1. The film premiered on April 21, 1928 at Paladsteatret in Copenhagen (version 1), 6. Months later, it premiered in Paris on October 25, 1928. Delaire shot 85,000 meters of material for this film, and the final editing used about 2,200 meters of material.
2.1 In December of 928, a fire broke out in a Berlin warehouse, and the first version of the film was destroyed. Dreyer and the producer decided to use the remaining material to reproduce the silhouette (version 2). There are only subtle differences between the second and first editions. In Delaier's words, almost only he and the producer can see the difference. But soon, this version was also destroyed by fire.
In 3.1936, Henri Langwa, director of the French Film Archive, discovered a part of the severely damaged fragments.
4. In 1952, French film writer Lo Duca claimed that he had found version 2 negatives in Paris. On this basis, in the 1950s, "The Dilemma of Joan of Arc" was re-released, and the film was accompanied by music by Bach, Vivaldi, and Scarlatti. Dreyer himself was very dissatisfied with this version, and wrote a fiercely worded letter to Lo Duca, but it was not.
5. In the 1960s, the Danish Film Museum integrated all kinds of imperfect fragments circulated around the world, and put together a version that is said to be the closest to the 1928 edition.
6. In 1981, in a psychiatric hospital in Oslo, the traces of Version One were found unbelievably.
According to research, in April 1928, the film crew sent two copies from Paris to Copenhagen for the premiere of the film. The copy found this time is one of them. The packaging is intact, with clearly visible date, recipient, and address written on it. The box also contains the Danish review opinion at that time. It should be after the premiere in Copenhagen. , Sent to Norway. Paradoxically, this copy was sent to a physician named Harald Arnesen. At present, I only know that he is a history lover, and he is particularly interested in the history of the French Revolution. But considering that this film has never been screened in Norway, why he has a channel to get a copy is still a mystery.
This newly discovered version is slightly different from the previous versions on the market. It is currently considered to be the most complete and closest to the original version. Afterwards, several shots that were deleted for various reasons have also been retained, such as the close-up of the bloodletting of Joan. , The child sucking the mother’s nipple, the profile of Joan in the smoke of the torture, etc.
In 2012, Eureka Entertainment restored and released the DVD and Blu-ray of "Joan of Arc" DVD and Blu-ray, which included two frame rates of "Director's Cut Version" (20fps, 24fps) and Lo Duca version. It should be the best disc version you can see on the market.
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