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Saint Joan
| Format | NTSC |
| Contributor | Richard Widmark, Otto Preminger, John Gielgud, Anton Walbrook, Jean Seberg, Richard Todd |
| Runtime | 1 hour and 50 minutes |
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Product Description
"The story of Joan of Arc," historian Andre Maurois wrote, "is at once the most amazing miracle in history and the most logical sequence of political acts." But the church court trying the teenage girl saw neither divine intervention nor uncommon acumen in her astonishing triumphs. It saw heresy - and death by fire.
Seventeen-year-old Jean Seberg plays the visionary Maid of Orleans in Otto Preminger's production of Saint Joan, adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play by Graham Greene and cast with a company of bravura talents. Richard Widmark turns his tough-guy persona on its head to play a Dauphin more court jester than future king. And stately John Gielgud is the English commander who scoffs: "The angels may be on the side of the church - but I have 800 soldiers."
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Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 2.72 Ounces
- Director : Otto Preminger
- Media Format : NTSC
- Run time : 1 hour and 50 minutes
- Release date : May 28, 2010
- Actors : Richard Widmark, Richard Todd, Anton Walbrook, Jean Seberg, John Gielgud
- Language : Unqualified
- Studio : OTTO
- ASIN : B003ODIV0Q
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #157,276 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #27,128 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Like Dreyer's over edited film, Preminger struggled to keep his film intact, yet the the version we have today is diminished by the studio complex over editing, due to unusual prejudice by critics at screenings.
Still, if you watch Seberg closely, guided by Preminger, look at her eyes and brow, she truly tried to think and feel Joan.
Preminger chose her out of hundreds, and he saw something past her angelic face.
This film is rarely seen unfortunately, but if you're fascinated by the historical versions of Joan, and enjoy early cinema, keeping in mind the time when it was made, the film has acting moments that are amazing to see and well worth your time. Richard Widmark took quite a risk when he agreed to trust Preminger with his career change.
Like, Grace Kelly, in Country Girl, for which she won an Oscar, it shares the fact that few people are aware of the film and the high quality of very young actresses completely immersing themselves in their role. Unfortunately, unlike Kelly, Seberg was mercilessly, negatively criticized at the films initial release.
I'm very grateful that Amazon has made it accessible.
This version is digitally enhanced and for a neglected film, is very clear and free of most the poor older VHS versions.
One note on the DVD edition that might surprise others -- this disc leaves out the contemporary "Making Of" feature that was included as a bonus on the VHS version released long ago. It's a shame this was not included on the DVD -- there are no bonus features, in fact, not even subtitles. You'd think this would bring down the price, but no such luck -- a premium price charged for a bare-bones release, so make your purchasing decision accordingly.
Top reviews from other countries
There's a pleasing symmetry in the parallels to be perceived between Joan of Arc and Jean Seberg. Both got roasted at the end of their first fame and both were later restored to the good graces of their particular environments. Seberg may not be the Joan of history - who can really say ? - but in movie-terms she's certainly a Joan for her own times. The film was in production just a year after James Dean's sudden demise and its essential theme of personal convictions vs the Establishment was a key concern of Fifties cinema. With Preminger as mentor the unknown untried Seberg - like Joan at the French court - negotiates her way through a cast of veterans with charm and grace. As the stubborn teen naive to politics but fired with truths beyond the statute-books she gives us intelligence, a wry humour and finally a moving intensity when the forces of Church and State conspire to bring her down. As adapted from Bernard Shaw the film lessens his discursive wit (and some of his longer speeches) and as pure movie never quite fulfils itself. A plain austere production, it avoids spectacle (as the play does) and at times has a penny-pinched look. Shaw's epilogue in which the main characters appear in a dream debating all that happened after Joan went to the stake is here split in two and wrapped around the film at both ends, a familiar device to assure punters that from all the tragedy they're about to watch something will survive. A mainly British cast gives distinguished support and for added box-office Preminger shrewdly cast Richard Todd as Joan's field-commander and Richard Widmark as the diffident Dauphin she shoves into asserting his authority but who's quick to dump her once the English have been driven back and he can be crowned king. Widmark's sly not-so-simpleton who'd prefer to keep his head down is a delightful contrast to his tough action-heroes (he'd come straight from a Western) and recalls in flashes the weirdos he'd played at the start of his career. Commonsense usurps the supernatural as it does in Shaw - Joan's 'voices' speak through her imagination as she admits, she states her case and its the repercussions that count. A couple of small 'miracles' could be attributed to accidents of nature and get skimmed over in Graham Greene's script much more quickly than in the play, giving things a fairy-tale feel though the issue of medieval gullibility should not be forgotten. These are people of their own time not ours despite the hindsight musings.
I was glad to secure this title in a French edition (in English with subtitles) as it's never been available in the U.K. Despite a 'tram-line' on the opening credits the picture-quality is first-class.

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