Joan of Arc (1948 film)
Encyclopedia
Joan of Arc is a 1948
Technicolor
film directed by Victor Fleming
; starring Ingrid Bergman
as the French religious icon and war heroine
. It was produced by Walter Wanger
. It is based on Maxwell Anderson
's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine
, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the screen by Anderson himself, in collaboration with Andrew Solt. It is the only film of an Anderson play for which the author himself wrote the film script (at least partially).
Bergman had been lobbying to play Joan for many years, and this film was considered a dream project for her. It received mixed reviews and lower-than-expected box office
, though it clearly was not a "financial disaster" as is often claimed. Donald Spoto
, in a biography of Ingrid Bergman, even claims that "the critics' denunciations notwithstanding, the film earned back its investment with a sturdy profit".
The movie is considered by some to mark the start of a low period in the actress's career that would last until she made Anastasia
in 1956. In April 1949, five months after the release of the film, and before it had gone out on general release, the revelation of Bergman's extramarital relationship with Italian director Roberto Rossellini
brought her American screen career to a temporary halt. The nearly two-and-a-half hour film was subsequently drastically edited for its general release, and was not restored to its original length for nearly fifty years.
Bergman and co-star José Ferrer
(making his first film appearance and playing the Dauphin) received Academy Award
nominations for their performances. The film was director Victor Fleming's last project — he died only two months after its release.
In Michael Sragow
's 2008 biography of the director, he claims that Fleming, who was, according to Sragrow, romantically involved with Ingrid Bergman at the time, was deeply unhappy with the finished product, and even wept upon seeing it for the first time. Sragrow speculates that the disappointment of the failed relationship and the failure of the film may have led to Fleming's fatal heart attack, but there is no real evidence to support this. While contemporary critics may have agreed with Fleming's assessment of Joan of Arc, more recent reviewers of the restored complete version on DVD have not.
with a shaft of light, possibly descending from heaven, shining down from the ceiling, and a solemn off-screen voice pronouncing the canonization
of the Maid of Orleans. Then, the opening page of what appears to be a church manuscript recounting Joan's life in Latin
is shown on the screen, while some uncredited voiceover
narration by actor Shepperd Strudwick
sets up the tale. The actual story of Joan then begins, from the time she becomes convinced that she has been divinely
called to save France to her being burnt at the stake
at the hands of the English and the Burgundians.
version of the film and the edited general release version.
The edited version might be considered more cinematic through its use of maps and voice-over narration to explain the political situation in France. (In the full-length version, Joan's family discusses the political situation during dinner.) The full-length version, although not presented as a play-within-a-play, as the stage version was, nevertheless resembles a stage-to-film adaptation, makes great use of Maxwell Anderson's original dialogue, and may seem, to some, stagy in its method of presentation, despite having a realistic depiction of the Siege of Orléans
.
, created especially for this production, and not to be confused with the production company with the same name that made mostly silent films. Filming was done primarily at Hal Roach Studios, with location scenes shot in the Los Angeles area. The movie was first released in November 1948 by RKO. When the film was shortened for its general release in 1950, it was distributed, not by RKO, but by a company called Balboa Film Distributors, the same company which re-released Alfred Hitchcock
's Under Capricorn
, also starring Ingrid Bergman.
The 1948 Sierra Pictures never produced another film after Joan of Arc.
actress would later play her (at age 39) in a 1954 Italian film, Giovanna d'Arco al rogo
(Joan at the Stake). However, reviewers in 1948 did not object to this; it was common in those days for an older actress to play a teenager, as the twenty-four-year-old Jennifer Jones had in 1943's The Song of Bernadette
, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. Children were also sometimes played by older actors at the time; the sixteen year-old Judy Garland
had very convincingly played twelve year-old Dorothy Gale
in the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz
, another film directed by Victor Fleming, and the nineteen-year-old Charlotte Henry
had played Alice in Alice in Wonderland
(1933).
Several critics of the time criticized the film for being slow and talky, as does contemporary critic Leonard Maltin
, who has not yet reviewed the full-length version; he has said that there is "not enough spectacle to balance the talky sequences".
Joan of Arc cost $4.5 million at completion, but as of December 1951, the film had grossed six million dollars, three million less than was needed to cover production and distribution costs.
The edited version received its first television showing on CBS
on the evening of April 12, 1968, and has been shown on Ted Turner
's WTCG and on cable several times. Although the complete, unedited version of the film was scheduled to be shown on American television for the first time on February 13, 2011, by Turner Classic Movies
, with a broadcast window of 2-1/2 hours, it was pulled and the 100 minute edited version was presented later, on Sunday, February 27. However, the full-length version was finally shown on Turner Classic Movies on March 13, 2011.
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
film directed by Victor Fleming
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with the Wind , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.-Life and career:Fleming was born in La Canada, California, the son of Elizabeth Evaleen ...
; starring Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
as the French religious icon and war heroine
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
. It was produced by Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
. It is based on Maxwell Anderson
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine
Joan of Lorraine
Joan of Lorraine is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. It is about an acting company who stages a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical Man of La Mancha, most of the actors in the drama play two or more roles...
, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the screen by Anderson himself, in collaboration with Andrew Solt. It is the only film of an Anderson play for which the author himself wrote the film script (at least partially).
Bergman had been lobbying to play Joan for many years, and this film was considered a dream project for her. It received mixed reviews and lower-than-expected box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
, though it clearly was not a "financial disaster" as is often claimed. Donald Spoto
Donald Spoto
Donald Spoto is an American celebrity biographer, Catholic theologian, and former monk. He is best known for his best-selling biographies of film and theatre celebrities such as Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Ingrid Bergman, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly,...
, in a biography of Ingrid Bergman, even claims that "the critics' denunciations notwithstanding, the film earned back its investment with a sturdy profit".
The movie is considered by some to mark the start of a low period in the actress's career that would last until she made Anastasia
Anastasia (1956 film)
Anastasia is a 1956 American historical drama film directed by Anatole Litvak for 20th Century Fox. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, and Helen Hayes. Supporting players include Akim Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, and, in a small role, Natalie Schafer...
in 1956. In April 1949, five months after the release of the film, and before it had gone out on general release, the revelation of Bergman's extramarital relationship with Italian director Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
brought her American screen career to a temporary halt. The nearly two-and-a-half hour film was subsequently drastically edited for its general release, and was not restored to its original length for nearly fifty years.
Bergman and co-star José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
(making his first film appearance and playing the Dauphin) received Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominations for their performances. The film was director Victor Fleming's last project — he died only two months after its release.
In Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow is a film critic and columnist who has written for The Baltimore Sun, The New Times, The New Yorker , The Atlantic and salon.com...
's 2008 biography of the director, he claims that Fleming, who was, according to Sragrow, romantically involved with Ingrid Bergman at the time, was deeply unhappy with the finished product, and even wept upon seeing it for the first time. Sragrow speculates that the disappointment of the failed relationship and the failure of the film may have led to Fleming's fatal heart attack, but there is no real evidence to support this. While contemporary critics may have agreed with Fleming's assessment of Joan of Arc, more recent reviewers of the restored complete version on DVD have not.
Plot
Unlike the play Joan of Lorraine, which is a play-within-a-play about an acting company presenting the story of Joan, the film is a straightforward recounting of the life of the French heroine. It begins with an obviously painted shot of the inside of a basilicaBasilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
with a shaft of light, possibly descending from heaven, shining down from the ceiling, and a solemn off-screen voice pronouncing the canonization
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
of the Maid of Orleans. Then, the opening page of what appears to be a church manuscript recounting Joan's life in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
is shown on the screen, while some uncredited voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
narration by actor Shepperd Strudwick
Shepperd Strudwick
Shepperd Strudwick was an American actor of film, television, and stage....
sets up the tale. The actual story of Joan then begins, from the time she becomes convinced that she has been divinely
Divine Intervention
Divine intervention is a term for a miracle caused by God's/a god's active involvement in the human world.Divine Intervention may also refer to:*"Divine Intervention", a 1991 song on Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend....
called to save France to her being burnt at the stake
Execution by burning
Death by burning is death brought about by combustion. As a form of capital punishment, burning has a long history as a method in crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft....
at the hands of the English and the Burgundians.
Differences between complete and edited versions
There are several differences between the full-length roadshowRoadshow theatrical release
A roadshow theatrical release was a term in the American motion picture industry for a practice in which a film opened in a limited number of theaters in large cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco for a specific period of time before the...
version of the film and the edited general release version.
- One that is immediately noticeable is that there is actually a snippet from Joan's trial during the opening narration in the edited version, whereas in the full-length version, the events of Joan's life are shown in chronological order. The narration is more detailed in the edited version than in the complete version, with much of it used to cover the breaks in continuity caused by the severe editing.
- The edited version omits crucial scenes that are important to a psychological understanding of the narrative, such as the mention of a dream that Joan's father has which foretells of Joan's campaign against the English. When Joan hears of the dream, she becomes convinced that she has been divinely ordered to drive the English out of France.
- Most of the first ten minutes of the film, a section showing Joan praying in the DomrémyDomremyDomremy or Domrémy is part of the name of several communes in France:* Domremy-la-Canne, in the Meuse department* Domrémy-la-Pucelle, in the Vosges department, formerly Domrémy, which was the birthplace of Joan of Arc...
shrine, followed by a family dinner and conversation which leads to the mention of the dream, are not in the edited version.
- In the complete 145-minute version, the narration is heard only at the beginning of the film, and there are no sudden breaks in continuity.
- Entire characters, such as Joan's father (played by Robert BarratRobert BarratRobert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.-Career:Born in New York, Barrat's theatrical debut was in a stock company in Springfield, Massachusetts...
) and Father Pasquerel (played by Hurd HatfieldHurd HatfieldWilliam Rukard Hurd Hatfield was an American actor.-Biography:The son of William Henry Hatfield , an attorney who served as deputy attorney general for New York, and his wife, the former Adele Steele, Hatfield was born in New York City, and was educated at Columbia University before travelling to...
) are partially or totally omitted from the edited version.
- Even the title sequenceTitle sequenceA Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
is different — in the edited version, the story begins after Victor FlemingVictor FlemingVictor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with the Wind , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.-Life and career:Fleming was born in La Canada, California, the son of Elizabeth Evaleen ...
's director's credit, while in the full-length version, after the director's credit, a title card saying "The Players" appears onscreen, after which all the major lead and supporting actors, as well as the characters that they play, are listed in order of appearance and in groups (e.g., "At Domrémy", "At ChinonChinonChinon is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France well known for Château de Chinon.In the Middle Ages, Chinon developed especially during the reign of Henry II . The castle was rebuilt and extended, becoming one of his favorite residences...
", etc.), much as in Fleming's other lengthy film epic Gone with the WindGone with the Wind (film)Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
. More than thirty of the actors are listed.
The edited version might be considered more cinematic through its use of maps and voice-over narration to explain the political situation in France. (In the full-length version, Joan's family discusses the political situation during dinner.) The full-length version, although not presented as a play-within-a-play, as the stage version was, nevertheless resembles a stage-to-film adaptation, makes great use of Maxwell Anderson's original dialogue, and may seem, to some, stagy in its method of presentation, despite having a realistic depiction of the Siege of Orléans
Siege of Orléans
The Siege of Orléans marked a turning point in the Hundred Years' War between France and England. This was Joan of Arc's first major military victory and the first major French success to follow the crushing defeat at Agincourt in 1415. The outset of this siege marked the pinnacle of English power...
.
Academy Award wins and nominations
- Best ActressAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(nomination) - Ingrid BergmanIngrid BergmanIngrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute... - Best Supporting ActorAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(nomination) - José FerrerJosé FerrerJosé Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director... - Best Costume Design (color) (won) - Barbara KarinskaBarbara KarinskaVarvara Jmoudsky, better known as Barbara Karinska or simply Karinska , was costumer of the New York City Ballet, and the first costume designer ever to win the Capezio Dance Award, for costumes "of visual beauty for the spectator and complete delight for the dancer".However, she designed the...
, Dorothy JeakinsDorothy JeakinsDorothy Jeakins was a costume designer.Born in San Diego, California, she went to public school in Los Angeles from first grade through high school... - Best Cinematography (color)Academy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(won) - Joseph Valentine, William Skall, Winton HochWinton HochWinton C. Hoch, A.S.C. in Santa Monica was originally a lab technician who contributed to the development of Technicolor before becoming a cinematographer in 1936. His understanding of the colour process quickly led to him being hailed as one of Hollywood's premier colour cinematographers... - Best Film EditingAcademy Award for Film EditingThe Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
(nomination) - Frank SullivanFrank Sullivan (film editing)Frank Sullivan was a film editor who began his work in the 1920s... - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (color)Academy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(nomination) - Richard DayRichard Day (art director)Richard Day was a Canadian art director. He won seven Academy Awards and was nominated for a further 13 in the category Best Art Direction He worked on 265 films between 1923 and 1970....
, Edwin Casey Roberts, Joseph KishJoseph KishJoseph Kish was an American set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for four more in the category Best Art Direction... - Best Score, Dramatic or Comedy PictureAcademy Award for Original Music ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
(nomination) - Hugo FriedhoferHugo FriedhoferHugo Wilhelm Friedhofer was an American film music composer born in San Francisco. His father was a cellist trained in Dresden, Germany; his mother, Eva König, was born in Germany.Friedhofer began playing cello at the age of 13... - Honorary Award - Walter WangerWalter WangerWalter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
"for distinguished service to the industry in adding to its moral stature in the world community by his production of the picture Joan of Arc." (Wanger refused the award in protest of the film's absence in the Best Picture category.)
Production
Joan of Arc was made in 1947–1948 by an independent company, Sierra PicturesSierra Pictures
Sierra Pictures, founded in 1947, has nothing to do with the silent film company of the same name. It was founded by Ingrid Bergman, Walter Wanger, and Victor Fleming, and its only production was the 1948 film Joan of Arc, which was distributed by RKO on its original release.Sierra Pictures ceased...
, created especially for this production, and not to be confused with the production company with the same name that made mostly silent films. Filming was done primarily at Hal Roach Studios, with location scenes shot in the Los Angeles area. The movie was first released in November 1948 by RKO. When the film was shortened for its general release in 1950, it was distributed, not by RKO, but by a company called Balboa Film Distributors, the same company which re-released Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Under Capricorn
Under Capricorn
Under Capricorn is an Alfred Hitchcock historical feature film.-Production:The film is based on the novel Under Capricorn by Helen Simpson, with screenplay by James Bridie, and adaptation by Hume Cronyn. The movie was co-produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for their short-lived production...
, also starring Ingrid Bergman.
The 1948 Sierra Pictures never produced another film after Joan of Arc.
Reception
One of the modern criticisms of the film is that Bergman, who was 33 at the time she made the movie, was nearly twice as old as the real Joan of Arc; the SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
actress would later play her (at age 39) in a 1954 Italian film, Giovanna d'Arco al rogo
Giovanna d'Arco al rogo
Giovanna d'Arco al rogo is a 1954 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman, which shows a live performance on December 1953 at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. It is based on the oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher by Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger...
(Joan at the Stake). However, reviewers in 1948 did not object to this; it was common in those days for an older actress to play a teenager, as the twenty-four-year-old Jennifer Jones had in 1943's The Song of Bernadette
The Song of Bernadette (film)
The Song of Bernadette is a 1943 drama film which tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who, from February to July 1858 in Lourdes, France, reported 18 visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was directed by Henry King....
, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. Children were also sometimes played by older actors at the time; the sixteen year-old Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
had very convincingly played twelve year-old Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is the protagonist of many of the Oz novels by American author L. Frank Baum, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels...
in the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, another film directed by Victor Fleming, and the nineteen-year-old Charlotte Henry
Charlotte Henry
Charlotte Henry was an American actress who is best remembered for her roles in Alice in Wonderland and Babes in Toyland . She also starred in the Frank Buck serial Jungle Menace.-Early years:...
had played Alice in Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 film version of the famous Alice novels of Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live-action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Stars featured...
(1933).
Several critics of the time criticized the film for being slow and talky, as does contemporary critic Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
, who has not yet reviewed the full-length version; he has said that there is "not enough spectacle to balance the talky sequences".
Joan of Arc cost $4.5 million at completion, but as of December 1951, the film had grossed six million dollars, three million less than was needed to cover production and distribution costs.
Versions
The film was edited from 145 minutes to 100 minutes for its general release in September 1950. The complete 145 minute version of Joan of Arc remained unseen in the U.S. for about forty-nine years. Although the complete Technicolor negatives remained in storage in Hollywood, the original soundtrack was thought to be lost. The movie was restored in 1998 after an uncut print in mint condition was found in Europe, containing the only known copy of the complete soundtrack. When it finally appeared on DVD, the restored complete version was hailed by online movie critics as being much superior to the edited version. It was released on DVD in 2004.The edited version received its first television showing on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
on the evening of April 12, 1968, and has been shown on Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
's WTCG and on cable several times. Although the complete, unedited version of the film was scheduled to be shown on American television for the first time on February 13, 2011, by Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, with a broadcast window of 2-1/2 hours, it was pulled and the 100 minute edited version was presented later, on Sunday, February 27. However, the full-length version was finally shown on Turner Classic Movies on March 13, 2011.