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Joan of Arc (1948 film)

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Joan of Arc
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVictor Fleming
Screenplay byMaxwell Anderson
Andrew Solt
Based onJoan of Lorraine
by Maxwell Anderson
Produced byWalter Wanger
StarringIngrid Bergman
CinematographyJoseph Valentine
Edited byFrank Sullivan
Music byHugo Friedhofer
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Sierra Pictures
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release dates
  • November 11, 1948 (1948-11-11) (New York City)[1]
  • September 2, 1950 (1950-09-02) (United States)[1]
Running time
145 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.6 million[2]
Box office$6 million (rentals)[3][4]

Joan of Arc is a 1948 American epic historical drama film directed by Victor Fleming, and starring Ingrid Bergman as the eponymous French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger and is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the screen by Anderson himself, in collaboration with Andrew Solt. It is the last film Fleming directed before his death in 1949.

Plot

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Unlike the play Joan of Lorraine, which is a drama that shows how the story of Joan affects a group of actors who are performing it, the film is a straightforward recounting of the life of the French heroine. It begins with an obviously painted shot of the inside of a basilica with a shaft of light, possibly descending from heaven, shining down from the ceiling, and a solemn off-screen voice pronouncing the canonization of the Maid of Orleans. Then, the opening page of what appears to be a church manuscript recounting Joan's life in Latin is shown on the screen, while some uncredited voiceover narration by actor Shepperd Strudwick sets up the tale. The actual story of Joan then begins, from the time she becomes convinced that she has been divinely called to save France to her being burnt at the stake at the hands of the English and the Burgundians.

Cast

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At Domrémy, Joan's Birthplace in Lorraine, December 1428

At Vaucouleurs, February 1429

The Court of Charles VII at Chinon, March 1429

The Army at the Battle of Orléans, May 1429

The Enemy

The Trial at Rouen, February 21 to May 30, 1431

Uncredited

Production

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Development

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Joan of Arc was made in 1947–1948 by an independent company, Sierra Pictures, created especially for this production, and not to be confused with the production company with the same name that made mostly silent films.

Filming began on September 16, 1947[5] and was done primarily at Hal Roach Studios, with location scenes shot in the Los Angeles area.

The 1948 Sierra Pictures never produced another film after Joan of Arc.

Casting

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Bergman had been lobbying to play Joan for many years, and this film was considered a dream project for her. It received mixed reviews and lower-than-expected box office, though it clearly was not a "financial disaster" as is often claimed. Donald Spoto, in a biography of Ingrid Bergman, even claims that "the critics' denunciations notwithstanding, the film earned back its investment with a sturdy profit".[6]

The movie is considered by some to mark the start of a low period in the actress's career that lasted until she made Anastasia in 1956. In April 1949, five months after the release of the film, and before it had gone out on general release, the revelation of Bergman's extramarital relationship with Italian director Roberto Rossellini brought her American screen career to a temporary halt. The nearly two-and-a-half-hour film was drastically edited for its general release, and was not restored to its original length for nearly 50 years.

Bergman and co-star José Ferrer (making his first film appearance and playing the Dauphin)[7] received Academy Award nominations for their performances. The film was director Victor Fleming's last project—he died only two months after its release.

In Michael Sragow's 2008 biography of the director, he claims that Fleming, who was, according to Sragrow, romantically involved with Ingrid Bergman at the time, was deeply unhappy with the finished product, and even wept upon seeing it for the first time.[8] Sragrow speculates that the disappointment of the failed relationship and the failure of the film may have led to Fleming's fatal heart attack, but there is no real evidence to support this. While contemporary critics may have agreed with Fleming's assessment of Joan of Arc, more recent reviewers of the restored complete version on DVD have not.[9][10][11][12]

Release

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Original release

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The movie was first released on November 11, 1948 by RKO. When the film was shortened for its general release on September 2, 1950 with 45 minutes being cut out; it was distributed, not by RKO, but by a company called Balboa Film Distributors, the same company which re-released Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn, also starring Ingrid Bergman.

Restoration

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The complete 145 minute version of Joan of Arc remained unseen in the U.S. for about 49 years. Although the complete Technicolor negatives remained in storage in Hollywood, the original soundtrack was thought to be lost. The movie was restored in 1998 after an uncut print in mint condition was found in Europe, containing the only known copy of the complete soundtrack. When it finally appeared on DVD, the restored complete version was hailed by online movie critics as being much superior to the edited version. It was released on DVD in 2004.

The edited version received its first television showing on the evening of April 12, 1968 (an Easter weekend), and has been shown on Ted Turner's WTCG and on cable several times. The full-length version was shown on Turner Classic Movies on March 13, 2011. This marked the first time that the complete unedited version had ever been shown on American television.

Differences in versions

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There are several differences between the full-length roadshow version of the film and the edited general release version.

  • One that is immediately noticeable is that there is actually a snippet from Joan's trial during the opening narration in the edited version, whereas in the full-length version, the events of Joan's life are shown in chronological order. The narration is more detailed in the edited version than in the complete version, with much of it used to cover the breaks in continuity caused by the severe editing.
  • The edited version omits crucial scenes that are important to a psychological understanding of the narrative, such as the mention of a dream that Joan's father has which foretells of Joan's campaign against the English. When Joan hears of the dream, she becomes convinced that she has been divinely ordered to drive the English out of France.
  • Most of the first ten minutes of the film, a section showing Joan praying in the Domrémy shrine, followed by a family dinner and conversation which leads to the mention of the dream, are not in the edited version.
  • In the complete 145-minute version, the narration is heard only at the beginning of the film, and there are no sudden breaks in continuity.
  • Entire characters, such as Joan's father (played by Robert Barrat) and Father Pasquerel (played by Hurd Hatfield) are partially or totally omitted from the edited version.
  • Even the opening credits are somewhat different, and run about two minutes longer. In the edited version, the story begins after Victor Fleming's director's credit, and in the full-length version, after the director's credit, a title card states "The Players" appears onscreen, after which all the major lead and supporting actors, as well as the characters that they play, are listed in order of appearance and in groups (e.g., "At Domrémy", "At Chinon", etc.), much like Fleming's other lengthy film epic Gone with the Wind. More than 30 of the actors are listed.

The edited version might be considered more cinematic through its use of maps and voice-over narration to explain the political situation in France. (In the full-length version, Joan's family discusses the political situation during dinner.) The full-length version, although not presented as a play-within-a-play, as the stage version was, nevertheless resembles a stage-to-film adaptation, makes great use of Maxwell Anderson's original dialogue, and may seem, to some, stagy in its method of presentation, despite having a realistic depiction of the Siege of Orléans.

Reception

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Critical reception

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One of the frequent criticisms of the film is that Bergman, who was 33 at the time she made the movie, was nearly twice as old as the real Joan of Arc was at the time of the events dramatized. Bergman went on, at age 39, to play Joan again in the 1954 Italian film Giovanna d'Arco al rogo (Joan at the Stake).

Several contemporary critics criticized the film for being slow-paced and dialogue-driven.[13][14] Contemporary critic Leonard Maltin—who had not reviewed the full-length version—writes in his 2009 movie guide that there is "not enough spectacle to balance the talky sequences".[15]

Box office

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According to RKO records, the film earned $2,525,000 in theater rentals from the United States and Canada and $3,500,000 elsewhere.[3][4] However, because of high cost it recorded a loss of $2,480,436.[2]

Academy Award wins and nominations

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Award Nominee(s) Result
Best Actress Ingrid Bergman[16] Nominated
Best Supporting Actor José Ferrer Nominated
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (color) Richard Day, Edwin Casey Roberts, Joseph Kish Nominated
Best Cinematography (color) Joseph Valentine, William V. Skall, Winton C. Hoch Won
Best Costume Design (color) Barbara Karinska, Dorothy Jeakins Won
Best Film Editing Frank Sullivan Nominated
Best Score, Dramatic or Comedy Picture Hugo Friedhofer Nominated
Honorary Award* Walter Wanger Won
*"for distinguished service to the industry in adding to its moral stature in the world community by his production of the picture Joan of Arc." (Wanger refused the award in protest of the film's absence in the Best Picture category.)

In other media

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Comic book

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  • Magazine Enterprises: Joan of Arc (1949)[17][18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Joan of Arc: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent, Minnesota Press, 2000 p444
  3. ^ a b Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "RKO Film Grosses, 1929–1951: the C.J. Tevlin ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/01439689400260031.
  4. ^ a b Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "Appendix 1". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (S1): 1–11. doi:10.1080/01439689408604545.
  5. ^ Nat Segaloff, Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Bear Manor Media 2013 p 98-99
  6. ^ Spoto, Donald (26 April 2001). Notorious: The Life Of Ingrid Bergman. Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780306810305 – via Google Books.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 112. ISBN 0-302-00477-7.
  8. ^ Sragow, Michael (9 December 2008). Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master. Pantheon. ISBN 978-0375407482.
  9. ^ "dOc DVD Review: Joan of Arc (1948)". www.digitallyobsessed.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
  10. ^ "The DVD Journal – Quick Reviews: Joan of Arc". www.dvdjournal.com.
  11. ^ "Joan of Arc". DVD Talk.
  12. ^ "Joan of Arc". DVD Talk.
  13. ^ Crowther, Bosley (November 12, 1948). "Ingrid Bergman Plays Title Role in 'Joan of Arc' at Victoria -Two Other Films Arrive". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "Cinema: The New Pictures, Nov. 15, 1948". 15 November 1948. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009 – via www.time.com.
  15. ^ Maltin, Leonard (5 August 2008). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Signet. ISBN 978-0451224682.
  16. ^ "NY Times: Joan of Arc". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  17. ^ "Magazine Enterprises: Joan of Arc". Grand Comics Database.
  18. ^ Magazine Enterprises: Joan of Arc at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
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