Portrait of Jennie

1948
PG
1h 26m

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

YOUR RATING

Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones in Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Eben is a talented but struggling artist in Depression era NY. 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.

Play trailer1:44

1 Video

27 Photos

Drama Fantasy Mystery Romance

In Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.In Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.In Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 1:44

Trailer

Photos27

+ 21

More like this

7.0

6.7

7.1

7.2

7.7

7.5

6.8

7.1

7.9

6.8

7.7

7.0

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Producer David O. Selznick initially considered filming this movie over a period of several years, casting a young actress in the role of Jennie and shooting portions of the film over time as the actress grew older in real life. (Shirley Temple, then under contract to Selznick, was reportedly intended for the role, had the movie been filmed that way.) In the end, however, Selznick abandoned the idea as too risky and difficult to film properly.

Goofs
During Eben's conversation with Pete, it becomes clear that Pete's moustache is fake when it starts to come away from his face.

Quotes
Jennie Appleton: There is no life, my darling, until you love and have been loved. And then there is no death.

Crazy credits
No credits at all are shown at the beginning except for the studio logo, not even the title of the film. Instead, we hear a narrator speaking the prologue, and then announcing, "And now, 'Portrait of Jennie'". The credits are saved for the end of the picture.

Alternate versions
Originally, all television prints were completely in black-and-white, but by the 1980s the shot of the portrait at the very end was again shown in color. More recently, though, the greenish tint used in the storm scene (lasting about ten minutes) was also restored. Numerous sources, most notably "Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide," have stated that the final reel, save for that color shot, was green, but it was the storm sequence alone, regardless of where it falls on the reels. While the 1990 CBS/Fox VHS release returned to black-and-white for the two scenes between the storm sequence and the painting-shot, the version currently shown on Turner Classic Movies has them in sepia tint. Which accurately reflects the original theatrical prints is undetermined, but both have the end titles in sepia.

Connections
Featured in Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969)

Soundtracks
Nuages
(uncredited)
Music by Claude Debussy
Adapted by Dimitri Tiomkin
Heard over opening narration

User reviews148

Review

Featured review

Old Father Time ,you 're out of time.

Dieterlé's film is magic itself.Borrowing from "Peter Ibbetson " (Hathaway,1935) ,from "the portrait of Dorian Gray" (Lewin ,1944,the final trick is the same)or from the "the Ghost and Mrs Muir" (Mankiewicz,1947) ,it succeeds in connecting all the links of the chain .Moreover,I'm almost sure that Richard Matheson saw this movie for its influence on his "bid time return" novel (transferred to the screen as "Somewhere in time" (1981) ) is obvious.

A painter down on his luck meets a strange girl.Her clothes are old-fashioned and she seems out of nowhere .Dieterlé marvelously creates an offbeat poetic atmosphere.Using urban landscapes,an ominous sky or the stairs in the lighthouse shrouded in a green light,he 's got an extraordinary sense of mystery.The cast is ideal:Jennifer Jones was par excellence the romantic heroine ("Duel in the sun" which was the first time she had played opposite Cotten,"Ruby Gentry" "Madame Bovary" "Love is a many -splendored thing" ) with an adequate timeless beauty,Joseph Cotten could play everything ,and Lilian Gish made a short but conspicuous appearance as Mother Superior.The Cotten/Jones meeting in the convent could have been mushy and disastrous with any lesser talent:Dieterlé makes it a moving scene ,intimate and grandiose all at once.

We all live with our past.Some of us would give everything to relive scenes of their past .Einstein told one day that time was the form of his powerlessness while space was the form of his power.Who knows if (and the lines which open the movie open any door) somewhere we are not living in our past,or in our future?