This week's pick is the 1922 Swedish/Danish co-production Haxan or Witchcraft through the Ages. This is the original longer version without the William S. Burroughs narration or the free jazz soundtrack. Instead, the soundtrack is early 20th century recordings of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and others. I like the way it sounds so much I just play the movie in a separate window while I'm working to listen to the music.
If you've never seen it, it's an exposition of beliefs about witches in medieval and early modern Europe (including lots of recreations) that ends with a coda about the rationalization of witchcraft beliefs into modern concepts about mental illness.
You can watch this entire brilliant Swedish movie online here.
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