DVD for Saint Joan

Why was the Dauphin such an idiot? He was more like a Jester than a would be king.

Most "kings" were in fact idiots and spoilt rich kids like the Dauphin who just sat on their asses on the throne and let the underlings actually run the government for him. And it's quite accurate too for the monarchy of France until Louis XIV who were nominal rulers who allowed the nobility, the feudal lords and the clergy to actually run the government. Only with Louis XIV who in reaction to Cromwell capturing power in England(which led to King Charles I getting beheaded, the first time something like that happened in European history) took power and brought the nobility in his stead. There's a masterpiece of a film made on the subject, coming this month on Criterion.:
http://www.criterion.com/films/971

I personally found Richard Widmark's comedic parody a total ball.

(I love Bresson's Joan of Arc),

I dislike that film a great deal. Obviously sincere but it has nothing new to say which Dreyer in his definitive La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc did not already do so. While Preminger's film is totally different in intent and construction.

And the ghost stuff was just ridiculous, it made a mockery of the whole story in my opinion. If felt like a kids film or something (is this in the play?)

Saying it's like a kid's film isn't inaccurate to it's function. The film is addressing an audience which is world's apart from the time and society Joan new. She was canonized and made a saint in the 20th Century, in the 20s in fact, which is why Shaw was inspired to write the play. Why is the story of Joan of Arc, her life, her personality so important in human history and what meaning does it have for us who are so remote from her society and world. For most people she's a Catholic saint who was burnt first on the stake. Shaw who wasn't Catholic and not at all religious wanted to show audiences how important her life is to all audiences. Hence the religious aspect of her story is less at stake than the political and personal one.

The prologue of the film is actually the epilogue of the play.

It such a tragic story I don't know how you could try to make it humourous.

Well Shakespeare's tragedies are full of humorous bits. And the comedy is also there in Shaw. But at the same time neither Preminger nor Shaw make fun or belitte Joan, she's treated with respect and sincerity. That it chooses to mock the aristocracy, the military and the clergy is totally understandable and accurate to history and also befits my political sympathies as well.


"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes