Jane Eyre (1944)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

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:

Secret | Governess | Orphan | Ward | Servant

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: When the carriage takes Jane away from the George Inn towards Thornfield, it leaves only a single set of tracks - although it's going back up the same road it just came down.

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:

Featured in Locked in the Tower: The Men Behind 'Jane Eyre' (2007) (V)

Far more entertaining than I expected!

I love unexpected surprises. I was expecting a dull, 19th Century affair. Instead, I got one of the biggest melodramatic potboilers of all time. It's passionate, pulling me along and hardly letting me catch my breath. It's powerful, and it's actually hugely entertaining. Joan Fontaine plays the title character. Treated like garbage her whole life (we follow a few of her childhood adventures), Jane finally ends up in a tolerable place, hired as a governess. Well, it might not be Heaven, but Thornfield is, if nothing else, an interesting place. A cute, little French girl (Margaret O'Brien); an overbearing master of the house (Orson Welles); creepy halls; unexplained fires and a frightening entity hiding behind a gothic wooden door, bolted tightly shut. Heck, this film is a good 60% horror film. 1943's best film, I Walked with a Zombie, is also based on the novel Jane Eyre. That film is pure poetry, but the 1944 version might actually be scarier! The black and white cinematography is awe-inspiring, some of the best ever captured. It can be very, very eerie. It's actually inspired - perhaps even pilfered - by Orson Welles' films to date. I wonder if he thought he was being ripped off? The acting is not perfect. Joan Fontaine, as a thousand other people have probably pointed out, is anything but plain, as the character is supposed to be (I've never read the novel - hell, I probably should now! - but her plainness is expressed in the film). It's also easy to point out that she wears one expression throughout the film. However, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. The backstory is so well done that that expression seems to fit the character quite well. Orson Welles either seems to be not in the mood to star in this film or he seems too eager to be superb. I can't decide, but the result is curious. I wouldn't call it a bad performance, certainly, but it is not especially satisfactory, either. Whatever other criticisms could be expressed, he certainly never comes off as actually experiencing these situations with true emotions, unlike Fontaine. Perhaps the best performance in the film comes from young Peggy Ann Garner, who plays Jane as a young girl. She's simply amazing. Elizabeth Taylor appears in a small, uncredited role. Wow, she's young. All in all, I really loved Jane Eyre. While I recognize its imperfections, I wouldn't be surprised if my cable box gets stuck on Turner Classic Movies the next time it airs. 9/10.