Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Robert Nathan (novel)
Leonardo Bercovici (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

22 April 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Fantasy | Mystery

Plot:

A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Manhattan New York City | Supernatural Power | Spiral Staircase | Ghost

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jennifer Jones	...	Jennie Appleton
Joseph Cotten	...	Eben Adams
Ethel Barrymore	...	Miss Spinney
Lillian Gish	...	Mother Mary of Mercy
Cecil Kellaway	...	Matthews
David Wayne	...	Gus O'Toole
Albert Sharpe	...	Moore (as Albert Sharp)
Henry Hull	...	Eke
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Jekes (landlady)
Felix Bressart	...	Pete
Clem Bevans	...	Capt. Cobb
Maude Simmons	...	Clara Morgan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nancy Davis	...	Teenager in Art Gallery (uncredited)
Robert Dudley	...	Another Old Mariner (uncredited)
John Farrell	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Anne Francis	...	Teenager in Art Gallery (uncredited)
Brian Keith	...	Ice-Skating Extra (uncredited)
Nancy Olson	...	Teenager in Art Gallery (uncredited)
Esther Somers	...	Mrs. Bunce (uncredited)

Directed by
William Dieterle

Writing credits
Robert Nathan		(novel)
Leonardo Bercovici		(adaptation)
Paul Osborn		(screenplay) and
Peter Berneis		(screenplay)
Ben Hecht		uncredited and
David O. Selznick		uncredited

Produced by
David Hempstead	....	associate producer
David O. Selznick	....	producer
Cecil Barker	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Dimitri Tiomkin

Cinematography by
Joseph H. August		(photographed by) (as Joseph August)
Lee Garmes		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
William Morgan

Production Design by
J. McMillan Johnson

Set Decoration by
Claude E. Carpenter		(as Claude Carpenter)

Costume Design by
Lucinda Ballard

Production Management
Argyle Nelson	....	production manager (uncredited)
Dewey Starkey	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arthur Fellows	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Joseph B. Platt	....	associate production designer
Robert Brackman	....	portrait painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Charles L. Freeman	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Don McKay	....	sound (uncredited)
James G. Stewart	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Clarence Slifer	....	special effects
Daniel Hays	....	special effects (uncredited)
Russell Shearman	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Paul Eagler	....	process and miniature photography (uncredited)
Robert Hansard	....	effects projectionist (uncredited)
Harry L. Wolf	....	special effects camera operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Curt Fetters	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Don Malkames	....	cinematographer: Central Park ice skating sequence, second unit (uncredited)
John Miehle	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Morris Rosen	....	grip (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anna Hill Johnstone	....	assistant costume designer

Music Department
Dimitri Tiomkin	....	conductor
Harold Byrns	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Joseph Dubin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Manuel Emanuel	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Aubrey C. Lind	....	music editor (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Dimitri Tiomkin	....	music adaptor (uncredited)

Other crew
Clem Beauchamp	....	staff executive
Mel Berns	....	staff executive
Arthur Fellows	....	staff executive
Larry Germain	....	staff executive
Don McKay	....	staff executive
William Morgan	....	staff executive
Argyle Nelson	....	staff executive
Lydia Schiller	....	staff executive
David O. Selznick	....	presenter
James G. Stewart	....	staff executive
Gerard Wilson	....	staff executive
Charlsie Bryant	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
Paul Eagler	....	staff executive (uncredited)
Paul MacNamara	....	publicity director (uncredited)

Thanks
Robert Brackman	....	grateful acknowledgment
Bernard Herrmann	....	grateful acknowledgment

Production Companies

• Vanguard Films (for)
• Selznick International Pictures (as The Selznick Studio)

Distributors

• Selznick Releasing Organization (1948) (USA) (theatrical)
• Suomi-Filmi (1953) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Selznick Releasing Organization (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1966) (Finland) (TV) (TV1)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1971) (USA) (TV)
• TV3 (1988) (Finland) (TV)
• VTC-Video (1988) (Finland) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1984) (Finland) (TV) (TV2)
• Pioneer (1994) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2008) (Brazil) (DVD) (Portuguese subtitles)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• Fox Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Metropolitan Museum of Art  grateful acknowledgment

Also Known As:

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (green and sepia tints for final reel, excluding last shot) | Color (Technicolor) (final shot)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (special stereo mix in final storm scene) | Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Germany:12 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #12700) | UK:U | Iceland:L | USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

RKO-Pathé Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Vanguard Films

Trivia:

Bernard Herrmann was hired to write an original background score and did compose several themes but due to various production delays as well as the fact that Herrmann was tiring of David O. Selznick's demands, he dropped out and was replaced by Dimitri Tiomkin who, at the insistence of Selznick, ended up using themes by Claude Debussy. At the time Tiomkin was condemned by his colleagues for his adaptations. All that remains of Herrmann's contribution is the haunting song sung by Jennie entitled "Where I Come From, Nobody Knows".

Goofs:

Continuity: While talking to Eke, Eben is standing on the left of the screen. After a close-up shot of Eke, Eben is on the right.

Quotes:

Jennie Appleton:I hate for it to stop, because when will we ever have it again?

Movie Connections:

References Thunder Rock (1942)

Soundtrack:

The Girl With The Flaxen Hair

1940's Classic

Although it is a story that no doubt stands on its own as a cinema classic, this film for sure reminded me of Somewhere In Time, which came along a generation later. Both stories dealt with men of artistic temperament with perhaps too vivid imagination, (Was it imagination, or something more?), that met extraordinary women out of their respective places and time. But, Portrait of Jennie is unique for several reasons. Joseph Cotten has never been given his due as one of the excellent actors of his generation and it is truly a pity that he and female lead Jennifer Jones as Jennie are not well known as one of screendoms great male/female screen teams. As always, it is not only the enchanting story that makes this film a classic, but just as important are the presence of the capable players. Players such as Ethel Barrymore, Cecil Kellaway and Lillian Gish are only a few of the many who appeared and made this a very unique and excellent film. In 1934 New York City, starving artist Eben Adams (Cotten) is having trouble selling his paintings. It seems there just isn't enough emotion in them. However, all of this changes when befriended by a pair of sympathetic art dealers (Kellaway and Barrymore), but more importantly, when he meets Jennie for the first time. Jennie appears to him first as a young girl, but promises to `grow up quickly.' Each succeeding time that Adams encounters her, she is older and the relationship deepens. Adams is disturbed by her comments and realizess that, if statements concerning her past and family are true, she should be perhaps 20 years older. In the meantime, Adams is inspired to begin a portrait of her, the `Portrait of Jennie.'

By film's end we have the final encounter between Adams, who has gone to great lengths to determine if Jennie's past is as she says it is, and Jennie on a rocky seashore during a violent storm. I will not divulge the ending. I'll say Adams survives the storm and, with new found emotion and compassion, becomes a highly successful artist. The very last scene shows the portrait, classified a masterpeiece, hanging in a museum. There are excellent location shots of 1940's New York City and it's various areas of interest. The Portait of Jennie, which we see in all it's glory at film's end, could well be a masterpiece in itself as a painting of the beautiful Jennifer Jones. As the saying goes, they don't make ‘em like this anymore but, in this case, `they' don't have to. We have our Portrait of Jennie, a film which transcends time and has withstood the test of time very, very well.