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THE FILM SINCE THEN
Master of the House (Maitre du Logis) (1925), revealed an intelligent film mind and an interest in human detail. His sense of comedy, strangely enough, was said to be admirable in Once Upon a Time, (1922) but it was with La Passion de Jeanne a" Arc ( 1928), made in France toward the end of the silent era, that he attracted attention among film aesthetes. The film has been discussed at length earlier in this book, (vide pp. 301, 306). In France also, using a deserted chateau as a location, he made Vampyr (1931), its English version being called The Strange Adventure of David Gray. A film much applauded by the intelligentsia, its obscure mysticism, its diffused and meretricious photography (by Mate, who also photographed Jeanne d'Arc), its vague hints of the supernatural, have let the film become very much of a museum piece.
In between making films and while waiting for sponsorship, Dreyer turned to journalism, writing moving little stories sometimes based on first-hand observation of minor court cases, quite unlike his approach to film subjects. His last film, Day of Wrath (1944), made during the Occupation in Denmark, has created considerable discussion. ' Like Jeanne a" Arc, much of it deals with trial, torture and death by fire, but unlike the earlier film, it has an underlying quality of evil, (writes Rotha). A story of witchcraft and superstition set in the early seventeenth century, with very few characters and a limited locale, the film is one of unrelieved gloom and cruelty, despite the one or two love scenes between the devout Bishop's second and lovely wife and his son by his first wife. The story is not worth detailing. Technically, Dreyer's direction is slow and of the silent period, totally lacking any of the dynamic camera qualities that made Jeanne d' Arc such a graphic achievement. The acting is stilted and frozen, and one cannot help feeling that there existed no sympathy and understanding between Dreyer and his players. There was not a vestige of warmth or hope in the film, only the dominant theme that evil will ultimately triumph. The film lacks the pictorial beauty, the simplicity of Jeanne
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