Saint Joan

After a talent hunt which sifted through 18,000 applicants and took director Preminger to more than 20 cities, the final choice for the plum role in Shaw's classic was Jean Seberg, a young Iowa lass whose only acting experience had been in amateur productions. As soon as this film was released, Seberg was roasted by almost everyone who saw her inexperienced attempts at the famed dialog. Shaw's play was somewhat anticlerical, and it was a surprise when Greene, an ardent converted Catholic, was chosen to adapt the work for the screen. The picture begins with a portion of the play's epilog and goes back in time by flashback. It's France in the 15th Century, and the co...