I personally prefer Shaws “Saint Joan” starring Jane Seberg in comparison to most modern versions. The saint joan has its idiosyncratic events, a largely too international cast some good perfomances from some of the english actors, and a little hamming up from americans playing french peasants, but Jane seberg really placed herself into the passion of the role, and her childlike delusion quality she emits as concerns her visions, swims well with the obsession necessary to create such a character historically as joan.

does anyone know why it was so critically blasted when it first came out ?

May Jane be resting happily wherever she may be.

Having watched some of the other Joan of arc films i’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps. “The Passion of Joan of Arc” is in fact a slightly more adult film, it is the most moving portrayal, if you let it take you, and for a silent film is captivating, in fact no voices with just the choral background which I saw, seems better than if I heard the actors voices, which would no doubt pail to my imagined versions of them, the silence forced and focussed the mind on to the expressions on the faces involved, and what faces, this film must surely win the most moving and powerfull facial closeups ever done ? At points this seems to highlight even better the poignancy of the totally futile game of words spoken within the trial.