Even a romantic individualist like King Vidor, who would later film Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, was sufficiently stirred by socialist ideals during the Depression to make this exciting independent effort (1934) about an all-American couple who decide to pool their resources with others and build a collective farm. Beautifully directed and edited, this is one of the best and most energetic of Vidor’s early talkies, brimming with hope and enthusiasm and sparked by a wonderful climactic sequence. There’s even some melodrama when a love triangle elbows its way into the plot. With Tom Keene (an uneven performance), Karen Morley, and John Qualen. (JR)