DAY OF WRATH (1943) B/W 97m dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer

w/Thirklid Roose, Lisbeth Movin, Sigrid Neiiendam, Preben Lerdorff-Rye, Albert Hoberg, Olaf Ussing, Anna Svierkier, Sigurd Berg, Harald Holst

From The Movie Guide: "DAY OF WRATH was the first feature film directed by the great Carl Dreyer after his 1932 masterwork, VAMPYR. In WRATH, Dreyer returns to the witches, religion, and spiritualism that marked his earlier, silent masterpiece, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928).

"Set during the throes of a witch hunt in the 17th century, the film centers around a young woman, Anne (Lisbeth Movin), who is married to a much older, puritanical man she hates. She falls in love with his son, with whom she spends idyllic afternoons in the woods. Pressure begins to build, and she is heard to whisper aloud how she hungers for the death of her husband. Soon afterward, the husband dies, and she is accused of being a witch.

"The plot is deceptively simple and is barely representative of the film's power, for the film's brilliance lies in Dreyer's direction and the uncanny imagery, which resembles nothing so much as Rembrandt masterworks come to life. At a slow and deliberate pace, he allows the camera to linger, almost erotically, on images, waiting for the 'right' look on a face or the correct movement of a hand. A study of good and evil, repression and oppression, sexuality and guilt, DAY OF WRATH is a truly spiritual film."