Lem Tustine is the son of a Minnesota wheat farmer off for Chicago to sell his father's annual crop, and though caught in a falling market, he meets Kate, who is a waitress in the Windy City, and brings her home as his bride. His father, whose primary ties are to the land which he loves above all else, takes her for a fortune hunter and strongly resents her marriage to his son and belittles her character. Her repeated efforts to win his approval are unsuccessful. A hailstorm necessitates emergency night-harvesting of the crop, and in the confusion the foreman, Lem's brother, hurts his hand in a threshing machine. Coming to have his hand bandaged, he tries to force his attentions on Kate; and though she repulses him, the elder Tustine witnesses the struggle and informs Lem. The foreman threatens to pull out the workers unless Kate will leave with him; she agrees, thinking her marriage is a failure. Lem bests the foreman in a fight and is barely missed by his father's gunfire at the deserting workers. Realizing he has almost killed his son, Tustine relents, and Lem brings back his wife to a humbled and more tolerant father.

Director:
F. W. Murnau	Director
A. H. Van Buren	Stage dir (sd versions)
A. F. Erickson	Stage dir (sd versions)
William Tummel	Assistant Director
Cast:
David Torrence	as The Father
Edith Yorke	as The Mother
Dawn O'Day	as The Little Daughter
Charles Farrell	as The son
Mary Duncan	as The Waitress
Guinn Williams	as Reaper
Dick Alexander	as Reaper
Tom Maguire	as Reaper
Jack Pennick	as Reaper
Ed Brady	as Reaper
Charles Farrell	as Lem Tustine
Mary Duncan	as Kate
David Torrence	as Tustine
Edith Yorke	as Mrs. Tustine
Dawn O'Day	as Mary Tustine
Tom Maguire	as Matey
Dick Alexander	as Mac
Pat Rooney	as Butch
Ed Brady	as Reaper
Roscoe Ates	as Reaper
Cinematography:
Ernest Palmer	Director of Photography
Writer:
Berthold Viertel	Scen
Marion Orth	Scen
Berthold Viertel	Adaptation
Marion Orth	Adaptation
Elliott Lester	Dial
Katherine Hilliker	Titles
H. H. Caldwell	Titles
Producer:
William Fox	Presented By
Editing:
Katherine Hilliker	Film Editor
H. H. Caldwell	Film Editor
Music:
Arthur Kay	Music Score
Costume-Wardrobe:
Sophie Wachner	Costumes
Art Department:
Harry Oliver	Settings
Sound:
Harold Hobson	Recording Engineer

The film's working title was Our Daily Bread. It was shot on location in Pendleton, OR. In the sound version much greater emphasis is placed upon the attempted seduction of the wife by the foreman and the father's antagonism. Some sources list the running time of the silent version as 8,217 feet. Following the fight scene, the husband forces the beaten foreman to apologize to his wife and confess that all the advances were on his side. The sequence of the father shooting at his son is missing in the sound version. F. W. Murnau was relieved of directorial duties before completion of the film, and the subsequent ending, along with various "comic relief" scenes interjected throughout, were directed by A. F. "Buddy" Erickson.

Released in United States 1930

Released in United States 1978

Released in United States 1930

Released in United States 1978 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (Special Programs - Treasures From the Museum of Modern Art Film Archives) April 13 - May 7, 1978.)

Based on the play The Mud Turtle by Elliott Lester (New York, 20 Aug 1925).