Saint Joan (1957)

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Graham Greene (writer)
George Bernard Shaw (play)

Release Date:

8 May 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Young Joan of Arc comes to the palace in France to make The Dauphin King of France and is appointed to head the French Army...

Plot Keywords:

Interrogation | Heresy | French Court | France | 15th Century

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	The Dauphin, Charles VII
Richard Todd	...	Dunois, Bastard of Orleans
Anton Walbrook	...	Cauchon - Bishop of Beauvais
John Gielgud	...	Earl of Warwick
Felix Aylmer	...	Inquisitor
Archie Duncan	...	Robert de Baudricourt
Harry Andrews	...	John de Stogumber
Margot Grahame	...	Duchesse de la Tremouille
Barry Jones	...	De Courcelles
Francis De Wolff	...	La Tremouille
Finlay Currie	...	Archbishop of Rheims
Victor Maddern	...	English Soldier
Bernard Miles	...	Master Executioner
David Oxley	...	'Bluebeard',- Gilles de Rais
Patrick Barr	...	Captain La Hire
Sydney Bromley	...	Baudricourt's Steward
Kenneth Haigh	...	Brother Martin Ladvenu
David Langton	...	Captain of Warwick's Guard
Jean Seberg	...	St.Joan of Arc
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Thomas Gallagher	...	Foul mouthed Frank (uncredited)
David Hemmings	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Michael Lewin	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Mark Milleham	...	French child (uncredited)
Spoli Mills	...	(uncredited)
Richard Palmer	...	Page (uncredited)
Susan Raie	...	Dark-haired girl (uncredited)
Norman Rossington	...	2nd Soldier at burning (uncredited)

Directed by
Otto Preminger

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Graham Greene		writer
George Bernard Shaw		play

Produced by
Douglas Peirce	....	associate producer
Otto Preminger	....	producer

Original Music by
Mischa Spoliansky

Cinematography by
Georges Périnal

Film Editing by
Helga Cranston

Casting by
Lionel Larner

Production Design by
Roger K. Furse

Art Direction by
Ray Simm

Costume Design by
John McCorry

Makeup Department
Gordon Bond	....	hair stylist
Tony Sforzini	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Laurie Laurence	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter Bolton	....	assistant director
Otto Plaschkes	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Peter Handford	....	sound
Red Law	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Denys N. Coop	....	camera operator
John Jay	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Robert Willoughby	....	special still photographer (uncredited)
Paul Wilson	....	first assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Philip Martell	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Saul Bass	....	title designer
Charles R. Beard	....	technical advisor
Doreen Merriman	....	script supervisor (as Doreen Francis)
Max Slater	....	production assistant
Bill Batchelor	....	publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Wheel Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• Top Tape (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) (2006) (USA) (TV)
• United Artists (1957) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Wheel Productions

Trivia:

Audrey Hepburn was originally offered the role of Joan. Rumor had it she turned it down because her husband, Mel Ferrer, wasn't offered the role of the Dauphin, but Ferrer denied this.

Quotes:

St.Joan of Arc: [to Cauchon] But what happened to thee? Art thou dead or alive?
Cauchon: Dead. Dishonoured. They pursued me beyond the grave. They excommunicated my dead body; they dug it up and flung it into the sewer.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mr. Hoover and I (1989)

yet another Joan

This version by Otto Preminger is based on the play by Bernard Shaw, in which the ghost of Joan of Arc appears to Charles VII years after her execution. We then see in flashback how the young maid led the soldiers to victory at Orleans and made the Dauphin king, and how she was later betrayed by nobles, church, and soldiers alike.

Jean Seberg plays Joan as a very modern looking, very young girl who questions everything she sees and is at first tolerated and then shunned and feared. Richard Widmark is perhaps too comic as the Dauphin and comes across as miscast, while John Gielgud is reliable as Warwick, the English kingmaker. Other key roles are played by Anton Walbrook, Harry Andrews, Finlay Currie, and Richard Todd.

This version of the Joan of Arc tale has a greater feel of realism that the 40s version with Ingrid Bergman, but I rate the silent versions 'The Passion of Joan of Arc' and 'Joan the Woman' higher. Although Seberg puts across a fine performance as Joan, she can't hold a candle to Falconetti in particular.