''The Joan of Arc of Loos'' is a 1916 Australian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

shot by

Franklyn Barrett Walter Franklyn Barrett (1873 – 16 July 1964), better known as Franklyn Barrett, was an Australian film director and cinematographer. He worked for a number of years for West's Pictures. It was later written of the filmmaker that "Barrett's visu ...

based on the true story of

Émilienne Moreau-Evrard Émilienne Moreau-Evrard (4 June 1898 – 5 January 1971) was a French heroine of World War I, a high-profile female member of the "Brutus" Resistance network during World War II and later, a member of the Provisional Consultative Assembly. Mo ...

in World War I. Only a portion of the movie survives today.

Plot

The story is told in five acts. In 1915, German troops led by Captain von Epstein capture the peaceful town of Loos and start committing atrocities on the local population. Von Epstein lusts after a young peasant girl, Émilienne Moreau (Jane King), but she escapes to the Allied lines. Inspired by the vision of

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

( Jean Robertson), she helps encourage the Allied troops in an attack to retake the town. She falls for a French dispatch rider (Clive Farnham) who is captured by the Germans and takes part in shooting German officers who are sniping on the Red Cross. Emilienne manages to engineer her lover's escape and winds up married to them. She is also awarded a military cross.

Cast

*Jane King as Émilienne Moreau * Jean Robertson as the angel *Clive Farnham as soldier hero *Beatrice Esmond *

Martyn Keith Martyn Keith was an Australian actor, writer and director who worked during the silent era. In 1912 he worked as an acting teacher in Lismore, New South Wales where he also performed in plays for his own company. Select filmography *''For the Ter ...

*Arthur Greenaway *Austin Milroy *Harry Halley *

Winter Hall Winter Hall (21 June 1872 – 10 February 1947) was a New Zealand actor of the silent era who later appeared in sound films. He performed in more than 120 films between 1916 and 1938. Prior to that, he had a career as a stage actor in Austr ...

*Irve Hayman *Arthur Spence *Fred Knowles

Production

The movie was the first film from theatre entrepreneur George Willoughby. The film was described as "one of the biggest picture undertakings yet attempted in Australia." The village of Loos was recreated on

Tamarama Beach Tamarama is a beachside suburb, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tamarama is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. Tamarama has a small ...

in Sydney by scenic artist Jack Ricketts. The battle was staged with 300 extras including 100 returned servicemen. An avenue of poplars near

Randwick Racecourse Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing located in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse is Crown Land leased to the Australian Turf Club and known to many Sydney ra ...

was used as a stand-in for the Flanders countryside.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 63 During production the film was known as ''Emilienne Moreau''. Production was held up for a number of days when star Jean King collapsed after the filming of a scene "which necessitated very strenuous acting" and juvenile lead Clive Farnham was injured when a motorcycle he was driving during a scene skidded and threw him over a bridge.

Reception

The movie was used as a recruitment tool however it was not a success at the box office and reviews were poor. Critics took particular exception to the story being old fashioned and suggesting the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

was won by divine intervention rather than skill. However Jean Robertson received positive notices for her performance as the angel.

References

External links

*
''Joan of Arc of Loos
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...