Preceded by Gaumont newsreels of 1928. (La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc). Dreyer's most celebrated film looks more and more avant-garde as the years go by. His depiction of the trial and execution of Jeanne d'Arc was drawn largely from the actual records of the trial and historical evidence that had come to light only in 1924. As drama, political trials speak for themselves as the ethos of an age. The case of Jeanne d'Arc was a natural for Dreyer, the film a key work in his ongoing theme of woman, quietly and steadfastly raging against a paternalistic order. In its austerity-the stark sets, and Dreyer's refusal to allow his actors to use make-up on faces captured in extreme close-up-it is one of the most terrifyingly and unrelentingly emotional works ever filmed. Rudolph Mat?s camera finds within the players-Falconetti in her first and last film role, as well as Antonin Artaud and Michel Simon-a landscape of history as individual as a human face. Russell Merritt has composed a taped musical score for our presenttion tonight.