The Passion of Joan of Arc
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer Run Time: 114 min. Format: Digital Rating: NR Release Year: 1928 Language: French with English Subtitles
Starring: André Berley, Eugene Silvain, Maria Falconetti
The second film in Nitehawk’s Vamps and Virgins silent film series is based on the most famous martyr in history, Joan of Arc. This LIVE SOUND CINEMA event features a live score by Guizot.
A landmark of cinema featuring one of the best performances in film history by Renée Jeanne Falconetti, The Passion of Joan of Arc is based on the actual trial record of the infamous Joan of Arc (1412-1431). It depicts her trial, imprisonment, torture, and execution by the English after refusing to recant her belief that’s she is on a mission from God to drive England out of France. Some believe she’s a saint while others, well, you know. Hailed as a masterpiece even immediately after its release, it’s just an impressive today and is one to certainly see on the big screen with a live band.
From the Vamps and Virgins series text…The Passion of Joan of Arc has Maria Falconetti acting without makeup or artifice; as “Joan” she is a defiant fortress of will. Such a terrible and tearful portrait of uncompromising virgin purity driven into martyrdom is a subject rarely experienced in contemporary cinema.
The Passion of Joan of Arc is part of Nitehawk Cinema’s Vamps and Virgins series that explores the two sides of the leading lady spectrum in silent film.