Jane Eyre (1944)

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Charlotte Brontë (novel) and
John Houseman (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 April 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A Love Story Every Woman Would Die a Thousand Deaths to Live!

Plot:

After a harsh childhood, orphan Jane Eyre is hired by Edward Rochester, the brooding lord of a mysterious manor house to care for his young daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Orphan | Ward | Secret | Governess | Corporal Punishment

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Orson Welles	...	Edward Rochester
Joan Fontaine	...	Jane Eyre
Margaret O'Brien	...	Adele Varens
Peggy Ann Garner	...	Jane Eyre (younger)
John Sutton	...	Dr. Rivers
Sara Allgood	...	Bessie
Henry Daniell	...	Henry Brocklehurst
Agnes Moorehead	...	Mrs. Reed
Aubrey Mather	...	Colonel Dent
Edith Barrett	...	Mrs. Fairfax
Barbara Everest	...	Lady Ingram
Hillary Brooke	...	Blanche Ingram

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G (cable rating) | Australia:PG (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Orson Welles did enough work behind the scenes that the production company offered him a producer credit, which he turned down. Welles's official reason for this is a belief that a person who is not directing the film shouldn't be "just" a producer.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The text of the "book" that appears on-screen - which appears not to overlap with the text of the classic novel Jane Eyre on which the film is based for even a single sentence - repeats itself.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jane Eyre: [narrating] My name is Jane Eyre... I was born in 1820, a harsh time of change in England. Money and position seemed all that mattered. Charity was a cold and disagreeable word. Religion too often wore a mask of bigotry and cruelty. There was no proper place for the poor or the unfortunate. I had no father or mother, brother or sister. As a child I lived with my aunt, Mrs. Reed of Gateshead Hall. I do not remember that she ever spoke one kind word to me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Aviator (2004)

Entertaining and engaging adaption of a gothic classic

A thoroughly engaging adaption of the brooding classic, this film rises above the turgid tone often imposed on other classics brought to the screen. Joan Fontaine turns in a brilliantly deceptively understated performance, and Orson Welles restrains from the scenery chewing that marred some of his own projects; there is surprising chemistry between them. At times, Welles is a downright "sexy" leading man! The script (credited to John Houseman and Aldous Huxley) captures the right "tone" of Victorian cruelty and repression.

Under Robert Stevenson's direction Fontaine/Welles seem to capture the essence of two abused outsiders resisting their attraction for one another, trying to adhere to convention. A strong supporting cast. There are brief though memorable appearances by Agnes Moorehead, Elizabeth Taylor and Peggy Ann Garner as "young" Jane.

George Barnes' camera captures appropriately stark images of Ross Dowd and Thomas Little's sets. Charlotte Bronte's grim novel is well suited to the excellent B/W, cinematography: a memorable scene early in the film has young Jane being punished by being forced to stand on a stool that is nearly in the center of a fan of shadows cast by the stair railing, It is almost reminiscent of expressionist German films of the Weimar years.

The film manages to entertain as well as inform. Purists may object to the last 3 lines of the film which hint at a slightly happier denouement than the book offered. In spite of that, Jane Eyre is still a nearly flawless film.