Again it was the spirit of the time. Our Daily Bread was made by a German emigre named F.W. Murnau who has never been known as any sort of subversive. 'Street Scene' was made by King Vidor...a conservative. He went on to make a film version of The Fountainhead.
"STREET SCENE" was a play first and Vidor didn't write it. But it certainly is, IMO, a subversive movie and one which laid the foundations for the criminal as the "poor victim of society" !
King Vidor made many a great movie, was the first white to make an all black movie, for whites ( unlike the "race films", which were made by blacks FOR blacks and many of which are excellent, BTW ), and "THE FOUNTAINHEAD" isn't one of his best; but then, neither is the book any good.