That's the message of this very political tragedy. Lead actor Hermann Vallentin -- a dead ringer for Vernon Dent, by the way -- loses his job to a tabulating machine and gradually falls to pieces. Meanwhile, Anna Sten -- who photographs very nicely from certain angles -- is jilted by her boyfriend when the sheriff comes to take the cuckoo clock and falls in love with a nice young man who works hard.This movie is acted very well. If the cinematography is a little too in your face for my taste, it is nicely handled in that context. It's a very didactic piece of film making and the contemporary critics didn't like it. For my taste it is quite decent and its disesteem is more due to the obscurity of its writer and director and its inherently conservative message.