Carl Th. Dreyer PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928) 16mm RARE 1933 Sound Version
Item History & Price
RARE 16mm print of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), here released under the title The Immortal Saint Joan of Arc (the 1933 sound version produced by Sherman Krellberg). Starring Falconetti and Antonin Artaud. Sharp AGFA print with optical audio track. Occasional light lines. Heads of reel 2 in need of addition of leader (see image - note that the yellow is glare, not damage). Compl...ete on 2 reels, shipped in steel film cans.
The print history of this film is an especially fraught one. The original versions of the film were thought lost to fire until an original cut was discovered in a janitor's closet in a Danish mental asylum in the 1980's. Prior to this rediscovery, several versions of the film circulated. From the rediscovered version, new prints were made and a DVD released by the Criterion Collection. Ironically, while the "original" cut is now readily available on the Criterion DVD, these other versions are now quite difficult to find, making this print a rare opportunity to access an important part of this film's history.
The print now on offer is the 1933 sound version commissioned by film producer and distributor Sherman Krellberg for American release. This version was edited by Pierre Arnaud, and features a voice-over narration by radio commentator David Ross and Massard Kur Zhene's original score (note that DVD releases feature only modern scores).
According to Steven Larson's history of this film's prints, this version was very well-received at its release in 1933:
"When Passion returned to the Little Carnegie Playhouse in autumn 1933, critics embraced Krellberg’s new rendition. William Boehnel’s headline in the New York World Telegram read, 'Sound Film Greatly Aids Joan of Arc.' Boehnel singles out Zhene’s music as bringing “a new value to [the film’s] dramatic theme.' While Boehnel has reservations about Ross, the Film Daily calls his narration 'masterful.' New York’s Motion Picture Herald’s Charles S. Aaronson likewise praises Ross’s and Zhene’s contributions, which 'unquestionably add definitely to the effectiveness of the whole film.'" (Larson 2017, p.61).
If you'd like to learn more about the history of this film and of this particular version before bidding, you can find information here:
Larson, Stephen. "Risen from the Ashes: The Complex Print History of Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)." The Moving Image, vol. 17 no. 1, 2017, pp. 52-84. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/677531.