Our Daily Bread

Released Aug 1, 1934

1 hr. 14 min.

Drama

List

79%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Urbanites John (Tom Keene) and Mary Sims (Karen Morley) are facing eviction for lack of work when Mary's uncle (Lloyd Ingraham) proposes they take over an abandoned farm. Ignorant about agriculture, the couple nevertheless accepts, and are fortunate enough to meet a Swedish farmer (John Qualen) who offers his assistance. As the farm begins to prosper, John is inspired to form a collective, inviting others to help farm and share in the profits. Things go awry, however, when a drought occurs.

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Audience Member

I enjoyed the old fashioned work ethic portrayed in the film. Tells of the days when people actually cared about one another. People today probably won't believe this, but I remember it when people acted this way! Great movie!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Feel good movie about the potential of men when we are kind to each other and work towards common goals.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

Economics and melodrama are the halves of this timeless tale of family, hard work and belief that inspired the great Orson Welles!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

possibly the most socialist film ever to come from hollywood, vidor had to finance this sequel to 'the crowd' himself, with assistance from his friend charlie chaplin. stick around for the final sequence, one of the finest vidor ever filmed. interesting that, ten years later, he became a founding member of the 'motion picture alliance for the preservation of american ideals' which supplied the vast majority of friendly witnesses to the house un-american activities committee.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A beautiful heartwarming drama about a couple from the city who get access to a farm & eventually let people in to help & have a small society. As you could imagine a film set in Depression Era is going to have obstacles for our leads & the drought really puts them in a bad way. Filled with many comments on society & faintly in the background the score is pushing the film on. The final sequences with the men digging the trench for the water to get to their crops is very stirring & touching. A powerful Depression Era film & a true unsung classic of King Vidor.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

walter m

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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King Vidor

Director

Karen Morley

Mary Sims

Tom Keene

John Sims

Barbara Pepper

Sally

Addison Richards

Louie Fuente

John Qualen

Chris Larsen

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Otis Ferguson

The New Republic

Mr. Vidor, however independent, still seems to be governed by the industry's idea of box-office requirements, which in turn still governs the industry. If you are going to subscribe to the first, of course there is no use trying to be free of the second.

Jan 23, 2024

Full Review

V.A. Musetto

New York Post

Rated: 3/4

Aug 22, 2007

Full Review

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: A-

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy)

Esquire Magazine

Basically splendid idea, spoiled by sentimental propaganda, and a hack treatment that employs all the ancient tear-jerking devices...

Apr 21, 2020

Full Review

Helen Brown Norden

Vanity Fair

A clumsy-footed attempt at pseudo-Fascist propaganda...

Jun 7, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It makes for an interesting Depression-era time capsule survival film from the New Deal period.

Rated: B

Mar 19, 2010

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Synopsis

Urbanites John (Tom Keene) and Mary Sims (Karen Morley) are facing eviction for lack of work when Mary's uncle (Lloyd Ingraham) proposes they take over an abandoned farm. Ignorant about agriculture, the couple nevertheless accepts, and are fortunate enough to meet a Swedish farmer (John Qualen) who offers his assistance. As the farm begins to prosper, John is inspired to form a collective, inviting others to help farm and share in the profits. Things go awry, however, when a drought occurs.

Director: King Vidor
Screenwriter: King Vidor, Elizabeth Hill, Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Distributor: Image Entertainment Inc., United Artists, Kino Video, Reel Media International [us], Grapevine Video
Production Co: United Artists
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 1, 1934, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1), 35mm

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