A Corner in Wheat

D.W. Griffith's fourteen-minute masterclass in social commentary, and one of the earliest films to wield editing as a moral argument. A wheat speculator corners the market, driving bread prices beyond what the poor can afford. Griffith cuts between three worlds — the farmer sowing his fields, the tycoon celebrating at a lavish banquet, and the hungry lined up at a bakery — and the juxtaposition is devastating. Adapted from Frank Norris's writing, the film is startlingly modern in its anger at economic inequality. Its final irony is grimly satisfying. This is where cinema first learned it could be a weapon of conscience.