Vredens Dag (aka Day Of Wrath) (1943)

In a small Danish village in the 17th century, a pastor (Thorkild Roose) presides over the trials of accused so called witches, who if found guilty are burned at the stake. His own secret is that he saved the life of an accused witch in order to marry her young daughter (Lisbeth Movin). But when his grown son (Preben Lerdorff Rye) returns home, the sexual heat between his son and his wife will prove destructive in more ways than one. Equaled only by his own PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, Carl Theodor Dreyer's stark and spare look at passion in an austere and sexually repressive society is one of the great works of cinema. Dreyer's methodical pacing can often be problematic, his GERTRUD and ORDET can drive you bonkers! But here, like JEANNE D'ARC, its slow and concise rhythm is perfectly attuned to its narrative. It's notable that Dreyer seems to imply that there are witches (or at least, women who believe they are) rather than innocently accused. I'd be tempted to call it the best film ever made about witchcraft but it's not really about witchcraft anymore than GONE WITH THE WIND is about the Civil War. With Sigrid Neilendam and Anna Svierkier in a beautifully delivered performance as an old witch brought to trial, tortured and burnt at the stake.