Four years after his visually stunning and moving masterpiece,
THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC (1928), Carl Dreyer's next movie (his first talkie) was this disappointingly weak effort. Aside from several minutes where the camera has us view the world looking up and out a window from inside a coffin, this visual master has displayed none of his genius. The bulk of the film is claustrophobic. Shot with little camera movement in a house of small rooms and short ceilings(not the typical horror mansion) where the scariest thing is the fleur-de-lis print wallpaper . The actors were mainly amateurs and it's painfully obvious. Most people who see this film think they are seeing a "bad print" as I did at first. There are black borders on the side and the film appears grey and grainy. I now know this is the way Dreyer shot the film, purposely exposing the film to light and then under-developing it by necessity for "atmosphere".
Die hard students of early European film may still wish to subject themselves to this. All others beware!
THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC (1928), Carl Dreyer's next movie (his first talkie) was this disappointingly weak effort. Aside from several minutes where the camera has us view the world looking up and out a window from inside a coffin, this visual master has displayed none of his genius. The bulk of the film is claustrophobic. Shot with little camera movement in a house of small rooms and short ceilings(not the typical horror mansion) where the scariest thing is the fleur-de-lis print wallpaper . The actors were mainly amateurs and it's painfully obvious. Most people who see this film think they are seeing a "bad print" as I did at first. There are black borders on the side and the film appears grey and grainy. I now know this is the way Dreyer shot the film, purposely exposing the film to light and then under-developing it by necessity for "atmosphere".
Die hard students of early European film may still wish to subject themselves to this. All others beware!