Otto Preminger launched a worldwide search for an unknown to play Joan in his film of George Bernard Shaw's play and 18 year-old Jean from Marshalltown, Iowa was chosen. Preminger bullied her relentlessly during filming earning her the sympathy of co-stars like John Gielgud.
She suffered physically too while filming the execution scene when she received minor burns when the under-set gas jets flared up out of control.
Her fragile confidence was again knocked when the film opened to bad reviews with critics highlighting her obvious inexperience.
Yes she is inconsistent but that is unsurprising with her lack of experience and Preminger's undermining bullying but she has an unsettling directness and is wonderful in key scenes like the recantation at the end of her trial.
Shelf or charity shop? An obvious keeper for Jean but also for Gielgud's supercilious Warwick, Felix Aylmer and Anton Walbrook's thorough trial judges and Victor Maddern's cockney soldier who is allowed out of Hell for one day a year for giving Joan a makeshift cross at the stake.
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