Set in a 17th-century Danish village, Carl Theodor Dreyer's masterful Vredens dag / Day of Wrath is a stark, but deeply felt indictment against religious fanaticism and intolerance. Moving performances by ingénue Lisbeth Modin and accused witch Anna Svierkier add a touch of humanity to the horrors shown on screen. It is not a coincidence that Vredens Dag was made in 1943, a time when Denmark was under Nazi occupation. The parallels — and the interconnectedness — between political and religious control are made quite clear in this harrowing masterwork.
FILM
Northern Pursuit
d: Raoul Walsh; scr: Frank Gruber, Alvah Bessie
This Land Is Mine
d: Jean Renoir; scr: Dudley Nichols
Vredens dag / Day of Wrath
d: Carl Theodor Dreyer; scr: Carl Dreyer, Poul Knudsen, Mogens Skot-Hansen
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ACTOR
Charles Coburn
The More the Merrier
Gary Cooper
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Charles Laughton
This Land Is Mine
Paul Lukas
Watch on the Rhine
Joel McCrea
The More the Merrier
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ACTRESS
Jean Arthur
The Lady Takes a Chance
Ingrid Bergman
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Greer Garson
Madame Curie
Kim Hunter
The Seventh Victim
Jennifer Jones
The Song of Bernadette
Lisbeth Modin
Day of Wrath
Gene Tierney
Heaven Can Wait
Teresa Wright
Shadow of a Doubt
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Charles Coburn
Heaven Can Wait
Laird Cregar
Heaven Can Wait
Helmut Dantine
Northern Pursuit
Rex Ingram
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J. Carroll Naish
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Dick Rich
The Ox-Bow Incident
Akim Tamiroff
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Erich von Stroheim
Five Graves to Cairo
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Collinge
Shadow of a Doubt
Veronica Lake
So Proudly We Hail
Carmen Miranda
The Gang's All Here
Una O'Connor
This Land Is Mine
Katina Paxinou
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Anna Svierkier
Day of Wrath
Dame May Whitty
Lassie Come Home
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CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carl Andersson
Day of Wrath
Edward Cronjager
Heaven Can Wait
Roger Hubert
L'Éternel retour / The Eternal Return
J. Roy Hunt
I Walked with a Zombie
Arthur C. Miller
The Song of Bernadette
Joseph Ruttenberg
Madame Curie
John F. Seitz
Five Graves to Cairo
Harry Stradling
The Human Comedy
Joseph A. Valentine
Shadow of a Doubt
Charles Van Enger
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
Bette Davis, Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine
MUSIC
Max Steiner
Watch on the Rhine
Herbert Stothart
Madame Curie
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