Saint Joan (1957)

There have been many adaptations of the story of Joan Of Arc in film thru out the years from the sublime (Carl Dreyer's PASSIONE DE JEANNE D'ARC) to the ridiculous (Luc Besson's THE MESSENGER). Otto Preminger's film of the George Bernard Shaw play doesn't attempt to expand or rejuvenate or take a revisionist view of the historic Joan as we know her. Shaw's play suggests that Joan's trial was more political than religious (not exactly an earth shattering theory) and Preminger's narrative follows, like the play, a straight forward line with very few concessions to cinema. Poor Jean Seberg whose performance as Joan has been much maligned and truth to tell, one can see her struggling terribly with the part which is beyond her abilities but she brings a genuine (meaning unactressy) simplicity to the part that is refreshing enough that you find yourself rooting for her. A horribly miscast Richard Widmark gives what may be his one bad performance but the other actors are quite good: John Gielgud, Richard Todd, Anton Walbrook, Harry Andrews and Felix Aylmer. There's a moving underscore courtesy of Mischa Spoliansky.