Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros., Natant Stanley Kubrick Productions,
 
Distributor
Criterion Collection, Video Yesteryear, Janus Films, LS Video
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
 
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
 
Year of Release
1928
 

 
Genre(s)
Biography
 
Keyword(s)
starring Renee Falconetti, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, written by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Joseph Delteil, biography, silent film, classic, Joan of Arc, trial, execution, church court officials, martyrdom, low camera angles, unique editing, tight shots, intense emotion, rejected material, lighting, unapologetic acting, black and white, graphic quality, simple and intense performances, must-see cinema, all-time classic, Renée Maria Falconetti’s incredible performance, critics consensus, box office gross, $6.4K, Criterion Collection, Video Yesteryear, Janus Films, LS Video, 35mm, Eugene Silvain, Jean d’Yd, André Berley, Maurice Schultz, Antonin Artaud, Michel Simon
 

Cast & Crew

Maria Falconetti

Eugene Silvain

André Berley

Maurice Schultz

Antonin Artaud

Jeanne d’Arc

Évêque Pierre Cauchon

Jean d’Estivet

Nicolas Loyseleur

Jean Massieu

Maria Falconetti – Jeanne d’Arc
Eugene Silvain – Évêque Pierre Cauchon (as Eugène Silvain)
André Berley – Jean d’Estivet
Maurice Schultz – Nicolas Loyseleur
Antonin Artaud – Jean Massieu
Michel Simon – Jean Lemaître

 

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Carl Theodor Dreyer

NA

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Carl Theodor Dreyer
 
Writer(s)
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Joseph Delteil
 
Producer(s)
NA

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
NA
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Times (UK) Staff

Jaime N. Christley

Thomas H Green

Variety Staff

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Times

Village Voice

Daily Telegraph

Variety

Chicago Reader

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
 All Critics (59) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (1)
 The composition of the pictures is extremely beautiful, and the deliberation of the movement allows time for their beauty, and the poignancy of Mlle. Falconetti’s acting, to produce a cumulative effect.
 
 July 9, 2020
 
 Times (UK) Staff
 Times (UK)
 TOP CRITIC
 This is neither a hopeful nor a hopeless film, but one of feeling so colossal and resplendent, it can’t be constrained by prison or consumed by fire.
 
 November 22, 2017
 
 Jaime N. Christley
 Village Voice
 TOP CRITIC
 In the hands of the great Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer it becomes a potent saga of battered faith, vicious bullying and personal torment.
 
 February 27, 2013 | Rating: 4/5
 
 Thomas H Green
 Daily Telegraph (UK)
 TOP CRITIC
 Here is a deadly tiresome picture that merely makes an attempt to narrate without sound or dialog an allegedly written recorded trial in the 15th or 16th century of Joan of Arc for witchery, leading to her condemnation and burning at the stake.
 
 May 26, 2008
 
 Variety Staff
 Variety
 TOP CRITIC
 Dreyer’s radical approach to constructing space and the slow intensity of his mobile style make this “difficult” in the sense that, like all the greatest films, it reinvents the world from the ground up.
 
 February 9, 2007
 
 Jonathan Rosenbaum
 Chicago Reader
 TOP CRITIC
 One of the most inspired and inspiring films ever made.
 
 December 30, 2006 | Rating: 5/5
 
 David Parkinson
 Empire Magazine
 TOP CRITIC
 The film makes for an intimately unsettling watch, as Dreyer’s style of shooting (harsh angles to go along with all those up-close-and-personal visages) traps the viewer as much as the players.
 
 August 31, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
 
 Matt Brunson
 Film Frenzy
 I was really impressed by the camerawork in the film.
 
 March 29, 2021
 
 Sarah Brinks
 Battleship Pretension
 With Einhorn’s accompaniment, these pieces lift and spin heavenward on the voices of the choir. I’ve never seen or felt anything quite like it.
 
 January 6, 2021
 
 David Bax
 Battleship Pretension
 Director Carl Dreyer establishes himself as a master of the camera, and uncovers a directorial treatment that is entirely original and unique.
 
 July 24, 2020
 
 Film Daily Staff
 The Film Daily
 The showing of close-ups is used as a means of unfolding the tale, which depicts the last six hours of Joan’s life, her trial and death. The lack of story and essential support leaves most of the work to Mlle. Falconetti, and she handles it admirably.
 
 June 8, 2020
 
 Star Staff
 Washington Star
 The Passion of Joan of Arc is nothing without that face. Falconetti’s features are both youthful and weathered; her expressions are tortured but joyous. It’s a spectacular performance.
 
 May 28, 2020
 
 Steven Prokopy
 Third Coast Review…

 

Plot
Giovanna is taken to the Inquisition court. . After the accusation of blasphemy continues to pray in ecstasy . A friar thinks that Giovanna is a saint, but is taken away by the soldiers. Giovanna sees a cross in the shadow and feels comforted. She is not considered a daughter of God but a daughter of the devil and is sentenced to torture. Giovanna D ‘Arco says that even if she dies she will not deny anything. The eyes are twisted by terror in front of the torture wheel and faint. Giovanna is taken to a bed where they are bleeding. Giovanna feels that she is about to die and asks to be buried in a consecrated area. Giovanna burns at the stake while devoted ladies cry.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Renee Maria Falconetti’s performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc is considered incredible and one of the all-time classics.
 

 
Carl-Theodor-Dreyer.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
 
Distributor
Fox, Critics’ Choice Video
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
 
Year of Release
1927
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama/Romance
 
Keyword(s)
starring George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, directed by F.W Murnau, written by Hermann Sudermann, Carl Mayer, Katherine Hilliker, H.H Caldwell, drama, romance, silent film, award-winning, masterful cinematography, well-acted, romantic storyline, tragic, tense, temptation, simple, stripped down, emotional, visual treat, timeless, tight storytelling, suspenseful, charming cinematography, superimposed images, revolutionary, striking, technical achievement, beautiful story, honest, poignant, true love story, slow-paced, romance, humor, tragedy, beauty, timeless, greatest films ever made
 

Cast & Crew

George O’Brien

Janet Gaynor

Margaret Livingston

Bodil Rosing

J. Farrell MacDonald

The Man (Anses)

The Wife (Indre)

The Woman from the City

The Maid

The Photographer

George O’Brien – The Man (Anses)
Janet Gaynor – The Wife (Indre)
Margaret Livingston – The Woman from the City
Bodil Rosing – The Maid
J. Farrell MacDonald – The Photographer
Ralph Sipperly – The Barber

 

F.W. Murnau

Hermann Sudermann

William Fox

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
F.W. Murnau
 
Writer(s)
Hermann Sudermann, Carl Mayer, Katherine Hilliker, H.H. Caldwell
 
Producer(s)
William Fox

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
NA
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Wilella Waldorf

Antonia Quirke

Michael Phillips

Richard Brody

Michael Atkinson

New York Post

Sydney Morning Herald

London Evening Standard

Chicago Tribune

New Yorker

SUNRISE
 All Critics (63) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (1)
 Any one who prefers an intelligent and stimulating film to the usual trash is urged to go and see it for himself.
 
 September 4, 2020
 
 Wilella Waldorf
 New York Post
 TOP CRITIC
 From two points of view, Sunrise is among the most remarkable films that have ever been flashed on the screen. One is the rich, sensitive beauty of the photography; the other the tragic tenseness of the story.
 
 February 6, 2020
 
 SMH Staff
 Sydney Morning Herald
 TOP CRITIC
 The film is electric: overwhelmingly passionate and sexual.
 
 December 20, 2017
 
 Antonia Quirke
 London Evening Standard
 TOP CRITIC
 Rich, strange and gorgeous, F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise shows what an artist of the late silent era could accomplish cinematically, backed by an open checkbook and fueled by the highest aspirations even in the simplest of morality tales.
 
 February 25, 2014 | Rating: 4/4
 
 Michael Phillips
 Chicago Tribune
 TOP CRITIC
 In his first American film, Sunrise… the German director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau creates some of the greatest images in the history of the cinema.
 
 February 25, 2014
 
 Richard Brody
 New Yorker
 TOP CRITIC
 F.W. Murnau’s career-peak nova, the crowning film from that sacred, edge-of-the-abyss year of 1927.
 
 March 31, 2010
 
 Michael Atkinson
 Village Voice
 TOP CRITIC
 Innovative through technology and development which will, without a doubt, be echoed in films yet to come. [Full review in Spanish]
 
 July 1, 2022
 
 Francisco J. Ariza
 Cine-Mundial
 The visual poetry it expended on an admittedly simple, cornball story (country bumpkin seduced by city vamp, pursued and redeemed by his pure-hearted wife) remains fairly dazzling.
 
 January 8, 2022
 
 Dennis Harvey
 48 Hills
 I like that the film wasn’t overly reliant on intertitles. Murnau let his actors tell the story. The actors are masters of silent film acting which at times is a little cheesy but works within the medium.
 
 April 1, 2021
 
 Sarah Brinks
 Battleship Pretension
 One of the most moving and technically sound films ever produced.
 
 August 5, 2020
 
 Allen Almachar
 The MacGuffin
 This partly expressionistic masterwork is often considered one of the greatest of all silent films.
 
 July 30, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
 
 Mike Massie
 Gone With The Twins
 Not since the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the Last Laugh, those two European products of cinema art, has the screen offered anything that is even remotely comparable to Sunrise, from any or all angles.
 
 February 6, 2020
 
 Star Staff
 Washington Star…

 

Plot
In this fable-morality subtitled “A Song of Two Humans”, the “evil” temptress is a city woman who bewitches farmer Anses and tries to convince him to murder his neglected wife, Indre.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Ralph Sipperly, who played the Barber in Sunrise, was actually a real-life barber and was chosen for the role because of his profession.
 

 
F.W.-Murnau.jpg

 

Awards & Nominations
NA
 

Synopsis (Warning: Spoilers!)

Links
 

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(Click to Visit)
 
Wikipedia: Go to Wiki
Rotten Tomatoes: Go to RT

Streaming Platforms
Netflix
 
Stream Now

(Click to Watch)

 

Coming soon…