Others say...

"Edited version lacking"
I was looking forward to seeing this film until I learned that it was a heavily-edited version of the original theatrical release. That one is 145 minutes in length but this one is only 100. I have to believe those extra 45 minutes were somewhat important for the telling of the story. The result is still watchable, but it has a "rushed" feel to it. If you are familiar with Joan's story, you might be surprised at how quickly this film reaches its climax.

Bergman is great as the larger-than-life Joan of Arc, emerging from the peasant stock to lead the French army into battle. Joan's story is still remarkable to this day, and Bergman does it justice. The film also manages to stick to the historical record, even including many small details. The events at her trial, the words Joan spoke at her execution, even what the executioner supposedly said when Joan died, these were all included in the film.

Overall I gave this three stars. I would recommend skipping this and watching the full version, but if you can't find it, this one is better than nothing.

"inspiring!"
I love this movie. The difference you can make when your called by God to make it, even if you think your a nobody! This old classic is better then all the remakes.

"The Maid who was sent from Heaven to support her failing France..."
We are in 1429, period of the "Hundred Years War" between France and England... The story follows the well-known outlines of the short life of the 15th century French saint, Joan of Arc...

Guided by divine Voices, the visionary daughter of a plowman, Joan (Ingrid Bergman), wearing men's clothes, leaves Domremy her village town in Lorraine and takes her long journey to Chinon to meet the Dauphin Charles VII (Jose Ferrer).

Inspired by God to free France from the ravages of the invading English, the peasant girl persuades the indecisive Dauphin to recruit an army and run out the ruthless invaders clearing the way for him to be crown King of France...

Joan leads the French Army to victory over the English forces at Orleans and stands proudly besides her king - as she promised - at his coronation in Rheims' Cathedral...

The Maid's followers believed that she came from God and the Burgundians and English were stricken with fear at her success... But Charles was tricky, ambition and deceitful in his goals... A counterplot was at work as a mean truce is suddenly signed with England, frustrating Joan's zeal to rid France of the enemy...

In an ironic twist of fate, the Maid of Lorraine becomes a political prisoner... She is closely guarded and kept in irons, and is tried as a witch by an English-dominated church court...

With no council to aid her, except her Voices, we see the intrigued illiterate girl, pitted against Bishop Pierre Cauchon (Francis L. Sullivan) trained in all the complexities of legal exhausting questioning...

We may ask ourselves how so many ideas and intuitions are to be found in a person so simple as she was saintly... Joan is, above all things else, the wisdom of a good people... She is the people of France, the plain people of the countryside of Lorraine which is sweet and clean through the courage and faith of the people as much as through the smell of woods and orchards...

Ingrid Bergman portrays with deep conviction her role as the delicate innocent virgin who raised the spirit of the French to hope for better times... She curbed savage England and stopped the spoiling and burning of France... Bergman's smiling face invoked spiritual revelation, the required light of a charismatic true heroine...



"Beautifully restored, but..."
Victor Fleming's Joan of Arc, even in this beautifully restored version, isn't much to write home about. Maxwell Anderson's play was creaking at the timbers even in 1948, and the screenplay remains resolutely theatrical despite one good battle scene. Ingrid Bergman is okay in her quiet moments, but handles her big declamatory scenes with extreme clumsiness - it's one of those performances where you can all too easily spot where she's marked her script, and too often it's more about hitting artificial cues than giving a fluid or convincing reading. If anything, you find yourself wondering why her nose looks so big all the time and marvel at how the more inspired Joan is, the more Swedish she sounds. Instead, the film belongs to Jose Ferrer, making a remarkable debut as the weak and feminine Dauphin. It's watchable enough, but there's a cosy feeling about the film: even the burning at the stake seems more photogenic than horrendous. Still, it's fun to see Dennis Hoey playing something other than Inspector Lestrade for a change!


"beautiful film"

This DVD version is of the highest quality, both in its texture, colour and lighting. Ingrid Bergman played Joan of Arc with as much reverence and solemnity as she did in the Bells of St. Mary's. She wore a very short hair, not unlike her look in "For whom the bell tolls". She looked convincingly young, brave and strong to shoulder such a daunting task of fighting against the Burgundians and English. The major battle scene, though not shot at actual site, was engaging nonetheless.

Joan of Arc's convictions and determination led her people to victory. But what was true then is still true now. Leaders have the final say. Coronation of a short-sighted and corrupted king underlied the tragic end of Joan of Arc. And Ingrid Bergman had the depth and sophistication to handle the agony, frustration and disappointment when she was later betrayed by her own king, then captured by the enemies and in the end faced the grand trial. She revealed her struggles - at one time she submitted when she could hold out no longer; and came to peace only when she accepted her destiny. That all said, the movie was tragic and thought provoking.