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Jeanne d'Arc in the service of WWI propaganda
In 1916 a british soldier volunteers for a suicide mission. Jeanne d'Arc appears in his dreams and announces that he should right the wrong he committed against her. This soldier is apparently the reincarnation of Eric Trenet who raided the village of Domremy where Jeanne, a robust peasant girl saved his life and fell in love with him. Charles VII, the rightful king of France idles in the shabby court of Chinon and has not even enough money to pay the butcher. England & Burgundy employ the "Spider" to pamper and amuse the king while their armies lay siege to Orleans. Jeanne obeys her "voices" and appeals to the king to let her command his troops. In the battle of the towers she liberates the besieged city of Orleans. She is hailed as a hero, but the spider summons the mad monk to cause her downfall. Eric Trenet is taken as a prisoner, but she saves his life for a second time. At Rheims, Jeanne prevents the disloyal bishop Cauchon from poisoning the king but the web is tightening. The mad monk and the spider defame her as a witch. The english king orders Trenet to trap her. She has the vision of a black horseman and feels that her end is near. On her way to Compiege she is captured by the british. Trenet becomes a count but he feels ashamed. The monk and the bishop rejoice. They pray canting for her soul. The Spider dissuades king Charles from paying her ransom.

She is put on trial as a witch. In a travesty of justice she is brought to a torture chamber and the mad monk threatens her with a white-hot rod. In her fear she is willing to revoke and put on women's clothes. But bishop Cauchon lets the worst ruffian in her cell. The priests observe with lip-smacking delight trough a peep-hole how this drunken man molests her. When she puts on men's clothes again the bishop pronounces her a relapsed heretic and announces her sentence: burning at the stake. Even the mad monk repents. She has the vision of an angel and wins strength from her faith. King Charles and his retinue live high and carouse. The public sqare where the stake is constructed becomes a fun-fair. Trenet prays: God forgive us, we burned a saint. The british soldier volunteers to carry a bomb behind enemy lines because he realizes that, since the britsh are responsible for Jeanne d'Arcs death it is their duty to help France...

If the message seems forced it proves nevertheless that Cecil B. De Mille had an imagination. This film is famous for its special effects: double exposure (for the visions), colorizing. The fire has the color of fire and so have the seachlights in the war scenes. The acting is very good. Geraldine Farrar was a famous primadonna (She was often Carusos partner). Her performance is rather flamboyant than subtle, but this makes sense: her Jeanne has leadership qualities. Best of all: Raymond Hatton plays the weakly king in a kind of early Woody Allen performance. The baddies - the Spider, the monk, the bishop - are excellent. But not everything is perfect in this film. The first half consists of a seemingly endless series of battle scenes. De Mille had the command over thousands of extras, but they stumble pellmell over each other. Compare this with the masterful arrangements in Eisenstein's films. Excess alone is not art! If you appreciate opulence and high production values, De Mille is your man, but if you prefer the psycho-drama, then Dreyer's LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC is the better film.

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The greatest Joan of Arc of the screen
Well, though having watched Milla Jovovich as the new "Joan of Arc" in Luc Besson`s film a few weeks ago (although it is very good) no other treatment of the story comes as close as this 1916 masterpiece, which stands up as one of the first true epics in cinema history. You may wonder about the melodramatic storyline and the propaganda input into the movie when glorifying Joan of Arc as the saviour of France even 600 years later from the German enemy, but these scenes are more than made up by the typical DeMille treatment, involving grand scale battle scenes, beautiful sets for the time, a great performance by opera diva Geraldine Farrar (very holy) and a rousing organ score which will certainly haunt you even after seeing the movie. A movie that certainly rivaled "Intolerance" for the title of the greatest movie in the 1910`s. And a scene you certainly won`t forget is the moving climax when Joan is burned as a saint ... shot in an unbelievable beautiful done hand-colored scene that shows everyone the almost magical power of the silent screen. Certainly one of Cecil DeMille`s best films, even in this early stage of his career.