"Joan of Arc" feels rather vacant. Even the restored version, with all its lavish production values, gorgeous sets, vivid Technicolor, huge cast of stars in cameo roles and Ingrid Bergman's face it doesn't amount to much. It sort of washed over me.
We meet Joan running through the fields, then being chided for not paying attention to the everyday things that matter. She knows she's destined for something big. She's pious. She prays. One day she gets the call. Off she goes to lead the king's army against the enemy. There's something about her that humbles and draws respect from all who meet her. She's a medieval celeb. Soon this humble farm girl is seen in a series of tableaux. Look! There's Joan discussing strategy with the generals. There's Joan in a Mastercard front-of-the-line spot for the king's coronation. There's Joan leading the army. There's Joan, in her shiny, brand new designer armour, waving her sword and calling the troops to battle. There's Joan receiving a blue ribbon in the ratatouille cook-off (just kidding).
Director Victor Fleming takes full advantage of Ingrid Bergman's incandescent features, and she's not bad, but she didn't really convince me. There's little depth to her character. There's nothing in the film that shows Joan as so dangerous as to provoke the Church to prosecute and execute her. "I see angels". So what? Enough already with the piety and artificially imposed charisma. Let's have a closer look at the Joan who claims to have visions and a hot-line to God. Jose Ferrer bites vigorously into his role as the wimpy king of France, but it's a one-note characterization. I lost track of the horde of other characters. Many of the scenes seem perfunctory, and Joan's burning at the stake didn't move me.
The production design and costumes are absolutely stunning, and a lot of research seems to have gone into creating authenticity to a period of European history that's not often carefully depicted in movies. Many of the tableaux remind me of paintings I've seen of the Middle Ages (another film that takes a similar approach to its visuals is Laurence Olivier's marvellous "Henry V").
Recently I watched Otto Preminger's "Saint Joan", filmed in black-and-white. That film, essentially, tells the same story, but it was convincing, and really grabbed me.
We meet Joan running through the fields, then being chided for not paying attention to the everyday things that matter. She knows she's destined for something big. She's pious. She prays. One day she gets the call. Off she goes to lead the king's army against the enemy. There's something about her that humbles and draws respect from all who meet her. She's a medieval celeb. Soon this humble farm girl is seen in a series of tableaux. Look! There's Joan discussing strategy with the generals. There's Joan in a Mastercard front-of-the-line spot for the king's coronation. There's Joan leading the army. There's Joan, in her shiny, brand new designer armour, waving her sword and calling the troops to battle. There's Joan receiving a blue ribbon in the ratatouille cook-off (just kidding).
Director Victor Fleming takes full advantage of Ingrid Bergman's incandescent features, and she's not bad, but she didn't really convince me. There's little depth to her character. There's nothing in the film that shows Joan as so dangerous as to provoke the Church to prosecute and execute her. "I see angels". So what? Enough already with the piety and artificially imposed charisma. Let's have a closer look at the Joan who claims to have visions and a hot-line to God. Jose Ferrer bites vigorously into his role as the wimpy king of France, but it's a one-note characterization. I lost track of the horde of other characters. Many of the scenes seem perfunctory, and Joan's burning at the stake didn't move me.
The production design and costumes are absolutely stunning, and a lot of research seems to have gone into creating authenticity to a period of European history that's not often carefully depicted in movies. Many of the tableaux remind me of paintings I've seen of the Middle Ages (another film that takes a similar approach to its visuals is Laurence Olivier's marvellous "Henry V").
Recently I watched Otto Preminger's "Saint Joan", filmed in black-and-white. That film, essentially, tells the same story, but it was convincing, and really grabbed me.