In "Our Daily Bread," Mary(Karen Morley) and John Sims(Tom Keene) have gone so long without work that they have to sell everything that is not nailed down to have money for food. Even a wealthy relative(Lloyd Ingraham) is going through harsh times and he cannot offer him employment. What he can do is give them access
to a piece of land he owns that they can farm. However, that is not as easy as it looks. Luckily, Chris(John Qualen), a friendly Swedish farmer, happens by to help out, giving them the idea to put up signs that attract dozens of skilled and unskilled workers.
In the prologue to his film "Our Daily Bread," director King Vidor says he made the film as a way of dramatizing the back to the land movement during the Great Depression.(See, the hippies did not invent the commune, just the naked frolicking part.) So, while there are important themes from this movie that are relevant today, it is actually a bit dated and dramatically uneven. On the upside, the movie does not sugarcoat the risks of the farm, gets the fear of the knock at the door right and the climax is absolutely riveting and rousing.
August 30, 2010
