Portrait of Jennie was a surprisingly good movie! As much as I love old movies. .. and as long as I've been watching them, I only recently learned of this one. And I'm glad I did. Joseph Cotten is one of my favorite actors (Shadow of a Doubt being one of my top five movies), and who doesn't like Jennifer Jones?
REVIEWS: Bosley Crowther absolutely pans this movie in his March 30, 1949 New York Times review. Here's a snippet: "...the long-bow that's drawn in the sound-track and the splurge of the final spectacle are the elements in the picture that render it maudlin and banal. A ponderous and meaningless narration, concerned with the "levels of time," is the same sort of trap for the emotions as a soggy and saccharine musical score..."
Ouch! I agree, it is a bit maudlin, but what the heck - I enjoyed it anyway! I don't know, maybe our level of movie sophistication has changed over the past 70 years...Rotten Tomatoes has Jennie at 91%, with one reviewer saying... "Killer. So damn romantic. Like a black and white Vertigo meets Stairway To Heaven in depression era New York but without any crimes or trials. The theme even sounds like Vertigo's. Go Selznick!" Ha! I like that - Vertigo meets Stairway to Heaven!
FAVORITE QUOTE:
Jennie Appleton: Eben... I want always just to sit and watch you paint.
Eben Adams: Now that I've found the perfect model, I'll paint her again and again.
Jennie Appleton: No, I - - I didn't mean that... I mean I want you to paint all the beautiful things in the world.
Eben Adams: [smiles, holds her tight] You're the most beautiful thing in the world.
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