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The long-running radio serial Inner Sanctum Mystery (1941 – 1952) inspired six Universal films, all starring Lon Chaney Jr. and featuring eerie stories of supernatural terror. In the best one, Weird Woman, Chaney is Norman Reed, an anthropology professor married to the exotic island native he met while conducting field research for a book on voodoo religions. Austrian émigré Reginald Le Borg lends an ironically anthropological eye to his cutting study of a small-minded American town destabilized by the incestuous rivalries and unspoken xenophobia that ignite when Reed unexpectedly returns from his expedition with his comely bride in tow. Remaining true to its radio origins, Weird Woman makes effective use of voiceovers to place the viewer squarely in the troubled mindset of Reed as he struggles to understand the many weird women who whisper suggestively into his ear, including the always uncanny Val Lewton regular Elizabeth Russell as a wrathfully vengeful wife desperate to blame someone for her husband’s suicide. – Haden Guest 

Rarely seen and one of the most alluring of Jean Rouch's films, Les magiciens de Wanzerbé records the sages of the title performing rituals that invoke nature's divine entities to request protection and sustenance for the village. They observe, feel and wait with an attitude of devotion and humility before the immense magnificence of the elements, with which they collaborate. They have preserved the wisdom of mediators between heaven and earth, energies they ally in themselves, in a permanent exchange with nature. Exchanges are also made with other villagers for pottery or salt—reading the path of water or love's fate—disregarding the use of money. Youngsters playfully interact through games while preparing for the elders' teachings. The community celebrates nature, the fertility of being with others under the same sun. "The camera here has only served as a pencil to record what the hand couldn't register,” the filmmaker warns at the beginning. The film camera serves as a medium of possession for the anthropologist, enabling the transmission of the wisdom and experiences shared by the Sohance people. — Marta Mateus

The seeds of wheat slip from the peasant's hands—the hands of labor, the hands that sow the seeds on the land that grows them. A Corner in Wheat traces disparate chains of value through three intertwined perspectives: of those who cultivate the fields, those who consume the bread, and those who control the markets. Seizing control of the whole world’s wheat, a greedy magnate doubles the price of bread at the bakery, taking it from the hands of the poor. After a lavish party to celebrate his wealth, he proudly shows off the grain elevators to his guests and ends up slipping into the pit. D. W. Griffith crafts a gravitational space-time where physical and moral forces converge within a single cinematic dimension. — Marta Mateus