"In King Vidor's 1924 jazz age film, "Wine of Youth," released by Metro- Goldwyn, Eleanor Boardman as the flapper heroine is, in the words of The New York Times' critic, Mordaunt Hall, "charming and thoroughly natural, even to her expression of vexed disappointment during certain stretches."
"Eleanor Boardman, who is such an artist in make-up that she looks perfectly natural on the screen, is efficient and sympathetic as Beth Marsh. She does not strike a false note throughout her performance, and with singular cleverness she reveals why Daniel Rankin suddenly switched from a wolf to a lamb."
"Eleanor Boardman fills the character of Roxalanne with a wistful charm. She is never extravagant and her type of beauty is well suited to the role. Miss Boardman has that unusual gift of acting naturally and apparently not caring whether there is a close-up of her or not. Her shadow always seems elusive and she does not permit herself to indulge in hard glances. She is blissfully unconscious of the camera, and is graceful in the old-time costumes."
"Eleanor Boardman is amazingly appealing as Mary, and never in the course of this series of scenes is she permitted to enhance her appearance with clothes, which Mary could never have afforded. The spark of genuine interest in the role is discernible in all that Miss Boardman does." Hall also wrote in a subsequent N.Y. Times review of "The Crowd": "Eleanor Boardman's acting of the part of Mary is a wonderful combination of charm and sympathy."
"The great player of the film is, however, not the lead (James Murray) but Eleanor Boardman who plays the girl. . . .Everything in her creation was personal, worked out from within, and terribly affecting. She brought me close to tears more than once; she satisfied my inner sense of the decorum and rightness of methods all the time. She grew up in the brief hour of the movie from a cheap little girl to a suffering and tender woman, with weaknesses and powers. It is altogether a beautiful performance."
These reviews are taken from newspapers and magazines from the time of the movie releases. As you can see, The Crowd has two reviews here-and all good comments! Thank you, William, for supplying these reviews for my use here.