THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC: Carl Th. Dreyer, France 1928. 78mins.
The Passion of Joan of Arc is considered one of the best silent films ever made.
Rene Falconetti gives one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film, as the young maiden who died for God and France. The original version of the film was lost for decades, after a fire destroyed the master negative. Dreyer himself attempted to reassemble a version from out-takes and surviving prints, but he died believing his original cut was lost forever. Almost miraculously, a virtually complete print of Dreyer’s original version was found in 1981.
In The Nursery’s score reflects the film’s dramatic highs and lows – from the emotional close-up photography of the trial through to the fevered final scenes surrounding Joan’s death.
