Joan of Arc (1948)
Director: Victor Fleming
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Jose Ferrer
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Costume Design (color)
A testament to the fact that not all prestige pictures are
the formula for success, 1948’s Joan of
Arc is a film sadly falls flat with audiences. This latest adaption of the
religious historical figure’s story despite its grand cinematic moments proved
to be a financial failure, a downturn for its marketable star, and the sad closing
note for one of the industry’s most influential filmmakers. Despite being
nominated for several Academy Awards and winning two, it lacked favor among general
audience and saw its initial form altered for generations. Ultimately the
legacy of the sluggish Technicolor period spectacle remains a production of
promise that fell short of its mark.
Joan of Arc is a
religious historical epic drama chronicling the tale of the poor, young French lady
who rises to become a war hero and religious figure. Ingrid Bergman portrays
Joan, the young daughter of a poor French family whose, divine visions inspire
her to aid her home country who at the time was suffered greatly defeats at the
hands of England during the “Hundred Years War.” She shares her visions with
Charles (Jose Ferrer), the Dauphin of France, who in turn used Joan as icon to
lead the French army to victories over their rival nation. Victories on the
battlefield earn Charles the French throne, but soon after casts aside Joan as
a major player in the successes. Despite Charles’ disposition for truce with
the British Joan remains influential among her armies and continues to fight
their foreign enemies. Shortly thereafter she is captured by the English and
tried by the British clergy on counts of heresy. The trail tests Joan’s faith, ultimately
leading to the execution of the future saint, burnt at the stake, dying a
believer in God’s work through her.
Although the picture contains some moments of true grand
visuals on epic proportions, inspired imagery, and a well-known story behind
it, the picture itself falls incredibly flat in most cinematic cases. For what
is built up to be a Technicolor spectacle rich in costumed historical depiction
and a tale of emotional martyrdom the feature is entirely too dialogue driven, creating
a plot that drags along painfully slow as it underutilizes the grandeur of its
lofty budget. The result is a product that feels more like a wordy stage play
brought to life with a cast dolled up in Renaissance Faire garb as they purely
discuss matters leading to a conclusion that is neither emotional nor
surprising. Anyone going into the feature would be familiar with the story’s
conclusion, and due to the overall unexciting nature of the laboriously long
two hour and 25 minute film we are left merely yearning to get to the end and
see Joan burned at the stake. Its result is an unfulfilling motion picture.
This independent feature began as an adaption of the Maxwell
Anderson play “Joan of Lorraine,” who also hired to help pen the screenplay.
The play told the story about a company of actors working to portray the story
of Joan of Arc, a story within a story as it will, but this film adaption would
focus purely on the biographical notes of the famed French martyr. Bergman
since arriving in Hollywood had long lobbied to portray Joan on the screen, leading
her to appearing in the Maxwell play to some success before its story was
optioned by producer Walter Wanger for this picture. It is obvious that the
film was a passion project for the Swedish actress who at times appears to lose
herself in the role as the teenaged religious war hero despite Bergman being
twice the age Joan was. Her performance consisted mostly of her in far off stares
with little to no emotion, spending much of her time introspectively
contemplating her divinely influenced actions. This performance may have been an
inspired role for Bergman, but as a character she is difficult to connect with for
the audience, making the fact she was nominated for the Academy Award more of a
honor for the film’s grandeur instead of her actual performance.
Not much of the picture is centered on one particular issue
of Joan’s life story, but rather it captures the highlights of her tale leading
to her ultimate death. It begins shortly after her first visions, which
mercifully are left unseen by the audience, which is perhaps the most effective
way to share them as well. Very few characters in her story appear beyond in
multiple sections of the film. The supporting cast sees appearances from the
likes of Gene Lockhart, Leif Erickson, Francis L. Sullivan, and Alan Napier.
The only grand character to appear throughout the feature is that of King
Charles VII, here portrayed by Puerto Rican born stage actor and Hollywood newcomer
Jose Ferrer, who carries himself with the bravado of some of the finest British
actors to have graced the screen in this role as the monarch. Even at an age of
only 36 years-old Ferrer carries himself like a long time veteran of the big screen,
no doubt because of his stage training. His performance would garner him an Academy
Award nomination in this his first motion picture, quickly establishing himself
with initial critical success.
Despite much of the picture plodding along in thick
dialogue, there are moments of truly inspired filmmaking, mostly displayed in
the battle sequences. In these moments epic proportions are utilized to to
present the grand nature of the war being portrayed. With the help of Technicolor
it paints a beautifully dramatic picture of these legendary battles seemingly
inspired by great illustration of battles and Joan that glorified the events
and its religious leader. However, as much as it serves to create such colorful
imagery it also serves as a downfall as the scenes appear to pause around
heroic shots, not actually focusing on the drama or details of the fighting. Examples
of these shots include Joan majestically holding her banner within a throng of
her soldiers rushing about her in a battle. This moment stirs that initial
source of awe that one would get from looking at a great painting of Joan from
the Renaissance, but if you take note of these types of scenes, she does
nothing else.
Also the battle takes place simply with soldiers rushing in
from the right towards the left into the fortified walls of a castle, leaving audiences
feeling like bystanders, far separated from the action and emotion of these
moments. These moments of uninspired directing by Victor Fleming lacks the
creative drama that could have improved the story that desperately needed it,
leaving these epic battles feeling void in conviction and flow as we simply
watch images with no narrative. Much of the movie feels very much the same as
the plot simply meanders through the story with no emotional connection to the
audience, as if we are just being read a history book instead of being presented
a drama that even remote grips us.
All assembled the picture is a nearly two and a half hour
product that premiered to initial audiences. Many involved in the picture
including disliked its final product. Even Victor Fleming found the finish
product displeasing to his taste, regretting his work on the picture. Sadly the
famed director that help bring us such classic motion pictures as The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind would pass away from
a heart attack in just two months after the the film premiered, leaving Joan of Arc as his last picture.
Initially distributed by RKO picture, the lengthy film was
released in a roadshow format, building up the feature as a prestige event for
audiences to make effort to see in its limited major cities. This form of
release would help to generate interest, but upon reviews it became abundantly
clear the picture was not well received. Critics panned its slow pace, lacking
story, and heavily uninteresting dialogue. Audiences would turn up for
screenings, but generally left feeling unfulfilled with its product, creating
poorer than expected numbers at the box office as the word spread. Due to the
lacking roadshow release RKO would not present a general release of the
picture, feeling there was not an audience to make back their money on the film
prints.
The film did see Academy recognition in the form of cinematography and costume design awards in the lesser competitive color division of these categories. A special honorary award was also named to producer Walter Wanger for merit in bringing the feature to the screen, but Wanger would refuse to accept it to spite that fact the film was not nominated for Best Picture.
Eventually in 1950 Joan of Arc saw a wide release under Balboa
Film Distributors after heavy edited removed 45 minutes of its running time to
allow more showings in theaters to help make back some money on the costly feature.
Although this edit of the film did no favors to make the story more palatable,
in fact making it worse, it helped allow the film to break even and perhaps a
small profit. Shortly thereafter it
became apparent the original full length print of the picture had gone missing and
for nearly 50 years this edited down version was the only account of the film audiences
would be accustomed to. Because of this film historians have generally turned
their noses up to this sadly poor product.
1998 saw a discovery of a well preserved original cut of the
picture and restored, reintroducing it to the public, despite the continual
lack of praise for the film. This allows us today to once again experience the
original product that was Joan of Arc
and take note of the vision it was originally given released with its lack of
interest. As Victor Fleming’s last film it was important to see the product he
approved of even though he too was not fond of it, but it is batter than taking
in a studio recut that did not make that picture any better.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment