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      Portrait of Jennie

      Released Dec 25, 1948 1 hr. 26 min. Romance List
      88% 16 Reviews Tomatometer 85% 1,000+ Ratings Audience Score In Depression-era New York, painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) despairs at his lack of success. One cold winter evening in Central Park, he meets an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl, Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones), who captures his fancy when she asks him to wait for her to grow up. Soon after, Eben sells a sketch of Jennie to kindly art dealer Miss Spinny (Ethel Barrymore) and, as he meets the oddly mutable Jennie in fleeting moments, begins to realize they share a special destiny. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (138) audience reviews
      Catherine R Brilliant ghost story. Incredible film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Amazing movie one of my favorites Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/14/21 Full Review Ken R Portrait Of Jenny – A Mystery With Epic Touches David O Selznick certainly gave us an enigmatic visual feast when he concocted this strange production. Probably made to promote his star (and soon to be wife) Jenifer Jones. This was the final film for Award-winning Cinematographer Joseph H. August (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame '39) who created many beguiling visuals for this impressive oddity. The epic storm at sea, featuring the haunting abandoned Graves Lighthouse in Massachusetts, is quite an eye opener - with its eerie tinted sequences and the final full color shot of the stunning portrait - making for an unforgettable closing. Joseph Cotton is convincing as the obsessed painter, living on poverty Rd and continually searching for the elusive Jenny. He gets good support from Cecil Kellaway and Ethel Barrymore, as a couple of art dealers who take pity on the struggling artist. Dimitri Tiomkin provides the descriptive musical moods by adapting several melodies by Debussy - but he also has some additional help from Bernard Herrmann. A failure when originally released, it's now regarded as a Fantasy Masterpiece, but finding a quality transfer on DVD will take some research, as there are several sub-standard editions on the market. I purchased The Film Collection release which claimed to be Re-mastered but has visible scratches and soft focus, making playing on a large screen a somewhat disappointing experience. A good-looking treat for those with a liking for the classically unusual. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/07/21 Full Review Audience Member Between 2.5 and 3 stars. Too much predictable maybe. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review james g Lovely, ghostly story with: beautiful black and white cinematography (with a green electrical storm, a purple sunset); a convincing non-special effects boat wreck in a hurricane; NY City in winter, glorious faces (Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, a mature Ethel Barrymore, an underappreciated David Wayne), a tight just-less-than-90-minutes run time, a score by Dimitri Tiomkin, all put together by Hollywood's mighty Selznick (Gone With the Wind) in a syfy/time-tripping romance...not to mention the out-of-this-world costumes/designs of the late 1940s. IF you love old b&w movies in which magnificent faces ruled the screens, this is just for you. And me. Oh, to see this restored on a big screen. The only slight flaw is the heavy Irish accents, not always true to form and a bit of over-acting by supporting players. Still, one could do worse on a rainy afternoon. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my favorite films. Portrait of Jennie might be too sentimental and overly dramatic for everyone, but that is an essential part of what makes this film so appealing to the right audience. It is really quite unique, almost to the point of being a genre unto itself. The performances are all delightful. This is a film you can watch a hundred times and appreciate more deeply each time. It is visually stunning in muted black and white and as atmospheric as the empty streets of New York City where most of it was filmed. Joseph Cotton is wonderful as the "starving artist protagonist" and Jennifer Jones is luminous as the titular character. Sentimental and haunting, is an emotional journey to be experienced more than understood. This is visual poetry that begins with a quote from John Keats and a screen made to look like an artist's canvas and ends with a single frame in technicolor. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      Portrait of Jennie

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      Critics Reviews

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      Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine William Dieterle's 1948 masterpiece Portrait of Jennie is not only an unabashedly romantic melodrama but also a fascinating ghost story. Rated: 4/4 Jun 27, 2001 Full Review Zita Short InSession Film Selznick’s vision for this film was clearly different than that of director William Dieterle and cinematographer Joseph H. August but they were able to create something that is more than the sum of its parts. Feb 1, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Somehow, it all works, though perhaps it should not. Loving Portrait of Jennie is an imperfect experience, but just as Jennie accepts her fate for a few cherished moments with Eben, so too does the viewer revere the film's many pleasures. Rated: 4/4 Feb 12, 2022 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy A haunting fantasy that's both arty and intoxicating. Rated: 3/4 Sep 22, 2021 Full Review Elsa Branden Photoplay It is romance plus, beautifully acted, directed and produced. Rated: 3/3 Aug 20, 2021 Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row Hasn't aged well in the interim either, putting an awkward romance front-and-center that makes one wonder whose fantasy this was in the first place. Rated: 2/4 Jun 4, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis In Depression-era New York, painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) despairs at his lack of success. One cold winter evening in Central Park, he meets an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl, Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones), who captures his fancy when she asks him to wait for her to grow up. Soon after, Eben sells a sketch of Jennie to kindly art dealer Miss Spinny (Ethel Barrymore) and, as he meets the oddly mutable Jennie in fleeting moments, begins to realize they share a special destiny.
      Director
      William Dieterle
      Screenwriter
      Robert Nathan, Leonardo Bercovici, Paul Osborn, Peter Berneis, Ben Hecht, David O. Selznick
      Distributor
      Selznick International Pictures, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Fox
      Production Co
      Vanguard Films Production
      Genre
      Romance
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Dec 25, 1948, Original
      Release Date (DVD)
      Oct 19, 2004