OUT ON VIDEO

* THE HORSE'S MOUTH - Alec Guinness gives one of his best-loved performances as an artist whose urge to paint a giant mural leads him to commandeer the apartment of an uncooperative aristocrat, and later to mobilize a legion of art enthusiasts for a monumental project on a wall slated for demolition. Ronald Neame directed this 1958 comedy, which is rarely inspired but always rollicking and colorful. (Home Vision Cinema, Chicago) * OUR DAILY BREAD - Deprived of their livelihood by the Depression of the 1930s, a young couple organizes a seat-of-the-pants cooperative on an abandoned farm, trading conventional social and business arrangements for a communal life based on pooled resources and shared ideals. At a time when most Hollywood movies ignored the economic strife that surrounded them, director King Vidor faced realities head-on in this 1934 drama, which compensates for stilted dialogue and performances with rich images and an exhilarating faith in human resilience. Hollywood's revenge was to shelve the movie until after the next election, fearing its unorthodox message might help left-wing author Upton Sinclair get elected California's governor. This excellent cassette includes Vidor's filmed introduction to the movie, plus two bogus newsreels cooked up by MGM to influence the upcoming vote. (Kino Video, New York) * WHY DOES HERR R. RUN AMOK? - An ordinary man plods through the routines of middle-class life for several scenes, then erupts into violence. Directed in 1969 by Michael Fengler and the great Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this socially critical melodrama was among the first works to establish the West German movement called Das Neue Kino as a major force. It still seems as outrageous as the filmmakers intended, although Andy Warhol's influence looms very large, and Fassbinder went on to achievements far more mature and affecting. (New Yorker Video, New York)