Portrait of Jennie (1948): Haunting Beauty

"Who knoweth if to die be but to live, and that called life by mortals be but death?" ~ Euripides

Portraits have played key plot elements in several classic movies during the 1940’s, sometimes even being the central theme around which the film is based. From Kitty (1945) and Laura (1944) to The Picture of Dorian Gray (also 1945), the mystery and enchantment of someone’s painted image intrigued moviegoers throughout the decade. One of the most fascinating examples in this circle took over four years to get on the screen. Portrait of Jennie (1948) is a romantic fantasy with shades of mystery and more than its share of haunting beauty.

 The film was based on a 1940 novel by Robert Nathan, who had also authored The Bishop’s Wife, which was adapted for the screen in 1947. MGM had taken an option on the story but dropped it, when producer David O. Selznick picked it up in late 1944. When casting discussions began, Vivien Leigh was considered for the part of Jennie. She was still under contract to Selznick at the time and there was even talk of she and husband Laurence Olivier starring together but the idea was dropped. There was also discussion among Selznick’s production team to film it with Shirley Temple, who was also under personal contract, over a period of years to take advantage of Temple’s transition from youth to young adulthood. As tempting as the marketing angle was to the publicity genius, Selznick felt it would be a perfect project for his then lover Jennifer Jones. Joseph Cotten was then cast in the male lead, making it the fourth film teaming for the duo in as many years (Cotten and Jones had previously co-starred in Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945) and Duel in the Sun (1946)).

Eben Adams is a downtrodden artist, a wandering soul in search of what he’s not entirely sure. His name fairly drips of early-mid century American artist. He half heartedly wanders into the low key but high quality gallery of Matthews and Spinney, the latter name belonging to a straight talking, self proclaimed old maid who takes a shine to Adams. Receiving a verbal as well as a financial renewal at Matthews and Spinney, the artist heads back out into the cold that is Manhattan in winter. While wandering in the park, he encounters a strange but lovely girl named Jennie. She talks of things and places from 20+ years earlier, as if they were happening that day. She leaves as suddenly as she appeared, leaving Adams to speculate on such an odd child. Taken with Jennie’s unique spirit, the artist creates a sketch of her which he presents to Matthews and Spinney. Mr. Matthews, who originally thought Eben’s work lacking, finds the sketch so striking and inspired, that he offers him a relatively substantial sum.

Adams once again meets Jennie, while out and about, but notices that she seems to have aged somewhat, changing from a child into a pre-adolescent. His subsequent encounters with her prove just as strange, each revealing a maturity in years. As she “ages” he falls in love with her and she with him. This romance, created beyond the confines of time and space, blossoms but where will it lead?

With production beginning in February 1947 and ending in October 1948, Jennie was fraught with problems, least of which was Selznick’s perfectionism. William Dieterle was chosen to direct. His creative sense of the visual had been used to great effect in the fantasy The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), which had photographic elements that could transfer into this project. Ethel Barrymore was perfectly cast as Miss Spinney, as was Cecil Kellaway as Mr. Matthews and Lillian Gish as a kind nun who knew Jennie as a child.

Portrait of Jennie was released on Christmas Day 1948 and although not very well received, has over the course of time become a classic. Joseph Cotten won the International Prize for Best Actor at the 1949 Venice International Film Festival for his portrayal of Eben Adams and Selznick and Jones married the following year. Though problems and chaos plagued production of the movie, the end result is a fascinating fantasy ghost romance.

Citizen Kane (1941): "Rosebud"

Finally. After many years as a self proclaimed classic movie junkie, I finally saw what many consider the finest film ever made, Citizen Kane. When I first admitted I'd never seen the much discussed photoplay, so many who read this blog wanted to know my thoughts once I did see it. So much has been said and volumes written about this classic in the 68 years since its release that anything other than a personal opinion about it would merely be rehash, but for those who may have never seen Citizen Kane, a club of which I was a member until very recently, here goes.

Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) is a man of extreme wealth and heavy influence. Living his latter years secluded in his palatial estate, Xanadu, he shares his mansion with exotic animals of all variety and priceless works of art. As he draws his final breath he utters the single word ROSEBUD. Through flashbacks and vignettes, his life story is revealed, as a reporter on assignment interviews those closest to the larger than life newspaper tycoon. The reporters ultimate task is to discover the identity of Rosebud. Friends, confidants and an ex-wife tell their stories as reflected on Kane. The basic premise sounds simple enough and it is. The same story could have been told in any formula picture at any studio in Hollywood but Citizen Kane was an exercise in technical and artistic expression by masters in their respective fields.

Cinematographer Gregg Toland was an artisan of the movie camera. His work on high quality Sam Goldwyn productions in the 1930's built his reputation and culminated in an Oscar in 1939 for Wuthering Heights. The next year when production on Citizen Kane began, he willingly jumped on board to offer his services. Toland's use of deep focus and unconventional camera angles created striking imagery and was one of the major assets Kane had going for it. Others were the highly literate script co-authored by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz and the debut film score by master conductor Bernard Herrmann. Although Herrmann's Kane score didn't win the music Oscar (although it was nominated), his other 1941 project, The Devil and Daniel Webster did.

Citizen Kane was a film of many debuts. Besides conductor Herrmann, others making their first movie appearances were Ruth Warrick, Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead. Cotten and Moorehead, along with others in the cast had followed Welles to Hollywood as part of his Mercury Players, an acting troupe which had found critical acclaim on both the stage and radio (including the infamous 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds). Both Cotten and Moorehead went on to long and prosperous careers in both Welles related and non-Welles productions. Not to be forgotten is actress Dorothy Comingore as Kane's mistress-cum-second wife. Well suited for her plum role, Comingore's career never took off and ended with the communist Red Scare of the late 40's and early 50's. Yet with all the talent both behind and in front of the camera, Orson Welles is the name synonymous with Citizen Kane and the major creative force who spearheaded the production. Given complete artistic control by RKO Studios, the "genius" who took Hollywood by storm was only 25.

With all the film had going in its favor, it also had very stiff opposition. Publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, on whom the story is partially based, fought the movie's release and forbade it being mentioned in any of his numerous publications. Despite Hurst's protests, Kane was finally released in May 1941 to critical praise but was commercially unsuccessful with mainstream American audiences.

Many film scholars and organizations have claimed that Citizen Kane is the greatest film ever made but others have given that distinction to Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind or Casablanca. To thrash about a few cliched but very true phrases, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and one man's trash is another man's treasure. While some see the film as the ultimate masterpiece of cinema, others view it as overrated and overhyped. Personally, I think it is a wonderfully constructed picture, filmed with technical precision and creative flourish. All the pieces fit nicely to make an outstanding final product. Greatest film ever made? I'd have to disagree. Although the elements of the film are exquisite, the story itself is rather hum drum. Never boring, mind you, due to its intricate construction, but imagine if a more unique tale had been told with similar expertise. A fine example is the afore mentioned The Devil and Daniel Webster, where equal or at least comparable craftsmanship is applied to a much more exciting storyline. Overrated or underestimated, either way Citizen Kane is a great movie and shouldn't be missed. Finally, a word on the word. Rosebud. If you've seen the film, wink wink and if you haven't, grab a copy and discover for yourself the secret of one of Hollywood's most famous lines.

Review: Shadow of a Doubt

Santa Rosa, California had a population of roughly 13,000 people in 1942, a fraction of its current citizen count. But when Alfred Hitchcock began production of his classic 1943 thriller, Shadow of a Doubt, the small San Francisco Bay area community conveyed just the right atmosphere of Everytown, USA that he was looking for. As Hitchcock's camera pans across the downtown Santa Rosa street scape, we see a friendly cherub-like policeman, whistle between his lips, directing easy flowing traffic. We witness a bustling but laid back burg, while liltingly pleasant music plays in the background. In later scenes, a J.C. Penney department store and an ivy covered library are further evidence that the viewer could be in any average hamlet in the land. The famed director used this placid setting to illustrate that evil can penetrate anywhere, even the peaceful, civilized confines of small town America.

The evil found in Hitchcock's Santa Rosa shows up in the form of Joseph Cotten, playing one of the best roles of his career, "Uncle" Charlie Oakley, the deranged "Merry Widow Murderer," who on the lamb from the law, escapes to the homespun security of his sister's family in the pleasant California town. Waiting for him with open arms is his teen aged niece and namesake played by Teresa Wright who is top billed. Niece Charley relishes the visit from her charming and urbane uncle, hoping his presence will shake up her family's drab, humdrum existence. He doesn't disappoint. The detectives who have been chasing him across the country, find their suspect on the west coast. One of them (Macdonald Carey) befriends and confides in young Charley, the sins of her uncle. Devastated and confused, she comes to realize that what the detective has told her is true. When another man who is also strongly suspected to be the murderer is killed while being pursued on the east coast, the case is closed and Uncle Charlie is cleared, but his niece now knows that he is indeed the guilty party and she begins to experience a series of "accidents."

Joseph Cotten's Uncle Charlie is both charismatic and menacing. A particularly effective moment has him at the dinner table describing his vision of rich widows as "fat, lazy women" who squander all that their late husbands had worked for all their lives. As he thinks aloud his disturbing diatribe, the camera goes in for a slow, steady close up of his profiled face. By the time he is interrupted by a rebuttal from his niece, the camera is dead on his eyes and he turns his head to give a chilling stare directly into the lens.

Wright does her share of fine acting as well, with this role following on the heels of her successes in The Little Foxes (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942). She goes from adoring and doting teenager to troubled and anxious young woman without missing a beat. Like her characters uncle, she too can be menacing, when the occasion arises. Perfect example: When she and Uncle Charlie get the news from her detective boyfriend that the Merry Widow suspect in the east was killed while trying to escape, Cotten, ready to celebrate his freedom, strides up the staircase like a schoolboy on holiday. Suddenly, he stops dead in his tracks, just shy of the top of the stairs and slowly turns around to see his niece standing sullenly and accusingly in the doorway below, her shadow stretched out before her, as she gives him a cold stare of disgust.

As the senior Charlie's sister and female Charley's mother is Patricia Collinge, a stage actress who co-starred with Wright in The Little Foxes. As Emma Newton in this film, she shows the right amount of naivete and a fluttery quality as mama of her brood and even comes off as a somewhat surrogate mother to her visiting younger brother. Well into middle age, it seems odd that she and Henry Travers, as her murder mystery buff, bank clerk husband would be cast as the parents of such young children (besides Charley, their clan consists of Ann and Roger, both under 12). Hume Cronyn in his film debut, does quite a fine job as Travers cohort in crime novel critique, each devising plan after plan for the perfect fictional murder.

To help him capture the quality of small town values required for his setting, Hitchcock retained none other than playwrite Thorton Wilder to collaborate on the screenplay for Shadow of a Doubt. Wilder's play "Our Town" was the epitome of everyday life. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Writing and Best Original Story. Hitchcock claimed that Doubt was one of his personal favorites of his films, though he told Francois Truffaut in a famous interview, that it was not his very favorite. Regardless, it is a genuine Hitchcock gem that is often overlooked when traditional Hitchcock is discussed and revered, a true treasure that should be remembered and viewed often.

Review: The Farmer's Daughter

The three words that leap to this blogger's mind when discussing The Farmer's Daughter (1947) are sheer, unadulterated charm. As I watched this classic romantic comedy for the umpteenth time, I couldn't wipe the goofy grin off my face for at least the first thirty minutes into the film. This winsome piece of confection has often been called "Capraesque" and its a very fitting moniker. It's a David vs. Goliath Cinderella Story ala big game politics. Think Katie the Swedish maid Goes to Washington.

Katrin Holstrom (Loretta Young) or Katie, as she is affectionately known, is a fetching farm girl with a thick Swedish accent who leaves the farm and heads for Capitol City (any state capitol, USA, though with all the Swedish farm roots involved, one would assume the upper Mid West) to begin training at a nursing school there. When she loses the money saved for her nursing course to a fast talking, slimy painter with shady intentions, Katie reaches Capitol City in need of a job. She lands employment as a second maid in the home of an urbane congressman (Joseph Cotten) and his straightforward mother (Ethel Barrymore), who is an influential leader of the reigning political party in the state. Katie has definite political leanings in her comely blonde head and they don't always coincide with those of her well heeled employers. Nevertheless, she endears herself to them with her down to earth charm and common sense outlook. Romance and a potential Senate seat ensue.

The Farmer's Daughter was based on a play called Hulda, Daughter of Parliament, which was bought as a potential film project by producer David O. Selznick for his contractee, Swedish born Ingrid Bergman. When Bergman wasn't interested, ice skating star Sonya Henie, also of Scandinavian descent, was proposed. Finally, after much debate with Dore Schary, the films producer, Loretta Young was offered the role. Young had doubts about her ability to master the strong Swedish accent required for the part. Ruth Roberts, a dialect coach of Swedish ancestry, who had been hired to tone down Ingrid Bergman's accent when she came to the United States, was assigned to see that Young developed one. The actress had been in Hollywood for 20 years, starting out as a teenager. The majority of her roles had never required much in the way of range and depth. Yet for her role as Katie, she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, going up against her friend and colleague Rosalind Russell in Mourning Becomes Electra. Although Russell was favored to win the award in her heavily dramatic role, underdog Young won in an upset that surprised everyone.

Joseph Cotten, as Congressman Glenn Morley, shows a fine hand for light romantic comedy, something rarely seen by the actor during his tenure in Hollywood. Ethel Barrymore is her usual soft spoken, all knowing, high bred self. One of the true delights of the film is Charles Bickford as the Morley Manor butler, Mr. Clancy. Bickford's usual hard as nails curmudgeon is tempered here with humor and sincere admiration for his young Swedish charge. Rounding out the cast are Rose Hobart, Harry Davenport and as Katie's three strapping, barrel chested brothers, Keith Andes, future Tarzan Lex Barker, and future Gunsmoke star, James Arness.