Why did Our Daily Bread cause King Vidor a major financial loss?

King Vidor’s 1934 film Our Daily Bread resulted in a major financial loss for the director because he personally invested his own money to fund the production after failing to secure traditional studio backing.1

The film, a Great Depression-era drama centered on a couple establishing a farm collective, was an "unapologetically didactic" project heavily influenced by Soviet filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein. Because the film’s themes regarding the rewards of communal living did not resonate with contemporary audiences, it failed to achieve popularity, leaving Vidor to absorb the costs of his artistic gamble.1