Together We Live

Last updated
Together We Live
Together We Live.jpg
Directed by Willard Mack
Written byWillard Mack
Produced by Bryan Foy
Starring Willard Mack
Ben Lyon
Sheila Bromley
William Bakewell
Cinematography Roy Overbaugh
Edited by Arthur Hilton
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • August 16, 1935 (1935-08-16)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Together We Live is a 1935 drama film distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was directed by Willard Mack. [1] The film's events are related to the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike. Two starring actors were dead at the time of release which led to them receiving lower billing, including Mack who directed the film.

Contents

Plot

Hank Kavanaugh is a civil war veteran with five children. His sons Max and George are often absent from family meetings held after dinner. When Kavanaugh reads about the San Francisco strike by communists, he voices his distaste for communism while Max and George state that communism has virtues. They then reveal that they were at communist meetings during the family meetings. Kavanaugh has to contend with changing the views of his sons while also dealing with the communist-led strike that Max is involved with. [2]

Cast

From the American Film Institute. [2]

Production and release

The film's working titles were Call to Arms and The Soldier Story. In December 1935, the film was banned from releasing in Great Britain although the reason is unknown. It was produced during the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike in San Francisco, California. Joseph Breen, the director of the Production Code Administration, certified the film once changes were made including "the removal of any direct attacks on organized labor, capitalism, or constituted forces of law and order". [2] The changes were meant "to specify that the strike was the work of outside agitators". [2]

While the film was being produced at a Columbia Pictures studio, Wera Engels took a saw out of a package which caused the carpenters there to proclaim, "She can't do that to us – she's not in the union!" Actor Ben Lyon calmed the carpenters down by explaining that Engels "was an experienced musical saw operator", leading to the majority of the studio's carpenters trying to produce music using their saws. [3]

Actors Willard Mack and Lou Tellegen were dead by the time of release which led to both actors not receiving top billing. Tellegen died by suicide. The film was held back from an earlier release due to trade reasons. [4]

Reception

The South Bend Tribune praised Willard Mack's role of Kavanaugh, saying that "Mack's characterization is a part of the story" and that his role was of "a lovable old man very convincing in his talk against his son's new ideas". [5]

The Wisconsin State Journal wrote that films such as Red Salute and this film are propaganda and that "they may be exceedingly dangerous, for there is no counteracting propaganda". The article continued to say that the film is "nationalistic" and "fascist". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mack Sennett</span> Canadian-American film producer (1880–1960)

Mack Sennett was a Canadian-American producer, director, actor, and studio head who was known as the "King of Comedy" during his career.

<i>The Communist Manifesto</i> 1848 political publication by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The Communist Manifesto, originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party, is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The text is the first and most systematic attempt by Marx and Engels to codify for wide consumption the historical materialist idea that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles", in which social classes are defined by the relationship of people to the means of production. Published amid the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe, the Manifesto remains one of the world's most influential political documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Tellegen</span> American actor

Lou Tellegen was a Dutch-born stage and film actor, film director and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian communism</span> Belief that Jesus taught communism

Christian communism is a theological view that the teachings of Jesus compel Christians to support religious communism. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in Christianity began, many Christian communists argue that evidence from the Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the Apostles in the New Testament, established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. Many advocates of Christian communism and other communists, including Karl Kautsky, argue that it was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles themselves. This is generally confirmed by historians.

<i>Cradle Will Rock</i> 1999 American historical drama film

Cradle Will Rock is a 1999 American historical drama film written, produced and directed by Tim Robbins. The story fictionalizes the true events that surrounded the development of the 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein; it adapts history to create an account of the original production, bringing in other stories of the time to produce a social commentary on the role of art and power in the 1930s, particularly amidst the struggles of the labor movement at the time and the corresponding appeal of socialism and communism among many intellectuals, artists and working-class people in the same period.

The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core principles of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least nominally in Marxism, a theory and method conceived by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels during the 19th century. Marxism subsequently gained a widespread following across much of Europe, and throughout the late 1800s its militant supporters were instrumental in a number of unsuccessful revolutions on that continent. During the same era, there was also a proliferation of communist parties which rejected armed revolution, but embraced the Marxist ideal of collective property and a classless society.

Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as "historical materialism," to understand class relations and social conflict. It also uses a dialectical perspective to view social transformation. Marxism originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, As a result, there is no single, definitive Marxist theory. Marxism has had a profound impact in shaping the modern world, with various left-wing and far-left political movements taking inspiration from it in varying local contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Stander</span> American actor (1908–1994)

Lionel Jay Stander was an American actor, activist, and a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. He had an extensive career in theatre, film, radio, and television that spanned nearly 70 years, from 1928 until 1994. He was known for his distinctive raspy voice and tough-guy demeanor, as well as for his vocal left-wing political stances. One of the first Hollywood actors to be subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was blacklisted from the late 1940s until the mid-1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willard Mack</span> American actor (1873–1934)

Willard Mack was a Canadian-American actor, director, and playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wera Engels</span> German actress

Wera Engels was a German actress. After successful leading roles in productions of the well-established German UFA-studios in Babelsberg as well as in France, she was invited to Hollywood. Producers saw her as a cheap alternative to Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.

<i>A Simple Plan</i> (film) 1998 American film

A Simple Plan is a 1998 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Scott B. Smith, based on Smith's 1993 novel of the same name. The film stars Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda. Set in rural Minnesota, the story follows brothers Hank (Paxton) and Jacob Mitchell (Thornton), who, along with Jacob's friend Lou, discover a crashed plane containing $4.4 million in cash. The three men and Hank's wife Sarah (Fonda) go to great lengths to keep the money a secret but begin to doubt each other's trust, resulting in lies, deceit and murder.

<i>The Milky Way</i> (1936 film) 1936 American film

The Milky Way is a 1936 American comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. Directed by comedy veteran Leo McCarey, the film was written by Grover Jones, Frank Butler and Richard Connell based on a play of the same name by Lynn Root and Harry Clork that was presented on Broadway in 1934.

Communism is a left-wing to far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products to everyone in the society based on need. A communist society would entail the absence of private property and social classes, and ultimately money and the state.

<i>Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth</i> 1912 French film

Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, Les Amours d'Élisabeth, Reine d'Angleterre or La reine Élisabeth is a 1912 feature 4-reel French silent film based on the love affair between Elizabeth I of England and the Earl of Essex. It was condensed from a play of the same name and directed by Louis Mercanton and Henri Desfontaines. It was shot in Paris and starred Sarah Bernhardt as Elizabeth and Lou Tellegen as Essex. Bernhardt by then was 68 and said of the film "This is my last chance at immortality". She and Tellegen were already romantically involved, and this was their second film together.

Terra Film was a Berlin-based film production company. Founded in 1919, it became one of Germany's largest film production companies in the 1930s under the Nazi regime.

<i>The Great Impersonation</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by Alan Crosland

The Great Impersonation is a 1935 Universal Pictures American drama film directed by Alan Crosland and starring Edmund Lowe, Valerie Hobson and Wera Engels. It was adapted from the 1920 novel The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim. The film bears some aesthetic similarities to the Universal horror films of the 1930s. Two other film versions of the story were produced with the same title in 1921 and 1942.

Arthur Alexander (1909–1989) was an American independent film producer. He worked with his brother Max and produced.films through.various studios including their own Beacon Productions, Colony Pictures, and Max Alexander Productions.

Principles of Communism is a brief 1847 work written by Friedrich Engels, the co-founder of Marxism. It is structured as a catechism, containing 25 questions about communism for which answers are provided. In the text, Engels presents core ideas of Marxism such as historical materialism, class struggle, and proletarian revolution. Principles of Communism served as the draft version for the Communist Manifesto.

<i>Between Friends</i> (1924 film) 1924 film

Between Friends is a 1924 American silent melodrama film based on the eponymous 1914 novel by Robert W. Chambers. The film was directed by J. Stuart Blackton and produced by Albert E. Smith. It stars Lou Tellegen, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Norman Kerry. The feature was distributed by Vitagraph Studios, which was founded by Blackton and Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. The film is lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Romano</span> American actress

Nina Romano born 18th October 1901 - died 15th October 1966 was an American actress in films and on stage.

References

  1. "Together We Live (1935)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Together We Live (1935)". American Film Institute. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  3. "At the National". Chico Enterprise . August 9, 1935 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Inside Stuff – Pictures". Variety . October 23, 1925. p. 257 via Archive.org.
  5. "'Mad Love' Real Horror Picture". South Bend Tribune . August 23, 1935 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "The Way or Profits". Wisconsin State Journal . December 31, 1935 via Newspapers.com.