Jeanne d'Arc

This is not a bad quick version of the story of Joan of Arc. The colouring is nice, acting pretty good but I felt there was too much of Melies' style in this film that I felt I was watching a fairy-tale instead of a historical piece.

7.5/10

This is a classic tale of a true figure in French history, who paid a price for her beliefs. She is heroic as she fends off those that would have her take the easy way out. This film is hand painted and has brilliant color throughout. Also, the images are sophisticated. I have always thought that this story ranks with the best. Was Joan a hero or was she mad? Any way you look at it, she had the entire courage of her convictions.

This was pretty good. The coloring was nice, the sets were awesome and the battle and execution scenes were cool, too. It does get a little boring at the beginning, but overall, its pretty sweet.

This is an elaborate production for its time, with 11 tableaux, 250 meters and a runtime of 10 minutes. Additionally, the print available on the Flicker Alley set is wonderfully hand-colored. There's also a nice vision scene-within-a-scene, which is a rather common, but appreciated, occurrence in early films. On the other hand, this early story film especially seems to be bogged down by Méliès's typical theatrical style, perhaps because it's a historical reenactment film rather than some amusing fantasy or fairytale. I don't find it as entertaining as his later films such as "Bluebeard" (1901), "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) and "The Kingdom of the Fairies" (1903), which more greatly overcome their stagy and primitive qualities. For instance, the revolving parade scene and the lame battle are goofed even for 1900. In addition, Méliès plays too many different roles in this one, which could have been confusing without the lecture provided.

Nevertheless, it would take a couple years before other film pioneers, including Edwin S. Porter, Robert W. Paul and Ferdinand Zecca, to name a few, began to make narrative films to compare to this one. "Joan of Arc" came on the heels of Méliès's earlier and first super-production "Cinderella" (1899), which, like this film, connected its tableaux by dissolves. "Joan of Arc" is somewhat more polished than "Cinderella" was, as, likewise, Méliès's later féeries (fairy films) are more refined and sophisticated than this film.

Also of note, Joan of Arc has always been a popular screen subject. The first filmed version I know of was by the Edison Company in 1895. The Lumiére Company made a shot-scene reenactment of the trial, titled "Execution of Joan of Arc" (Exécution de Jeanne d'Arc), just a year before Méliès's film. The Lumiére film, which has been available on home video, isn't worthwhile except for perhaps that it, too, survives in a hand-colored print. When I saw it, and when considering its title and that they only had a single shot-scene, I wondered why they wouldn't use the hand coloring to exploit the attraction of a burning at the stake. Méliès didn't miss opportunities like that.

It's only befitting that one of the most venerable pioneers of French cinema should have addressed himself to portraying one of his nation's great national heroines. By some miracle his version has survived complete with the original tinting.

As usual with Melies the characters saunter back and forth with little sense of urgency before finally engaging the English, while Joan herself is depicted playing no part in the hostilities, her hair for once not shorn.

During her trial the use of tinting adds emphasis to the brazier containing hot coals soon to be applied by a torturer dressed in satanic red prior to her final burning at the stake.