CARL THEODOR DREYER --- MY METIER (1996) B/W widescreen 96m dir: Skjodt Jensen

From Now Playing: A Viewer's Guide to Turner Classic Movies, September 2004: "Danish filmmaking genius Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968) once responded, when asked to explain his work, that cinema should present 'truth filtered through an artist's mind, truth liberated from unnecessary detail.' In pursuit of that ideal, Dreyer went straight to the heart of his subjects, illuminating them with a personal vision that resulted in several masterpieces.

"Dreyer began directing films in 1919 and impressed with his artful pictorial sense in Leaves from Satan's Book (1919), a four-part study of the destructive consequences of temptation; and Michael (1924), which tells of a man tormented by homosexual tendencies. Both these silents are presented by TCM in the U.S. television premiere of restorations by Michael Shepard.

"The Passion of Joan of Arc (1929), detailing St. Joan's trial and burning at the stake, is considered one of Dreyer's masterworks, with a transcendent performance by Renee Falconetti as Joan. It is accompanied by Richard Einhorn's choral/orchestral work 'Visions of Light.' Vampyr (1932), Dreyer's eerily atmospheric vampire movie, has inspired a cult following. Both films were sadly unappreciated in their day, and their commercial failure led to a hiatus in Dreyer's career that lasted until the 1940s.

"The director returned in triumph with some of his most highly regarded works: Day of Wrath (1948, TCM premiere), a tragedy of 17th-century witchcraft suspects; Ordet (1955), a drama of families clashing over religion; and Gertrud (1964, TCM premiere), the story of a woman's search for fulfillment. Also showing is the TCM premiere of Carl Theodor Dreyer --- My Metier (1996), an impressionistic documentary by avant-garde director Torben Skjodt Jensen."