In "Our Daily Bread" the cinema becomes socially conscious and treats with a theme that is truly proletarian. In an attempt to give a "powerful" treatment to a story of the common man harassed by truly gigantic economic forces, King Vidor has an obvious sincerity. Because of this notable sincerity and the courage of the theme itself, one is loathe to level the criticism of triteness against "Our Daily Bread." But sympathetic as one may be to such a sudden nobility in movie subjects, and we do believe this to be genuinely sincere, it is hard to see any symptoms of masterpiece in this effort.

A young lad, Tom Keene, and his pretty wife, Karen Morley, finding themselves in dire economic straits, take advantage of an opportunity to go "back to the farm." Gathering about them a group of unemployed families, of the kind that is so pitifully a victim of the world chaos today, the pair set up a simplified self-subsisting community. It is strange that, in an attempt to portray the inevitable nobility of this American stock of which we are so proud, the producers saw fit to launch their actors on a communistic experiment of the most extreme kind. Getting away from the intricacies of money and all the characteristics of complex existence, all the worldly belongings of the community are thrown into a common fund. Such heresy out of Hollywood must be very shocking to all good, rugged individualists. Over-simplified as the story is, it does give a very interesting study in elementary division of labor for our rising young economic theorists, as the unemployed adventurers start economic life all over again.

Sadly, the attempts at mighty characterization fall short of fulfillment, the whole theme is much tool superficially treated and vast as the film is in its sentimental aim, "Our Dally Bread" turns out to be no epoch-making work.

The companion piece, "Kansas City Princess" is indeed a familiar film. somehow we feel sure that we have seen all this before.