1948 film by William Dieterle
Portrait of Jennie
is a 1948 American
supernatural film
based on
the 1940 novella
by
Robert Nathan
. The film was directed by
William Dieterle
and produced by
David O. Selznick
. It stars
Jennifer Jones
and
Joseph Cotten
. At the
21st Academy Awards
, it won an
Oscar
for
Best Special Effects
(
Paul Eagler
,
Joseph McMillan Johnson
,
Russell Shearman
and
Clarence Slifer
; Special Audible Effects:
Charles L. Freeman
and
James G. Stewart
).
Joseph H. August
was also nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
- Black and White.
Plot
[
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]
In 1934, impoverished painter Eben Adams (
Joseph Cotten
) meets a fey little girl named Jennie Appleton (
Jennifer Jones
) in
Central Park
,
Manhattan
. 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 again encounters Jennie at intermittent intervals. Strangely, she appears to be growing up much more rapidly than is humanly possible. He soon falls madly in love with her, but is puzzled by the fact that she seems to be experiencing events that he discovers took place many decades previously, as if they had just happened. Eventually he learns the mysterious truth about Jennie and though inevitable tragedy ensues, she continues to be an inspiration to Eben's life and art, and his career makes a remarkable upturn, commencing with his most famous Portrait of Jennie.
Cast
[
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]
Production
[
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]
The book on which the film was based first attracted the attention of David O. Selznick, who purchased it as a vehicle for 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 was not in Nathan's novel.
Although
Portrait of Jennie
was a fantasy, Selznick insisted on filming actual locations in
Massachusetts
(
The Graves Light
) and New York City (
Central Park
,
The Cloisters
and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
), which dramatically increased the film's production costs.
[3]
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, was presented in three-strip
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 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 it was displayed in his home after he married Jones in 1949.
The film features
Joseph H. August
's atmospheric cinematography, capturing the lead character's obsession with Jennie, amongst the environs of a wintry New York. August shot many of the scenes through a canvas, making the scenes look like actual paintings. August, who used many lenses from the silent film era,
[4]
died shortly after completing the film. He was posthumously nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
.
Dimitri Tiomkin
used themes by
Claude Debussy
, including
Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune
(
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
), the two
Arabesques
, "Nuages" and "Sirenes" from
Nocturnes
, and
La fille aux cheveux de lin
, with the addition of
Bernard Herrmann
's "Jennie's Theme" to a song featured in Nathan's book ("Where I came from, nobody knows, and where I am going everyone goes"), utilizing a
theremin
. Herrmann was assigned the original composing duties for the film but left during its extended shooting schedule.
A 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. Another scene that featured Jennie doing a dance choreographed by
Jerome Robbins
took over ten days to film,
[4]
but was not used in the completed film.
Reception
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]
When
Portrait of Jennie
was released in December 1948, it was not a success, but today it is considered a classic in the fantasy genre
[5]
with a 91% "fresh" rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
.
[6]
Upon its release,
The New York Times
reviewer
Bosley Crowther
called it "deficient and disappointing in the extreme;"
[7]
but the
Variety
reviewers found the story was "told with style, taste and dignity."
[8]
Later film critics have also given the film strong praise.
Leslie Halliwell
wrote that it was "presented with superb persuasiveness by a first-class team of actors and technicians".
[9]
Spanish surrealist filmmaker
Luis Bunuel
included the film on his list of the 10 best of all time.
[10]
"Portrait of Jennie," the title song written by
J. Russel Robinson
, subsequently became a hit for
Nat King Cole
. An EmArcy Records (MG-36005) recording,
Clifford Brown with Strings
(recorded January 18, 19, 20, 1955) features jazz trumpeter
Clifford Brown
performing "Portrait of Jenny" [sic]. Although this instrumental version of the song was arranged by
Neal Hefti
for the date, the melodic line is close to what Nat King Cole had recorded in 1948.
[
citation needed
]
Jazz trombonist
J. J. Johnson
recorded an instrumental version for
Blue Note Records
in 1955, and one with choir accompaniment for his 1960 album
Trombone and Voices
. The song was revisited in 1958 by pianist
Red Garland
on
Manteca
, and again in 1966 by jazz trumpeter
Blue Mitchell
on his
Bring It Home to Me
.
Rob McConnell
and the Boss Brass recorded a version of "Portrait of Jenny" heard widely on jazz radio stations on their 1976 LP
The Jazz Album
featuring
Guido Basso
.
Joseph Cotten's performance as Eben Adams won the International Prize for Best Actor at the 1949 Venice International Film Festival.
The film is recognized by
American Film Institute
in these lists:
Adaptations
[
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]
Portrait of Jennie
was presented on the radio program
Academy Award
on December 4, 1946.
Joan Fontaine
starred in the adaptation.
[13]
Lux Radio Theatre
presented an hour-long adaptation of the film on October 31, 1949, again starring Joseph Cotten, but this time with
Anne Baxter
in the role of Jennie.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
Portrait of Jennie
entry
,
Fantastic Fiction
website. Accessed Feb. 7, 2014.
- ^
a
b
Thomson, David.
Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick
(Abacus, 1993), p. 521.
- ^
Cotton, Joseph.
Vanity Will Get You Somewhere,
iUniverse (2000).
- ^
a
b
Thomson, David.
Showman: The Life of David O. Selznik
(Knopf, 1992).
- ^
For example, it was one of the top fifty Fantasy Films nominated by the AFI in 2008 -
"AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees"
(PDF)
. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16
. Retrieved
2018-05-26
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
Portrait of Jennie
at
Rotten Tomatoes
- ^
Crowther, Bosley (March 30, 1949).
"Selznick's 'Portrait of Jennie,' With Cotten and Jennifer Jones, Opens at Rivoli"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Variety Staff.
"Portrait of Jennie is an unusual screen romance. The story of an ethereal romance between two generations is told with style, taste and dignity.,"
Variety
(Dec. 31, 1947).
- ^
Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 1999
(1999), ed. J.Walker, p. 635.
- ^
Marshall, Colin.
"The 10 Favorite Films of Avant-Garde Surrealist Filmmaker Luis Bunuel (Including His Own Collaboration with Salvador Dali)"
.
Open Culture
. Open Culture, LLC
. Retrieved
1 February
2023
.
- ^
"AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
2016-08-19
.
- ^
"AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees"
(PDF)
. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16
. Retrieved
2016-08-19
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"Joan Fontaine Heard Wednesday In "Oscar" Role"
. Harrisburg Telegraph. November 30, 1946. p. 17
. Retrieved
September 12,
2015
– via
Newspapers.com
.
External links
[
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]
Streaming audio