Marni Nixon was once widely believed to have sung in this film, but she does not.
Ingrid Bergman also played the part of Joan of Arc on stage in 1946 (in Maxwell Anderson's 'Joan of Lorraine') and in the film, Giovanna d'Arco al rogo.
Ingrid Bergman and Stephen Roberts are the only actors from the play "Joan of Lorraine", on which this film is based, to repeat their roles in the film.
Walter Wanger refused his honorary Oscar for the film because he was angry that the film had not been nominated for Best Picture.
José Ferrer's film debut.
Maxwell Anderson's play, "Joan of Lorraine", from which this film was adapted, is a play-within-a-play, and its plot not only relates the story of Joan of Arc but also shows the effect that Joan's story has on an acting company that is performing it, especially the actress playing the leading role. Ingrid Bergman had wanted to retain the play's structure for the film, but the studio thought the idea was uncinematic and would not appeal to moviegoers, so the Joan of Arc scenes were expanded by Anderson and Andrew Solt, and the film's plot was altered to tell only the story of Joan. The title was also changed to the more easily identifiable "Joan of Arc". In contrast to "Joan of Lorraine", in which all the actors played two or more roles, the majority of actors in "Joan of Arc" played only one role. However, quite a bit of Anderson's original stage dialogue was retained for the film.
According to a recently published biography of director Victor Fleming, he and playwright Maxwell Anderson were both deeply dissatisfied with the finished film. For some reason, Fleming actually felt embarrassed by it, and Anderson was especially disappointed that the film did not retain the play-within-a-play structure of "Joan of Lorraine", the stage drama on which "Joan of Arc" was based.
According to some biographies of Ingrid Bergman, Howard Hughes saved her from possible injury during a visit to the set when she fell off her horse. He caught her, but rather awkwardly, with one hand firmly on her crotch. Hughes made sure no photographs of the incident were taken (or survived).
At one time, MGM was scheduled to release the film, but they eventually backed out due to disagreements with Sierra Pictures.
The company that produced this film was not the same Sierra Pictures that had produced silent films. It was an all-new company formed by Walter Wanger, Victor Fleming and Ingrid Bergman. The company produced no more films after this one.
The film was not really a commercial success upon release, but only partly due to RKO's poor publicity campaign (which producer Walter Wanger blamed on then-RKO president Howard Hughes). Audiences stayed away from the film when Ingrid Bergman's affair with director Roberto Rossellini was revealed while the movie was in release, because they considered it blasphemous for an adulterous woman to be playing a saint.
The first film to receive 7 Academy Award nominations without receiving a Best Picture nomination.
The last directorial effort of Victor Fleming.
This film was a dream project of Ingrid Bergman, who had tried for years to have it produced.
Three people associated with the film died prematurely less than six months after its release - actor Roman Bohnen, who played Joan's uncle, director Victor Fleming, and cinematographer Joseph A. Valentine.
To promote the film Joan of Arc, the studio placed an eight-story-high figure of her in white plastic armor in New York City's Times Square, at a cost of $75,000.
While on the movie set and in full costume, Ingrid Bergman filmed a promotional short for Christmas Seals, which is extant.