Review – Our Daily Bread

Ever wonder what it would have been like if the wide-eyed, corny world of Hollywood in the 1930s used its unique brand of happy jingoism to promote cooperative farming? Well, if that itch ever does take you, King Vidor will help you scratch it. In the depths of the Great Depression a motley crew of the unemployed masses get together and start working for themselves rather than The Man. The cast of characters comes complete with a too-good-to-be-true hero and heroine, a con with a heart of gold and a Jezebel who tries to corrupt our naïve protagonist. I kept expecting someone to shout something like “Hey everyone, let’s put on a commune!” And some of the dialogue came darn close. The DVD comes with a set of Roosevelt-era documentaries, including two person-on-the-street interviews designed to help defeat Upton Sinclair’s bid to be California’s governor (who said “fair and balanced” started with Rupert Murdoch?) and on the other side of things a handful of shorts produced to sell various New Deal programs. Mildly amusing