Joan Of Arc - BLU-RAY

France, 1425. In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young Jeannette, at the still tender age of 8, looks after her sheep in the small village of Domremy. One day, she tells her friend Hauviette how she cannot bear to see the suffering caused by the English. Madame Gervaise, a nun, tries to reason with the young girl, but Jeannette is ready to take up arms for the salvation of souls and the liberation of the Kingdom of France. Carried by her faith, she will become Joan of Arc.

Director Jacques Rivette's epic chronicle starring Sandrine Bonnaire as Joan of Arc opens with InchJoan the Maid The Battles,Inch in which the 15th-century teenager attempts to convince the French Dauphin (André Marcon) that she has been called by God to lead the nation in combat against the English. Then, InchJoan the Maid The PrisonsInch tells of how Joan was left by her men for capture by the British and sentenced to death at the stake. Nathalie Richard, Edith Scob also star. 5 2/3 hrs. Widescreen; Soundtrack French; Subtitles English. In French with English subtitles. Two-disc set.

Joan the Woman (Cardinal Film Corporation, 1916) was Cecil B. DeMilles first great spectacle. In keeping with theatrical tradition, DeMille sought a more formal and stylized mode of acting from stars Geraldine Farrar and Wallace Reid - a technique he continued in his late historical films. Wilfred Bucklands art direction is outstanding, and DeMilles social comments are subtle but biting. The film also features a dramatic hand-colored climax utilizing the Handschiegl stencil-color process. The film became a prototype for DeMilles later spectacles. His handling of the large battle scenes (with the aid of seventeen cameras and a small army of assistant directors, including William deMille, George Melford and Donald Crisp) was exceptional - equal to D.W. Griffiths work in The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. The real strength of the picture, however, is found in the directors provocatively compelling images At Joans trial by torture, officials the Church are clad in white hooded robes with black holes for eyes. DeMille frames his shot so that the top of Cauchons mitre is out of frame, and he looks like a black-clad grand dragon of the invisible empire surrounded by Klansmen and hiding behind a crucifix rather than a bishop of the Church. The empty town square. An executioner drives a single horse cart piled with kindling to lay around the stake where Joan will meet her death. A lone dog is the only living thing, barking a futile protest. As Joan is led to the stake, the Bishop Cauchon seizes her ornate crucifix, and as the flames surround her, Eric Trent hands Joan a handmade cross of simple twigs that she carries to her death. Ultimately, in an effort to get more performances per day, the picture was drastically cut very early in the run. This DVD offers DeMilles directors cut and the original hand-colored climax. William Fursts original 1916 score is performed by C