8:15 p.m.	Aag Raj Kapoor (India, 1948)

(a.k.a. Fire). Few Hollywood melodramas are as perversely aflame with thwarted, courtly love as Raj Kapoor’s intense directorial debut, which adds more than a touch of postwar American noir to its tale of doomed lovers and youthful idealists fighting the bleakness of the modern world. A young theater director (Kapoor) remains haunted by memories of a childhood crush (he even calls all his other lovers by her name), but also remains loyal to his patron, a wealthy painter (Premnath). A beautiful refugee (the radiant Nargis) soon becomes the center of a love triangle between the two men (or, in a different reading, comes between the platonic love of two men), with dramatic—and fiery—results. Filled with baroque set designs and some spectacular deep-focus photography, Aag represents the hypnotic, florid height of melodrama. "I’ll never forget Aag because it was the story of youth consumed by the desire for a brighter and more intense life,” wrote Kapoor of the film.

—Jason Sanders

• Written by Inder Raj Anand. Photographed by V. N. Reddy. With Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Premnath, Kamini Kaushal. (138 mins, In Hindi with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm)