Still and all, OUR DAILY BREAD is a peon FOR Socialism.
I always had a fondness for “Hallelujah.” Had it on tape from thirty years ago. Anyway, Vidor was still around until fairly recent times, and I’d think he’d probably been interviewed somewhat, allowing us to gauge him a bit better. I seem to recall when he died. Although I might be thinking Allan Dwan, another old-time director who lived a long time. I just never could quite put Vidor in the same box (”Our Daily Bread” not withstanding) as the usual crowd of 30s/40s Hollywood commies. He seemed to be of an earlier generation and earlier mindset (sort of more populist, with an interest and affection for American history and culture), and his films were generally not prone to the kind of ham-fisted, anti-capitalist, class-warfare obsessed nature of those Hollywood Ten ilk.
There’s a town not too distant from me, Vidor, TX, and I’ve always wondered if it had a connection to his kin, as he himself was from Galveston. Some people have told me yes, and some told me no. I do have a few silent-era stills of his one-time wife, Eleanor Boardman. I distinctly remember when she died. I’d always hoped she might appear at one of the film festivals, where I could get one of them autographed. No such luck.