show America as anything other than
the Land Of Opportunity. There was even an ending
prepared showing the family celebrating Christmas in
a large house that John bought because he got rich
as a jingle writer!
They hated Erich Von Stroheim not only because of his
excesses but because he took his stories to a logical con-
clusion. He was one of the few directors that could do this.
Cecil B. DeMille could do this too but only after his characters
wringed their hands and begged the Almighty for forgiveness.
Mark
Rodney Sauer
> Do you think it's happy or sad?
Which ending? Reputedly there were seven. The original cue sheet I have
has two alternate endings -- one is printed on a separate page -- so
that you can play music for the one your theater picked. And neither one
matches the scenes in the ending that is found on the current release.
Rodney Sauer
rod...@mont-alto.com
The Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra
and The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
http://www.mont-alto.com/
Harlett O'Dowd
For the record, what are the endings and how many are known to survive?
Fair Pickings
rod...@mont-alto.com wrote on 8/13/02 2:54 AM:
On the subject of the cue sheet, does it indicate "There's Everything Nice
About You" as the main theme? I know Carl Davis uses it in the TCM version
and, obviously, there's at least one place where it has to be played--when
the Johnny Marvin record is played on the phonograph.
Rodney Sauer
> On the subject of the cue sheet, does it indicate "There's Everything Nice
> About You" as the main theme? I know Carl Davis uses it in the TCM version
> and, obviously, there's at least one place where it has to be played--when
> the Johnny Marvin record is played on the phonograph.
It's not a main theme, though it does show up in that one spot in the
alternate ending (which might actually be the one on the "current" print
-- I've seen the film just once, but I just don't think there's enough
music allotted here for that huge theater scene).
This cue sheet makes very heavy use of the "Luz color scheme," a way of
repeating themes in the days before photocopiers. You stick a colored
tab on the musical score for the pieces that recur. They all go at the
back of the music stand. In your stack of music, you place a piece of
colored card stock everywhere in the score that one of the "theme"
pieces is required. When a musician in the orchestra comes across a
colored card, they pull the appropriate piece from the back and start
playing it. When they're done, it goes back at the back. Oddly, Luz
didn't give "Wedding Dreams" a color, even though it shows up nineteen
times! I guess by the time you've played the picture once in rehearsal
you've got it memorized...
Here are the last seven cues of the "standard" cue sheet. Some of the
same cues appear in the alternate ending, though not always with the
same music.
71. Husband juggles ball. Repeat no 69 (Yellow), A Busy Thoroughfare
(Baron). 20 sec.
72. Husband returns home with boy. Repeat No. 65, Wedding Dreams
(Marquardt). 1 min.
73. Stop with crescendo as husband thrown to the floor. Incidental
Symphony No. 1 (Kempinski). 45 sec.
74. Husband throws wife's two brothers out of the house. Repeat No. 65,
Wedding Dreams. 1 min.
75. Title "Years, Fleet Years." In the Clover (Thurban). 1 min 30 sec.
76. Title "I Always said Mary knew her onions." My Little Billiken
(Lotter) (BROWN). I min.
77. End of Trick. Wedding Dreams (Marquardt). 1 min. 20 sec.
Alternate ending:
72. Husband Returns Home with boy. True Love (Ketelby). 2 min.
73. Wife's two brothers leave room. Wedding Dreams. 1 Min.
74. Wife leaves room. Repeat 72, True Love. 1 min.
75. Wife re-enters home. Repeat No. 73, Wedding Dreams. 2 min, 40 sec.
76. Husband puts record on Victrola. There's Everything Nice About You
(Wendling). 50 sec.
77. Husband, wife and child seaterd on sofa. In the Clover (Thurban), 1
min 25 sec.
Happy now?
Fair Pickings
rod...@mont-alto.com wrote on 8/13/02 10:42 PM:
Very happy. I've seen some notations about that color scheme stuff and
never fully understood it before.
Sahk_el_bar
known to exist is King Vidor's preferred ending. I disagree that it
feels tacked on. It does reflect the natural mood of the rest of the
picture; the fact that he takes his wife and child to the theatre
that evening does not mean that all is well and settled. They fade
into the crowd of people and what is to become of them and their
marriage is tenuous at best.
The alternate ending which was offered by MGM is not unlike the ending
of Murnau's DER LETZE MANN. John Sims wins the lottery and becomes an
instant millionaire. As to the other ending mentioned in which the
Sims celebrate Christmas in a home John has bought because of his
success as a jingle writer, I have seen no records that such an ending
was released to the general public in 1928.
James Russell
>To the best of my knowledge, the ending that is currently the only one
>known to exist is King Vidor's preferred ending. I disagree that it
>feels tacked on. [...]
>The alternate ending which was offered by MGM is not unlike the ending
>of Murnau's DER LETZE MANN. John Sims wins the lottery and becomes an
>instant millionaire.
Ayyy, yuck. I never heard of that one before (what a way to turn great human
tragedy into potential farce). That makes the extant ending look even better
than it already does. I also disagree that it feels tacked on; actually, it
must be one of the most bittersweet endings to a film there is.
James R.
--
Hot Buttered Death http://www.ans.com.au/~jgwr/blog/
Celluloid Dreams: Wednesday, 8pm AEST, 2SER 107.3 FM http://www.2ser.com/
Fair Pickings
jg...@yahoo.com wrote on 8/14/02 2:40 AM:
> On 13 Aug 2002 22:32:26 -0700, sahk...@yahoo.com (Sahk_el_bar) wrote:
>
>> To the best of my knowledge, the ending that is currently the only one
>> known to exist is King Vidor's preferred ending. I disagree that it
>> feels tacked on. [...]
>> The alternate ending which was offered by MGM is not unlike the ending
>> of Murnau's DER LETZE MANN. John Sims wins the lottery and becomes an
>> instant millionaire.
>
> Ayyy, yuck. I never heard of that one before (what a way to turn great human
> tragedy into potential farce). That makes the extant ending look even better
> than it already does. I also disagree that it feels tacked on; actually, it
> must be one of the most bittersweet endings to a film there is.
>
> James R.
> --
The way the ending strikes one is also dependent to a large extent on what
music is used. With the music from the Carl Davis score I'd agree that the
ending comes across as bittersweet or even grim. Rodney Sauer suggested
that the "There's Everything Nice About You" theme was indicated in the cue
sheet for use with one of the endings, possibly the one we always see.
Certainly if THAT music were played, the ending would come off as being at
least semi-happy.
Rodney Sauer
> in article 3d59fa99...@news.ans.com.au, James Russell at
> jg...@yahoo.com wrote on 8/14/02 2:40 AM:
>
>
> The way the ending strikes one is also dependent to a large extent on what
> music is used. With the music from the Carl Davis score I'd agree that the
> ending comes across as bittersweet or even grim. Rodney Sauer suggested
> that the "There's Everything Nice About You" theme was indicated in the cue
> sheet for use with one of the endings, possibly the one we always see.
> Certainly if THAT music were played, the ending would come off as being at
> least semi-happy.
As I posted elsewhere, "There's Everything Nice About You" lasts only
about 50 seconds. Then we see "Husband and Wife on the Sofa" with the
tune "In the Clover," which is less peppy but still a nice cheerful,
major key 2/4 number. So there is hope in that ending.
As a comment on my cue sheet note: I mentioned that "Wedding Dreams"
occurs 19 times. Closer inspection shows that this piece apparently has
at least three rather different parts -- a minor key grumble in the
cellos, a quote from the Wagner wedding march, and a major-key romantic
waltz. He starts the piece at different places for different scenes,
from which they presumably proceed to other parts of the piece --
hopefully in keeping with the film. So it's a more sophisticated use of
the same piece than it might at first occur, and this may be why he
didn't give it a "color" -- the only practical way to do this would be
to copy out the required part of the music, starting at the appropriate
place, each time it shows up.
BlakeMF
alternate ending showing John & mary in their old age.
Michael F. Blake
Fair Pickings
bla...@aol.com wrote on 8/14/02 12:15 PM:
> In Brownlow's "Behind teh Mask of Innocence" book, he has some photos of an
> alternate ending showing John & mary in their old age.
>
> Michael F. Blake
Maybe there was an ending like the one in Buster's COLLEGE--now THAT would
be grim!
Sahk_el_bar
> that the "There's Everything Nice About You" theme was indicated in the cue
> sheet for use with one of the endings, possibly the one we always see.
> Certainly if THAT music were played, the ending would come off as being at
> least semi-happy.
The call for this music was not originally from the cue-sheet but by
King Vidor himself. John Sims, if you recall, gets a phonograph
record and puts it on the Victorola. There is a direct close-up of
the record label and it reads, "There's Everything Nice About You."
Further, the cue-sheet hardly represents the last word on the scoring
of this picture. Ernst Luz, I believe, was the culprit of this
particular cue-sheet and deserves particular credit for poor taste.
There are some cues, however, that are not too bad, but over all, the
cue sheet is very weak.
StormChaser
"Sahk_el_bar" <sahk...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f36799ae.0208...@posting.google.com...
It was prepared but never released.
The real life death of James Murray a short time afterwards gives the
whole
production a slight pall of gloom that no "happy" ending can extinguish.
The movie, however, stands as a testament to the gifted actor who was
literally picked out of a crowd of actors by King Vidor, the director.
Mark
"All I want is the opportunity."
THE CROWD
Jon
> It was prepared but never released.
>
> The real life death of James Murray a short time afterwards gives the
> whole
> production a slight pall of gloom that no "happy" ending can extinguish.
I have no idea what you mean by that. IMDB shows Murray drowning eight years
after the movie was released: too young, yes, but not really a short time.
It doesn't bear any of the spooky coincidence of the death of Charles Emmett
Mack during the filming of "The First Auto," or the gut wrenching impact of
Spencer Tracy's final scene in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Murray
apparently made around 30 films after "The Crowd" was released, although I
don't recognize most of the titles.
>
> The movie, however, stands as a testament to the gifted actor who was
> literally picked out of a crowd of actors by King Vidor, the director.
I don't disagree with that.
Rodney Sauer
Right. My discussion of the cue sheet is of purely historical and
academic interest, not a personal endorsement of that score. Luz himself
resisted strongly any attempt to create or espouse specific scores. He
felt that music selection was a right enjoyed and maintained by each
theater's musicians.