The Passion of Joan of Arc

A New Favorite Thing

Silent films are odd to us, but for at least 15 years before "Talkies," silent film was the medium, and Hollywood was built on silent films. As Gloria Swanson (as Nora Desmond) said in "Sunset Boulevard:" "We didn't need dialog. We had faces!"

I recently watched "The Passion of Joan of Arc," a silent film from 1928, on HBO Max. It is a masterpiece. It was photographed gloriously, and my God! the faces! Maria Falconetti as Joan shows everything with incredible virtuosity. I love this beautiful film. It is easily one of the best films ever made.

I love finding gems like this. It is hard to believe that in my sixty years on this earth, I never ran across this movie before. Apparently, this film is a standard in film schools, as it should be. But it can’t be relegated to film schools only. Art is for everyone. When I think about why I never ran across it before, well, where would I have seen it? Think about it: streaming video has only been around for maybe ten years. Before that there was Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, which stocked physical DVDs and video tapes and had to make a profit, so would they carry a silent film from 1928? No. Specialty video stores, like Vidiots in Santa Monica, might have carried it, but you had to live near Santa Monica and then know to look for it. Before video stores? TV. Right. Maybe once in a blue moon this movie might have been on PBS. Maybe. Or, if you lived in a college town, or LA, or New York, it might have been screened at “revival houses” like the Nuart Theater in West LA (which, by the way, is where I saw Samurai movies for the first time). So, it makes sense that I never came across it until now, when 21st Century technology gives us access to the masterpieces of the 20th.

Finding beauty and greatness like this fills me with optimism. Yes, there is a lot of awfulness in this world, but just knowing that there are great things out there, things that are brilliant and beautiful and show the best of us, gives me hope.