Portrait of Jennie (1948)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Robert Nathan (novel)
Leonardo Bercovici (adaptation)

Release Date:

22 April 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Fantasy | Mystery

Plot:

A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Spiral Staircase | Hurricane | Love | Lightning

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jennifer Jones	...	Jennie Appleton
Joseph Cotten	...	Eben Adams
Ethel Barrymore	...	Miss Spinney
Lillian Gish	...	Mother Mary of Mercy
Cecil Kellaway	...	Matthews
David Wayne	...	Gus O'Toole
Albert Sharpe	...	Moore (as Albert Sharp)
Henry Hull	...	Eke
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Jekes (landlady)
Felix Bressart	...	Pete
Clem Bevans	...	Capt. Cobb
Maude Simmons	...	Clara Morgan

Also Known As:

Jennie (UK)
Tidal Wave

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (special stereo mix in final storm scene) | Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:TV-PG | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #12700) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Vanguard Films

Trivia:

David Wayne and Albert Sharpe, who both have supporting roles in this film, were the stars of the original stage production of Finian's Rainbow. That play opened on Broadway the year before this film was released and was playing there at the same time this film was being made.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During Eben's conversation with Pete, it becomes clear that Pete's moustache is fake when it starts to come away from his face.

Quotes:

Jennie Appleton: I know we were meant to be together. The strands of our lives are woven together and neither the world nor time can tear them apart.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sesión continua (1984)

Soundtrack:

The Girl With The Flaxen Hair

One of the greatest stories of true love ever filmed

A bittersweet sense of melancholy permeates this stunning romantic fantasy, a film produced by David Selznick as a cinematic altar to his wife Jennifer Jones.

I adored Jones in Henry King's THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, but I love Jones (almost as much as Joseph Cotten did) in PORTRAIT OF JENNIE.

Cotten is Eben Adams, an artist who meets the enigmatic Jennie (Jones) in Central Park. Their time together is always limited for Jennie is compelled to return home to a place Cotten will never visit.

At first just a sweet schoolgirl, Jennie appears to have aged unnaturally every time she re-appears to Cotten -- eventually, she is old enough to acknowledge Cotten's romantic and carnal intentions towards her.

This unusual, unique studio pic epitomizes "dreamy" for it is exceptionally surreal and photographed in a strange, re-texturized black and white (von Trier's amazing BREAKING THE WAVES used a similar technique to introduce new scenes).

The climax, staged on a storm-swept island, is absolutely beautiful and immensely tragic.

Some have dismissed PORTRAIT OF JENNIE as amounting to nothing more than a series of pretty pictures. I passionately disagree. It is one of the greatest stories of true love ever filmed, and there is nothing false in its intensity or tone (not if you have loved like this).