Film

Pioneering black auteur Oscar Micheaux—the most successful producer of the so-called “race films” made for African-American audiences in the early 20th century—directs Paul Robeson in his film debut. The iconic activist and entertainer is electrifying in a double role as both a villainous fugitive passing as a preacher and his honorable twin brother. What plays out is a taboo-shattering melodrama that courted controversy for its frank critique of religious hypocrisy.

Perhaps the greatest one-off film of all time, Charles Laughton’s sole directorial effort is a child’s-eye parable of good versus evil. Robert Mitchum is iconically sinister as the charlatan preacher who visits violence upon a widow and her two children, whom he believes are concealing a stash of stolen money. A sinister fairy tale etched in expressionist chiaroscuro, The Night of the Hunter is an all-American masterpiece of almost folkloric power.