Review of Portrait of Jennie (1948) by Monsieur R — 30 Nov 2010

A captivating film of the paranormal. Joseph Cotton gives a great perfomance not like his happy role in Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons. The ending has credible special effects for the day or even now.

Struggling artist is told his art has no soul, or love, in it. So a "young" girl meets him in Central Park in Manhatten, New York. Today any adult male would be advised to run for their lives in such a situation, but this is 1948. Cotton not only talks a great deal with her, but yearns to meet her again and again. Each time the girl gets older and they fall in love.

The result of all this slow paced romancing is a great picture the artist paints of Jenny, hence the title Portrait of Jenny. Some will find this film a boring, slow paced romance flick, but the surreal or mystical nature of the plot keeps our attention.

Worth watching at least once, others may want to see it more often. Lots of dark shadows, dimly lit rooms, slow conversations. We watch a love affair grow from a ghostly girl and a gullible artist, since it is revealed the girl has been dead for years yet he fails to believe it.

Not an average film, this one has a paranormal quality.

Released on Christmas Day, 1948.

Jennifer Jones as Jennie Appleton (the mystery girl).

Joseph Cotten as Eben Adams (the artist).

Ethel Barrymore as Miss Spinney (art buyer).

Lillian Gish as Mother Mary of Mercy (Jenny's teacher).

Cecil Kellaway as Matthews.

David Wayne as Gus O'Toole.

Albert Sharpe as Moore.

Henry Hull as Eke.

Florence Bates as Mrs. Jekes.

Clem Bevans as Capt. Cobb.

Directed by William Dieterle.

Produced by David O. Selznick and David Hempstead.

Written by Paul Osborn.

Peter Berneis (screenplay).

Leonardo Bercovici (adaptation).

Robert Nathan (novel).

Music by Dimitri Tiomkin.

Cinematography Joseph H. August.