Joan the Woman (1916), Restored

Main Title, Joan the Woman (1916)

Cecil B. DeMille’s first large scale historical epic Joan the Woman (1916), was his most expensive film to date. The final cost of the film exceeded $300,000 ($7,061,590 in 2019), and all the money shows on the screen. The costumes and sets are lavish and the battle scenes impressive. Also impressive is the performance of Geraldine Farrar, Metropolitan Opera soprano in the title role. Farrar, already wildly popular from opera, the movies only increased her fame. Joan the Woman was the fourth of six films she made with DeMille.

Using the backdrop of World War I as a framing story, an English soldier, played by matinee idol Wallace Reid, in a trench uncovers a buried sword that once belonged to Joan of Arc. From there the film flashes back to 15th Century France.

Enhancing the look of the film was a new color process devised by engraver Max Handschiegl. Originally known as the DeMille-Wycoff process, by 1919 it was named after Handschiegl. The Handschiegl Process allowed scenes to be selectively colored to heighten dramatic effect. Used many times throughout the film it is especially spectacular towards the end of the film for the flames during the climactic burning at the stake.

Geraldine Farrar, as Joan, sees one of her visions. An example of the Handschiegl process. Joan the Woman (1916).

The film premiered in New York City on December 25, 1916, at the 44th Street Theatre. It received good reviews and earned over double its cost at the box office.

For many decades the film has been seen in less than pristine copies missing most of its color effects. For this restoration, the George Eastman Museum returned to Cecil B. DeMille’s personal nitrate print.

Wallace Reid and Geraldine Farrar in Joan the Woman (1916).

Geraldine Farrar in a scene toned green with an orange tint in Joan the Woman (1916).

Two years ago, Bryan Burns, Preservation Officer with the Moving Image Department at the George Eastman Museum began the digital restoration of the film. Here he explains the time-consuming work it took to bring the Handschiegl effects back in the new prints.

“We started the project with a color scan of the nitrate print, which was in good shape, only a few repairs needed and the colors looked good. We hoped the project would be quick and easy, the color is on the film and we scanned it in color, how much work could we have to do?

“Well, as it turned out it was not as simple as putting the files in Resolve (one of our digital restoration tools) and boosting the color, we found that while we could get close to recreating the colors on the film, the separations of the tints in the Handschiegl scenes were not being represented accurately. Colors were bleeding into areas they shouldn’t, trying to select one color to correct would have unintended consequences and change another part of the frame that did not need to be adjusted.

“The solution I came up with was to isolate the separate colors utilized within the Handschiegl scenes using windows in Resolve and correct them independently of each other. For many Handschiegl scenes, a white figure will appear and interact with an otherwise completely tinted scene, by isolating that white figure with a window I could adjust the saturation or hue of the tint in the scene without introducing color to what was white on the film. Of course, this method introduced its own issues, probably the largest of which is that the Handschiegl elements are rarely stationary, I would need to track these special effects throughout the scene.

“Luckily I was working on a computer and not frame-by-frame on physical film. Using window tracking tools I was able to follow the movement of the Handschiegl’d element and recreate the color process frame by frame using the nitrate print as a reference. Some scenes were left untouched by this window process wherever possible when the color from the scans sufficed, including the famous burning at the stake scene.”

Handschiegl flames in Joan the Woman (1916).

Thanks to funding from the Century Arts Foundation, the George Eastman Museum worked in collaboration with Haghefilm Digitaal laboratory in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on this project. Haghefilm used our restored digital scan to create a new 35mm negative and two new color prints. Now, this film is available on both film and DCP in a version that closely matches the look and quality of what was seen by audiences in 1916 and 1917.

Written by Anthony L’Abbate, Preservation Manager & Bryan Burns, Preservation Officer at the George Eastman Museum.