Portrait of Jennie (1948)

A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Robert Nathan (from the book by), Paul Osborn (screen play)

Stars:

Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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
Henry Hull	...	Eke
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Jekes (landlady)
Felix Bressart	...	Pete
Clem Bevans	...	Capt. Cobb
Maude Simmons	...	Clara Morgan

Storyline

Eben Adams is a talented but struggling artist in Depression era New York who has never been able to find inspiration for a painting. One day, after he finally finds someone to buy a painting from him, a pretty but odd young girl named Jennie Appleton appears and strikes up an unusual friendship with Eben.

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Plot Keywords:

portrait painting | supernatural power | artist | reference to will rogers | reference to sarah bernhardt | 

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Taglines:

ARE YOU IN LOVE THIS WEEK? If you are - you'll get a double thrill from this most romantic of all love stories about a man who was in love with a girl who lived twenty years before his time. If you aren't - it may change your ideas on the subject for the rest of your life.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Wayne and Albert Sharpe, who both have supporting roles in this film, were the stars of the original stage production of "Finian's Rainbow". That play opened on Broadway the year before this film was released and was playing there at the same time this film was shooting.. Wayne' played a taxi driver and Eban's best friend and took the place of Adams' fellow artist Arne, who was his friend in the original novella as well as early versions of the screenplay.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

There are no credits at all at the beginning of the film; even the title is not disclosed until the end of the film. Furthermore, several credited workers on the film are not designated by their actual function on the movie, but simply as "staff executives".

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Alternate Versions

During premiere engagements, the climactic storm sequence, along with being tinted green, was screened in Magnascope, an early widescreen format. The audio also changed from mono to an experimental multi-channel sound, to intensify the scene's overall effect. At the beginning of the sequence the curtains surrounding the screen would open, and the scene would fill the wider screen surface. At the end of the scene the curtains closed, and the remainder of the film was shown in its 1:1.37 ratio format, while the film's soundtrack reverted back to monaural.

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Connections

Referenced in Sesión continua (1984)

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Soundtracks

Jennie's Song
(uncredited)
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Lyrics by Gordon Burdge
Sung by Jennifer Jones

User Reviews

This film haunts me

"Portrait of Jeannie" ran again tonight on TCM and yet again I sat there mesmerized, and yes, admittedly in tears. It is a haunting film, one that once seen echoes in memory. It fulfills an ideal of love found and lost, with a promise that it will be found again, this time forever.

The use of Debussy is inspiring, as is the sepia tone shots which impressed me even more than the famed green tinted finale of the storm. I do wonder how that effect of sepia was achieved, as if a rough layer of burlap was draped over the lens to create a look of photographs from a lost age. It creates a sense of 19th and early 20th century images that is stunning. I was in NYC this summer for a couple of days and found myself at a bookstore on Columbus Circle doing a book signing. After I was finished there I wandered into Central Park, on a mission to find the locations of where the wonderful sequence of Jeannie, ice skating, meets Joseph Cotton and their first stunningly filmed encounter at night on a pathway. What a thrill to find those spot.

I grew up in NJ back in the 1950s and remember the stories about the great blizzard of 1948 and do wonder if that blizzard was used by the director for the incredible outdoor shots of Jeannie's first meeting with her lover born too late and the ice skating scene.

To any who have yet to see this film. You might be a cynic, jaded by all that our world tosses your way. This film can reawaken within you the dream, or memory of an ideal love, the bittersweet sense of loss and of promise. Believe me, I tend towards "guy" films, but with "Jeannie," cynic that I can be at times, I still pull out the box of tissues, sit back, have a good cry (something I don't admit to my macho friends) and marvel at the timelessness of this incredible film.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 April 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tidal Wave

Filming Locations:

Graves Light, Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,041,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Selznick Studio, Vanguard Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

3 Channel Stereo (1956) (5.0) (L-R) Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

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

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1