Our Daily Bread (DVD)

A social document of amazing vitality and emotional impact! - The New York Times

Lost souls, haunted by vice, seek a better future on an gritty "back to the land" commune in King Vidor's Great Depression epic drama. Idle masons, plumbers and carpenters are put to work creating, while former white-collar professionals are retrained in the art of manual labor. But all utopias have a dark side. Despite the overriding pioneering spirit; lust, proffering and deceit tarnish the ideals of the freethinking farmers while frustration and hopelessness corrode their dreams. The earthy love of a good woman inspires a sweeping climax as the community is forced to work together or face ruin.

A mid-period film by legendary director King Vidor (The Big Parade, Street Scene, Duel In The Sun), Our Daily Bread is evocative depression-era propaganda, made outside the mainstream studio system, as a way of inspiring thousand of dissolute moviegoers looking for a way out of poverty.

• drama