Portrait of Jennie

Rating:
Summary: Trashed at first, but vindicated later.
Review: This is what happened with Portrait of Jennie. David O. Selznick was so obssessed with Jennifer Jones that his judgement was clouded when it comes to choosing film projects for her. In the case of "Portrait of Jennie", this movie ran over budgeted when Selznick decided to add in a pompous "epic finale" with wind, waves and green tint.

When it was released, Portrait of Jennie did not set the world on fire, and it wasn't a hit. But years later, it have gone on to become a classic.

Joseph Cotten played an artist who ran into a young girl named Jennie in Central Park. The strange part of it is that for each successive time he meets her again, she grew older. With information he got from talking to Jennie, he did some research and found out to his astonishment that the girl he has been talking to could be the ghost of a dead woman. When the anniversary of the death of her parents came, Cotten find her grieving in the park. Pretty soon, as Jennie grew into a beautiful mature woman, Cotten fell in love with her. And when the anniversary of her death approaches, Cotten was determined to change history by rescuing Jennie from her fate. Alas, that was not to be, but the love the two share inspired the portrait of the young woman, hence the name of the movie.

Jennifer Jones delivered another high caliber performance. She can actually convincingly played a young little girl and then slowly turning into a mature young woman. It is my belief that if David O. Selznick's obsession with Jennifer caused her to become one of the most underrated actresses from the old Hollywood studio system. Her performance in this movie is absolutely mesmerising.

Portrait of Jennie captures Jennifer Jones in all her glory. She is still with us today and I am glad that she lives to see this movie turn from a flop to a classic favorite.

Rating:
Summary: Trashed at first, but vindicated later.
Review: This is what happened with Portrait of Jennie. David O. Selznick was so obssessed with Jennifer Jones that his judgement was clouded when it comes to choosing film projects for her. In the case of "Portrait of Jennie", this movie ran over budgeted when Selznick decided to add in a pompous "epic finale" with wind, waves and green tint.

When it was released, Portrait of Jennie did not set the world on fire, and it wasn't a hit. But years later, it have gone on to become a classic.

Joseph Cotten played an artist who ran into a young girl named Jennie in Central Park. The strange part of it is that for each successive time he meets her again, she grew older. With information he got from talking to Jennie, he did some research and found out to his astonishment that the girl he has been talking to could be the ghost of a dead woman. When the anniversary of the death of her parents came, Cotten find her grieving in the park. Pretty soon, as Jennie grew into a beautiful mature woman, Cotten fell in love with her. And when the anniversary of her death approaches, Cotten was determined to change history by rescuing Jennie from her fate. Alas, that was not to be, but the love the two share inspired the portrait of the young woman, hence the name of the movie.

Jennifer Jones delivered another high caliber performance. She can actually convincingly played a young little girl and then slowly turning into a mature young woman. It is my belief that if David O. Selznick's obsession with Jennifer caused her to become one of the most underrated actresses from the old Hollywood studio system. Her performance in this movie is absolutely mesmerising.

Portrait of Jennie captures Jennifer Jones in all her glory. She is still with us today and I am glad that she lives to see this movie turn from a flop to a classic favorite.

Rating:
Summary: This Movie is very good
Review: This movie about a struggling artist as he searches for inspiration is very good, and is strangely haunting, as you never know whether or not Eben Adams really can see the girl Jennie, as no one else sees her. I like this movie because it would not ecxactly qualify as a ghost story, but it is not about a real-life person. It hovers between those two.

Rating:
Summary: So beautiful, you wish it could be true.
Review: This movie satisfies a longing most of us have for a love of a lifetime and for all eternity. It creates it truth through romantic fantasy that we all could wish were true. The lover's, separated by time, find a way to each other. There is a strong religio-mystic theme, mixed with a twilight zone feel. If you don't like it, there are two genre's you wont like, romance and fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Love Story
Review: When a struggling artist (Joseph Cotton) is wandering through a snowy Central Park in New York he meets a young school girl , Jennie (Jennifer Jones). As the months pass the meetings occur at sporadic times as Jennie ages more than months and details of her life are decidedly off kilter. "Portrait of Jennie " is one of the great screen romances that while dismissed when it first appeared has gained admiration over the years . Unusually for the time parts of the film were filmed on location in New York. Besides Cotton and Jones the film has a wonderful cast including Ethyl Barrymore, David Wayne and Lilian Gish as a mother superior of a convent (the Cloister's in northern Manhattan doubling as the convent/school). The film has an often dream like quality that is enhanced by composer Dimiti Tiomkin's decision to use arrangements of composer Claude Debussy's music for the entire score. For advise on the arrangements Tiomkin actually used Bernard Herrmann as an advisor. A really fine film that just gets better with age.