Joan Of Arc (1948)

In 15th century France, an uneducated peasant girl (Ingrid Bergman) hears voices that proclaim she must rid France of its English invaders during the Hundred Years War and place the crown on the head of the rightful King of France, Charles VII. But after accomplishing her goals, she is betrayed by her King and delivered into the hands of the Burgundians and put on trial as a heretic. The story of the Maid Of Orleans has held a fascination for many artists and her story has been frequently told on film (most memorably Carl Theodor Dreyer's PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC), stage (notably the George Bernard Shaw play), television and even opera. This stagnant film version is based on the Maxwell Anderson (who co-wrote the screenplay) play JOAN OF LORRAINE which also starred Bergman. Bergman looks magnificent astride a horse in full armor, you can believe she could lead an army to victory, but it's a stodgy epic with very little concession to cinema. For example, the battle sequences are a bust. They're almost all shot in quick close ups to disguise that we're obviously on a soundstage. Anderson's declamatory dialog does the bulk of the damage and Victor Fleming's lifeless direction does the rest. Bergman's Joan borders on masochistic and almost two and a half hours of it gets tiresome very quickly. The 2 1/2 hour film was cut to 1 hour and 40 minutes shortly after its release and for decades, the rumor was that the uncut version was a revelation. I've seen both and the uncut version isn't better, just longer. The film's cinematography Oscar was well earned and there's a beauty of an underscore by Hugo Friedhofer. The massive cast includes Jose Ferrer (less hammy than usual), Francis L. Sullivan, J. Carrol Naish, Ward Bond, John Ireland, Shepperd Strudwick, Gene Lockhart, John Emery, Cecil Kellaway, Leif Erickson, Selena Royle, George Coulouris and Hurd Hatfield.