[It is difficult if not impossible to assess Dreyer's] later films without knowing the earlier films. One might go further. All or nearly all of the later films are in one way or another symbolic, and we can even say that the key to them lies in the early work….

I divide the films, perhaps arbitrarily, into two main groups. In the first group I put his five earliest films: The President, Leaves From Satan's Book, The Parson's Widow, Love One Another, and Once Upon a Time. In the second group are most of the rest: Michael, The Master of the House, The Bride of Glomdale, Vampyr, Day of Wrath, and Ordet….

The compelling point in this division is that in the best of the films of the first group—and only in those—can we see Dreyer as a finished artist, a master serenely working in complete...