Main Cast: Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones, Ethel Barrymore, David Wayne, Florence Bates, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
In Portrait of Jennie, Joseph Cotten plays an artist, Eben Adams, who is unable to bring any true feeling to his work. While painting in Central Park one morning, Eben makes the acquaintance of a schoolgirl named Jennie (Jennifer Jones), who prattles on about things that happened years ago. Intrigued at her thorough knowledge of the past, Eben is about to converse with her further, but Jennie has vanished. Over the next few months, Eben meets Jennie again and again -- and each time she seems to have aged by several years. He paints her portrait, which turns out to be more full of expression and emotion than anything he's previously done. His curiosity peaked by Jennie's enigmatic nature, Eben uncovers evidence that he has been conversing -- and falling in love -- with the ghost of a girl who died years earlier in a hurricane. On the eve of the hurricane's anniversary, Eben rushes to meet Jennie at the site where she was supposedly killed. As a new storm rages, Jennie vanishes for good, but not before declaring that the love she and Eben have shared will live forever. Rescued from the storm, Eben convinces himself that Jennie was a mere figment of his imagination. Then he notices that he stills clutches her scarf in his hand. He looks at his portrait of Jennie (the only Technicolor shot in this otherwise black-and-white film) and understands what she meant when she said that their love would endure throughout eternity; it will do so through Cotten's art, both the portrait at hand and all future portraits. Based on the novel by Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie is one of the most beautifully assembled fantasies ever presented onscreen. Producer David O. Selznick's unerring eye for "rightness" enabled him to select the perfect stars, supporting cast (Lillian Gish, Ethel Barrymore, David Wayne, Cecil Kellaway, et al.), director, cinematographer (Joseph August), and composer (Dimitri Tiomkin, who based his themes on the works of Debussy), and blend everything into one ideally balanced package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Romantic fantasies like Portrait of Jennie are remarkably hard to pull off. A children's fantasy, like The Wizard of Oz, is easier, because it's already one step removed from reality. But pictures like Jennie are grounded in the real world, and the tone has to be kept exactly right or else the project veers perilously off into whimsy or preciousness; even a slight detour can be fatal, and it is to Jennie's -- and director William Dieterle's -- credit that this never happens here. It's not that Jennie is perfect; the opening narration is ponderous and pretentious, and one does get a little tired of hearing the title character described as having such a mysterious, airy quality about her, to cite just two examples. But these flaws don't intrude on the reality/fantasy mix, and they're easy to forgive, especially given how on the mark the screenplay generally is. And Dieterle provides near perfect direction, full of beauty and sensitivity. Best of all, Jennie has Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten. Jones may have won her Oscar for The Song of Bernadette, but her work in Jennie is better and is arguably the finest of her career. She perfectly conveys the many different ages of the character, and though her appearances are sporadic and cover a range of time, she finds a through line for the character so that she creates a full portrait rather than bits and pieces. Cotten is sublime, capturing the moodiness and self-pity of his character, as well as the anger and bitterness underneath, but making him at all times likeable and someone whom we care for and about. The supporting cast is also strong, with Ethel Barrymore's lovely patroness, clearly in love with Cotten but aware that it's a no-win situation, especially noteworthy. Throw in cinematography and a score that are equals in atmosphere, and the result is a glorious romance. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Joseph B. Platt - Art Director, David Hempstead - Associate Producer, Anna Hill Johnstone - Costume Designer, Lucinda Ballard - Costume Designer, William Dieterle - Director, William Morgan - Editor, Gerard J. Wilson - Editor, Bernard Herrmann - Composer (Music Score), Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score), Dimitri Tiomkin - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bernard Herrmann - Songwriter, Mel Burns - Makeup, Mel Berns - Makeup, J. McMillan Johnson - Production Designer, Joseph H. August - Cinematographer, David O. Selznick - Producer, Claude E. Carpenter - Set Designer, Paul Eagler - Special Effects, J. McMillan Johnson - Special Effects, Clarence Slifer - Special Effects, Leonardo Bercovici - Screenwriter, Peter Berneis - Screenwriter, Paul Osborn - Screenwriter, Claude Debussy - Featured Music, Robert Nathan - Book Author
In 1934, impoverished painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) meets a fey little girl named Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones) in Central Park, New York. She is wearing old-fashioned clothing. He makes a sketch of her from memory which involves him with art dealer Miss Spinney (Ethel Barrymore), who sees potential in him. This inspires him to paint a "Portrait Of Jennie".
Eben encounters Jennie at intermittent intervals. Strangely, she appears to be growing up much more rapidly than is possible. He soon falls in love with her, but is puzzled by the fact that she seems to be experiencing events that he discovers took place many years previously as if they had just happened. He sets out to investigate but does not reveal what he discovers to anyone, and is puzzled by what he finds.
The book on which the film was based first attracted the attention of David O. Selznick, who immediately purchased it as a vehicle for rising star Jennifer Jones. Filming began in early 1947 in New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, but Selznick was unhappy with the results and scheduled re-shoots as well as hiring and firing five different writers before the film was completed in October 1948. The New York shooting enabled Selznick to use Albert Sharpe and David Wayne who were both appearing on stage in Finian's Rainbow, giving an Irish flair to characters and the painting in the bar that wasn't in Nathan's novel.
As Portrait of Jennie was a fantasy, Selznick insisted on filming on actual Massachusetts (The Graves Light) and New York City locations (Central Park, The Cloisters, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art) as opposed to studio sets that dramatically increased the films production costs.[1] The film's major overhaul came when Selznick added a tinted color sequence for the final scenes. The final shot of the painting, appearing just before the credits, is in full Technicolor.
Portrait of Jennie was highly unusual for its time in that it had no opening credits as such, except for the Selznick Studio logo. All of the other credits appear at the end. Before the film proper begins, the title is announced by the narrator (after delivering a spoken prologue, he says, "And now, 'Portrait of Jennie'").
The portrait of Jennie (Jennifer Jones) was painted by artist Robert Brackman. The painting became one of Selznick's prized possessions, and he displayed it in his home after he and Jones married in 1949.
The film is notable for Joseph H. August's atmospheric cinematography, capturing the lead character's obsession with Jennie, amongst the environs of a wintry New York. August shoots many of the scenes through a canvas making the scenes look like actual paintings. August, who used many lenses from silent film days[2] died shortly after completing the film. He was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
A certain scene - of Jennie and Eben having a picnic after witnessing the ceremony in the convent - features in the original screenplay. It was filmed, but deleted when it looked as if Jennie's hair was blending into the tree next to her. The scene that featured Jennie doing a dance choreographed by Jerome Robbins took over 10 days to film,[3] but wasn't used in the completed film.
Differences between the novel and the screenplay
Though closely following Nathan's novella but set in 1934, there are several differences. In the novella, all the characters can see Jennie; in the film only Eben can. The character of Arne, Eben's friend and fellow artist who appeared in both Nathan's work and an original draft of the screenplay is left out of the completed film.[4] The characters of Gus and the publican were made Irish to accommodate David Wayne and Albert Sharpe, who at that time were appearing in the original stage production of Finian's Rainbow. The mural that Eben painted in the book was one of a riverside picnic with someone noticing that Eben had subconsciously painted what looked like a drowned woman on the bank. The film provides a more thrilling climax where Ebens attempts to save Jennie from the storm and tidal wave whilst the book has Jennie and Eben living simultaneously, with Jennie being washed off an ocean liner as she returns from a trip to Europe.
Reception
When it was released in December 1948, it was not a success, but today it is considered a classic in the genre.
The song, "A Portrait of Jennie", became a hit for Nat King Cole, though that song is never heard in the film.
Joseph Cotten's performance as Eben Adams won the International Prize for Best Actor at the 1949 Venice International Film Festival.
An 80 minute version with several scenes deleted of Cotten's interaction with Barrymore and Kellaway was shown on American television.
Man by the Roadside •Behind the Altar (with Julius Brandt) •The Saint and Her Fool •Sex in Chains •The Brandenburg Arch (with Max Knaake) •Triumph of Love •Frühlingsrauschen •Das Schweigen im Walde
