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Missouri Southern News Bureau FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 9, 2002 Contact: Harrison Kash (417) 625-9614 E-Mail: News Bureau Voice: (417) 625.9399 FAX: (417) 625.3142 |
JOPLIN, MO (SNS) -Our Daily Bread
is the first program in the 41st Annual International Film Festival at
Missouri Southern State College.
 The
1934 film, set in America, tells the story of a young couple, jobless
and broke, who move onto a derelict farm and find themselves founding a
commune, where each contributes his skills for the benefit of all. There
are some conventional subplots, notably one about a blonde hussy who
leads the husband astray.
The film is simple, sentimental and uplifting, possessing a
lovely innocence. Our Daily Bread ends with a thrilling action
sequence. Using many from the unemployment lines as actors, Director
King Vidor pawned his estate to produce this award-winning classic.
Andre Sennwald of the New York Times labeled it "a
brilliant declaration of faith in the importance of the cinema as a
social instrument." Film historian Bill Everson described the film
as "One of Vidor's most deeply-felt works, one of the very few
films of the depression years to take a theme of social comment and not
camouflage it within a framework of melodrama."
Presented by the Missouri Southern Film Society, this project is
funded in part by the Institute of International Studies. The film will
be shown Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Matthews Hall Auditorium on
the MSSC campus. Season tickets for the eight film series are on sale
for $10 for adults and $7 for senior citizens or students. Single
admissions at the door are $2 adults and $1.50 for senior citizens or
students.
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