Movie #171: The Passion of Joan of Arc

Movie #: 171
Movie Title: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Year Released: 1928

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Notable Cast: Maria Falconetti

Short Description: A chronicle of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc on charges of heresy, and the efforts of her ecclesiastical jurists to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #60
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 2/11/2016

Grade: 1 out of 5 (Poor)

Rationale: Completely unwatchable. Silent films require something other than visual cues of a person to progress the story and explain what’s happening, whether that be through music or the classic text boxes that appear letting you know what someone is saying or thinking. Unfortunately there was absolutely no music, making this the most silent of silent films possible, and text boxes were few and far between. I was constantly left with watching people “talk” and had little idea of what was going on. The vast majority of the film is shot in close-ups of heads so emotions like fear, anger, happiness, and sadness were obvious, but with no spoken or written words to describe why characters had those emotions I lost interest within minutes of starting the film. How anyone can like this film is as mysterious to me as what the characters were "saying."