A lot has been written about the opera, but not enough in my opinion of the film itself and how much of a masterpiece it is. Even without the music it would have been good, and there are three idiosyncratic films made in the 1950's, and two of them were the only films that the director made. Charles Laughton's ' The Night of the Hunter ' and ' The Medium ' are the two. The third is ' Anatahan ' made by Josef von Sternberg and this, his last film is totally different from the Marlene Dietrich vehicles he is noted for. What makes these three so special ? The fact I think that total originality of the imagination comes to the fore and that imagination hits hard at the audience. Interesting to note that all three were given X certificates for adults only due to them being so powerful, and sometimes terrifying due to the extreme threat of the images. In the cinema before these three I can only think of Eisenstein's ' Battleship Potemkin ' reviled and banned until it was given a belated X certificate, and Bunuel's ' Los Olvidados ' again X certificated and given a ridiculous title in the UK that I cannot recall. Now for ' The Medium. ' Marie Powers is truly pathetic and horrifying in ' The Medium ' terrified of possible damnation because she has been ' touched ' by ' something ' at a Seance to bring back two dead children. She thinks she is a fake medium, but the possibility that she is actually in touch with the dead sends her into a frenzied panic. Anna Maria Alberghetti is superb as the young woman who assists her, and Leo Coleman is a fantastic presence on screen of the young man who is mute who also assists her. He is in love with the young woman, and she with him. No spoilers but the ending is horrific in the true sense of the word. Above all this is not just filmed opera but a film made out of fantastic images, and a grotesque Punch and Judy scene at a carnival is just one of the visual highlights. It is, as I said, a great film in itself and let me just say the music helps the film and not the other way around. Gian-Carlo Menotti the composer directed with visionary ability, and yet on the hard to find DVD he is given no credit as director whereas the conductor of the music is pushed forward. I am making a plea here for this film to be taken seriously, and perhaps returned to possible buyers as a film. I am possibly speaking into the void, but speak I must. Summing up; too much has been made of this as an opera and not as a masterpiece of world cinema.