Honestly, if you go digging through the archives of 1930s cinema, you’ll find a lot of fluff. But then you hit Today We Live, and things get weird. This isn't your standard, polished MGM romance, even though it stars Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper at the height of their powers. It’s a jagged, strange, and occasionally exhausting look at the psychological toll of World War I.
People usually find this movie because they're hunting down William Faulkner’s filmography. Faulkner, the titan of Southern Gothic literature, actually co-wrote the screenplay based on his short story Turnabout. You can feel his fingerprints everywhere. It’s in the gloom. It’s in the way characters talk around their trauma instead of about it.
The Messy Reality of Today We Live
Let’s be real for a second. The production of Today We Live was a bit of a train wreck. Director Howard Hawks originally wanted to make a gritty, male-centric war movie about British torpedo boat crews. That was the core of Faulkner's original story. But MGM looked at the budget and decided they needed a massive star to justify the cost.
Enter Joan Crawford.
Because Crawford was the studio's "Queen," they forced Faulkner to rewrite the entire thing to include a romance. He had to invent a sister for the main character just so Crawford had a reason to be on screen. This is why the movie feels like two different films fighting for dominance. One half is a high-society love triangle; the other is a terrifyingly claustrophobic war drama.
Crawford plays Diana Boyce-Smith. She's living in a massive English estate when the war breaks out. She’s caught between two men: Ronnie (played by Robert Young), her childhood friend, and Bogard (Gary Cooper), an American flyer who basically crashes into her life.
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It sounds like a soap opera. It isn't.
Why the Action Sequences Still Hold Up
If you ignore the romantic pining for a moment, the technical achievements in Today We Live are staggering. Remember, this was 1933. They didn’t have CGI. They didn't even have particularly safe ways to film aerial dogfights.
Hawks was a pilot himself. He obsessed over the "Turnabout" sequences—the moments where the tiny, fragile torpedo boats (MTBs) had to zip through the water at insane speeds. These boats were essentially plywood shells strapped to massive engines and live explosives.
- The cinematography uses real footage of these boats bouncing off waves.
- You see the spray.
- You see the genuine fear on the actors' faces.
Gary Cooper’s flying scenes are equally visceral. Unlike many actors of the era who looked like they were sitting in a stationary cockpit in front of a blurry screen, Cooper looks like he’s actually navigating the clouds. There is a weight to the machinery in this film that modern blockbusters often lack. The planes look like they might fall apart at any second. Because, frankly, in 1917, they often did.
Faulkner’s Influence and the "Lost Generation" Tone
You can’t talk about Today We Live without mentioning the dialogue. It's sparse. It's almost clipped. This was Faulkner trying to translate the "Lost Generation" sentiment to the silver screen. These characters are fundamentally broken by what they’ve seen.
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There’s a specific scene where the characters are drinking together, and the atmosphere is just... heavy. It’s not the fun, bubbly drinking you see in The Thin Man. It’s the "we might die tomorrow so let's go numb" kind of drinking. It captures that nihilism that defined the post-WWI era.
Critics at the time were polarized. Some thought Crawford was miscast. They weren't used to seeing her in such a somber, unglamorous role. But looking back from 2026, her performance feels ahead of its time. She isn't playing a caricature; she's playing a woman trying to keep her sanity while the world burns down around her.
The Problem With the "Keywords" and History
When people search for Today We Live, they often confuse it with modern documentaries or lifestyle vlogs. That’s a mistake. This film is a primary source of Hollywood’s evolving relationship with war. It represents the moment when studios realized that audiences wanted more than just "hoo-rah" patriotism. They wanted the grit.
Interestingly, the movie’s title is a bit of a dark joke. "Today we live, tomorrow we die" was a common sentiment among pilots. The film leans hard into that fatalism.
Practical Takeaways for Film Buffs
If you're going to watch Today We Live, don't expect a fast-paced action flick. It’s a slow burn. Here is how to actually appreciate it:
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- Watch the MTBs. Pay attention to the naval scenes. These are some of the only high-quality depictions of WWI torpedo boat warfare ever filmed.
- Look for the Faulkner-isms. Notice how many scenes involve characters looking at each other in silence. That’s the novelist’s influence, pushing back against the "talky" nature of early sound films.
- Compare the leads. Watch the chemistry between Cooper and Crawford. It’s awkward and jagged, which actually fits the "war-torn" vibe perfectly.
- Check the ending. Without spoiling it, the finale is surprisingly bleak for a 1933 studio film. It defies the typical "everyone goes home happy" trope.
To find the best version of this film today, you usually have to look toward the Warner Archive collection. It hasn't received a massive 4K restoration like The Wizard of Oz, but the black-and-white grain adds to the atmosphere. It makes the mud of the trenches and the smoke of the cockpits feel more real.
The movie serves as a bridge. It bridges the gap between the silent era’s epic scale and the 1940s’ psychological realism. It’s a flawed masterpiece, but it’s a masterpiece nonetheless because it refuses to be simple. It’s a movie about the end of an era, filmed at the beginning of a new one.
Next Steps for the Curious
Stop scrolling through Netflix's "Trending" list for an hour and actually track this down. If you’re a fan of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk or Sam Mendes’ 1917, you owe it to yourself to see where the DNA of those films started.
- Search TCM (Turner Classic Movies) schedules. They run it once or twice a year.
- Check university libraries. Many film departments keep a copy because of the Faulkner connection.
- Look for the short story "Turnabout." Reading it before watching the movie helps you see exactly where the studio meddled and where the genius remained.
Understanding Today We Live isn't just about trivia. It’s about seeing how art survives the "studio system" meat grinder. Even with forced romances and executive interference, a powerful story about human endurance managed to claw its way onto the screen. It's a testament to the fact that real talent—like Faulkner's or Hawks'—can't be fully suppressed by a balance sheet.