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Rating:  -
Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette) and Joseph Cotten star in Portrait of Jennie, a 1948 film that revolved around a painter's obsession with a beautiful, mysterious girl who seems to live more in the past than the present. Eben Adams (Cotten) is a washed-up painter on hard times and lacks inspiration until he meets Jennie (Jones) in a New York park. Jennie has an unusual way of speaking about past events as though they are current (referring to Germany's kaiser, and to theaters that had been demolished). Her fresh-faced beauty appeals to Adams, and Jennie makes the wish that he wait for her to grow up so that they can be together.
Jennie's sporadic appearances allow time for Eben to work on other commissions, and to research Jennie more carefully by interviewing people who had worked with her parents (famous high-wire circus performers). Inevitably, dark truths are uncovered that disturb Eben's "painting-perfect" romance with the soft-spoken, beautiful Jennie. His portrait of her is a testament to his love and brings him artistic fame. Eben is also introduced to Miss Spinney (Ethel Barrymore), a headstrong old maid who deals in paintings and who wants to see Eben produce something more spiritual. Other notable names include Lillian Gish as Mother Mary of Mercy, Cecil Kellaway as Matthews, and a young Nancy Davis Reagan in the art gallery.
Joseph Cotten is an engaging narrator, and his growing dependence on Jennie and his depression over Jennie's long absences is utterly believable (if a bit melodramatic). Jennifer Jones has more to work with here than in her first Oscar-winning role as Bernadette, although seeing a well-proportioned twentysomething trying to portray prepubescent innocence was a little bit creepy (see: Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (Two-Disc Special Edition)). Her character ages rapidly both physically and psychologically, so Jones was able to display a range of emotions, from a childhood crush to deeper musings on the nature of love and faith. Some of the secondary characters suffer from disappearing Irish accents; others shamelessly (sometimes woodenly) overact.
The film follows several conventions of its time, and appears dated. The "special effects" are pretty standard; several scale models are used and a green tint is used for the final scenes. There are some beautifully dreamy shots of New York City, and the fabulous effect of having shots appear as though they were painted on canvas. The DVD transfer features some artifacts and print flaws. There are no extras to speak of. However, fans of time-travel romances The Ghost and Mrs. Muirand Somewhere in Time (Collector's Edition) will enjoy Portrait of Jennie, although the strongest film of this genre is undoubtedly The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Despite its shortcomings, Portrait of Jennie is a pretty decent love story.
Rating: -
I bought this for my mother who has loved this movie since she was a young lady.The only thing I would have like was the option to have purchased it in Black and White as she had seen it originally.
Either way she was delighted!
Rating:  -
This is a mysterious and unworldly love story that I watch again and again. I also bought the book by Robert Nathan which has a charm and an ambience that remains forever in the mind. Joseph Cotton was perfectly cast as was Jennifer Jones. Ethel Barrymore is memorable in an abbreviated role. But it is the script and the whole idea of the piece that sings a song of love and hope. That song lifts us out of our everyday doldrums and wakens us to possibilities just beyond our reach. Once you see this movie or read this book, I promise you that you will never forget it. And that is a blessing.
Rating: -
Most of Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score for PORTRAIT OF JENNIE is derived from these six Claude Debussy compositions, of which the first three get the most screen time:
Arabesque No. 1
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
Arabesque No. 2
Nocturnes: Nuages
Nocturnes: Sirenes
Tiomkin's music is generally grand in concept and complex in construction. He was very good at and fond of interpolating others' well-known melodies (as he does here) for their color and associative emotional impact. He provided music for hundreds of films. Some other particularly great Tiomkin scores can be heard in LOST HORIZON, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER, I CONFESS, THE BIG SKY and FRIENDLY PERSUASION. For years, other composers of that era appealed more to me than Tiomkin, but recently I've warmed up to his work. He was a fine and mature craftsman.
Regarding the film itself, I do have a few qualms. For instance, I'm supposed to believe that Jennifer Jones could never find someone to love her? And the artwork in the film (conspicuously unlike the Ivan Albright oil portraiture featured in PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY) is frankly not terribly good.
But really, those things hardly matter.
I can't remember the last time I watched a film five times in a week as I have just done with JENNIE. There are so many things to like - the music, the lovely photography, the wonderful supporting actors and actresses (particularly Clem Bevans as Capt. Cobb), the mystery, and not least...
Any film which can get me to revisit Robert Browning's "Andrea Del Sarto" is OK by me!! Now, there is a great poem. And, THERE was a great painter!
Rating:  -
Smothered like a fly in amber inside this slab of pretentious middlebrow kitsch is an intriguing concept: Joseph Cotten's struggling artist is visited periodically by a mysterious young woman (Jennifer Jones, the producer's wife oddly enough) who grows older each time they meet. Val Lewton could have pulled it off at RKO in 80 minutes with a fifth of the budget of this film. However, David Selznick apparently was so anxious to display his own profundity that he overdoes everything, from the non-stop Debussy on the soundtrack to the turgid cinematography. At least he had good taste in women.
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