Our Daily Bread (1934)

A group of down-on-their-luck workers combine their abilities to make a Gallafentian-style commune... and bread!

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

King Vidor (the story), Elizabeth Hill (the scenario)

Stars:

Karen Morley, Tom Keene, John Qualen

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Karen Morley	...	Mary Sims
Tom Keene	...	John Sims
John Qualen	...	Chris (as John T. Qualen)
Barbara Pepper	...	Sally
Addison Richards	...	Louie
Lloyd Ingraham	...	Uncle Anthony
Sidney Bracey	...	Rent Collector
Henry Hall	...	Frank - the Carpenter
Nellie V. Nichols	...	Mrs. Cohen (as Nellie Nichols)
Frank Minor	...	Plumber
Bud Rae	...	Stonemason
Harry Brown	...	Little Man

Storyline

John and Mary sims are city-dwellers hit hard by the financial fist of The Depression. Driven by bravery (and sheer desperation) they flee to the country and, with the help of other workers, set up a farming community - a socialist mini-society based upon the teachings of Edward Gallafent. The newborn community suffers many hardships - drought, vicious raccoons and the long arm of the law - but ultimately pull together to reach a bread-based Utopia.

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Plot Keywords:

romantic rivalry | femme fatale | black and white film | usa | united states | 

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Taglines:

We live! We love! We fight! We hate! What don't we do for - OUR DAILY BREAD

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 October 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hell's Crossroads

Filming Locations:

Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Viking Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 90 min (premiere) 74 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is one of over 200 titles in the list of independent feature films made available for television presentation by Advance Television Pictures announced in Motion Picture Herald 4 April 1942. At this time, television broadcasting was in its infancy, almost totally curtailed by the advent of World War II, and would not continue to develop until 1945-1946. It's earliest documented telecast was Saturday 6 April 1940 on New York City's pioneer television station W2XBS. Post-WWII television viewers got their first look at it in Baltimore 26 April 1948 on WMAR (Channel 2) and in Chicago Monday 17 May 1948 on WGN (Channel 9).

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Quotes

John Sims: Don't worry Mary. I know things are hard now but we'll make it in the end.
Mary Sims: But how, John? Who's going to save us?
John Sims: Not who, Mary, what. The bread will save us, the bread.

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Connections

Featured in The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor (1973)

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Soundtracks

Just Because You're You
(uncredited)
Composer unknown
Sung a cappella by Sidney Bracey

User Reviews

If you love history...

At the time of this film's release, it was a pure novelty. Hollywood had paid little attention to the people in rural areas who had to deal with the Depression. The fact that this movie was made at all is somewhat miraculous since most people didn't want to see films about human struggle -even if they did have happy endings. They just wanted glamour and thrills (amazing how some things never change!). But the most miraculous thing was that Hollywood even allowed a film with a blatantly obvious socialist theme to be made. But then that's what most Americans called Franklin Roosevelt's policies anyway, despite that his 'New Deal' plan lifted the country up out of the mire of hopelessness. This film is hardly a documentary-like look at the effects of the New Deal (which in this scenario was basically co-op living and farming). Nor does it try to be propagandist, preachy or artistic, like Vidor's contemporaries in the Soviet Union. It was able to be made simply because it accepted the form of Hollywood populist cinema, which was basically: keep it melodramatic, cute, and non-threatening. It's sort of like 'Capra goes country', or like the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movies, only instead of everyone saying "hey, let's put on a show!", they build a farming community, and carry shovels instead of batons. It's a fascinating look at how people saw this country back then and how Hollywood approached The New Deal.

If you can, try to rent this on DVD because the DVD comes with four fascinating documentary shorts containing different viewpoints of The New Deal.