“La Belle Dame sans Merci hath thee in thrall!” so goes the old song. John Stahl’s masterpiece shot in intensely saturated technicolor is one of the most frightening and modern Hollywood films. It’s centered on Ellen(Gene Tierney) who seems so catching and normal when we see her. But nothing is what it seems. Especially in the stunning scene where she pours her father’s ashes on the hills while riding on a horse(set to the drumming sounds of Alfred Newman’s score), it’s a scene that evokes great eroticism and great danger. The more demented and psychopathic Gene Tierney gets, the more beautiful she becomes.