Give Us This Day (1949)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Pietro Di Donato (novel)
Ben Barzman (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

21 July 1950 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

One of the few (if any at the time this film was made) films shot in England with New York City's 'Little Italy" as the locale...

Plot Keywords:

Italian | New York City | Bricklayer | Tenement | Little Italy

Cast

Sam Wanamaker	...	Geremio
Lea Padovani	...	Annuziata
Kathleen Ryan	...	Kathleen
Charles Goldner	...	Luigi
Bonar Colleano	...	Julio
William Sylvester	...	Giovanni (as Bill Sylvester)
George Pastell	...	The lucy (as Nino Pastellides)
Philo Hauser	...	Head of Pig
Sid James	...	Murdin
Karel Stepanek	...	Jaroslav
Ina De La Haye	...	Dame Katarina
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Julio's wife
Ronan O'Casey	...	Bastian
Robert Rietty	...	Pietro
Charles Moffat	...	Pasquale

Also Known As:

Christ in Concrete (USA) (original script title)
Salt to the Devil (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:120 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #13967) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | West Germany:12 | Belgium:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Denham Studio, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Plantagenet

Trivia:

The film was barely released in the US because the American Legion demanded that its distributor, Eagle-Lion Pictures, pull it from release (they objected to its "anti-Christian" title and the fact that its director, Edward Dmytryk, was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee of being a Communist) or face a boycott of all of its films. Eagle-Lion retitled the picture "Salt to the Devil", but that didn't mollify the American Legion, so the company pulled the picture.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Light in the Window Lost (2009)

Soundtrack:

Without Love, You're Nothing

Italian/American bricklayer rises to foreman during the depression years with tragic results.

Hounded out of the States as a Commie (fellow DGA member Sam Wood outed him), Edward Dmytryk actually made (in the U.K.) that left-leaning agit-prop proletariat 'noir' HUAC vainly searched Hollywood for. The film never got a proper American release, Dmytryk returned, 'named names,' served time, & found himself upgraded to 'A' projects which never lived up to his promising early 'B' stuff. Pietro Di Donato's once influential novel tells a fatalistic story of an Italian/American brick layer, always on the verge of better times, who loses his soul when he rises to foreman during tough depression times. Dmytryk does some impressive work within the restrictions of an indie U.K. production, but he's ultimately defeated by a twice too earnest script and a lackluster cast that has to work overtime to fake that Brooklyn flavor. Five years on, another HUAC alumni, Elia Kazan, would get this sort of thing right in ON THE WATERFRONT, which you may have heard of.