Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Purely Joyful Movie!

One of the best films i have seen

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I have a feeling this film was originally much longer and producer David Selznick was forced to abandon some of the sequences, or else cut some of them due to cost overruns and production code/censorship issues. Having Joseph Cotten's character remain alive at the end might have been imposed on Selznick by the production code office.Furthermore, I think PORTRAIT OF JENNIE can be read several ways. I don't consider Jennie to be a ghost, though I can see where people would regard her that way. I see her as a representation of Ethel Barrymore's character when she was younger. The romance is actually between an old woman and this young painter who is tapping into a living part of her past.Cotten and Barrymore previously appeared in THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER with Loretta Young. And there were earlier collaborations between Cotten and star Jennifer Jones (both were under contract to Selznick). They made four films together and PORTRAIT OF JENNIE was the last of those. Watch LOVE LETTERS (1945), because it is very much a movie 'sibling' or close 'cousin' to JENNIE.

Sometimes one happens upon a film which one wouldn't have even known about unless it is found by accident. This, for me, is one of those films and I couldn't be happier to have found it. Having done a little research on the actor Joseph Cotten, he is on the record as stating that this is the favourite of all the films he starred in. With some choice actors in support in the form of Jennifer Jones, Ethel Barrymore - of the famous Barrymore acting clan - Lilian Gish and Cecil Kellaway, everyone plays their parts beautifully. As for Cotten, he has never been in finer form, as his usual melancholy charm is perfectly suited to this film. In essence, the plot revolves around a struggling artist who is yet to find his niche and, indeed, his muse. That muse turns up in the form of Jennie, played beautifully by Jennifer Jones. This film is notable for the fact that it is mostly in monochrome i.e. black and white, but the final reel uses a green tint and sepia. In terms of the direction, it is wonderful and some effective but subtle special effects - for which it bagged an Oscar - are put to very good use. Probably one of the greatest ever love stories committed to film and I'm so glad to have seen it.

This menage a 'foie gras' kept me pacing till the grand finale of revealing the museum quality masterpiece portrait. What a composition of monotone blue and maybe the whites of her eyes! It would have been more impressive in black and white. I sympathize with the true artist compelled to honor Selznick's nitpicking for a lass pure as the driven snow less the menacing hurricane to round out the complex character.Jones is a capable actress but almost a flat line one noter, syrupy sweet, and a voice that could use just a hint of modulation. Our dear director got lost in time attempting to maintain his ideal concept of that woman on a pedestal...boring! I enjoyed the preamble of how time warps or was it wraps around space? This notion was rather precocious for the era. I assumed yet another 'Heathcliff' type ghost movie but nah, just a tease. Guess I could recommend for Selznick fans, but this is a sleeper.

This movie takes a romantic notion and makes it creepy. The idea that if two people are meant to be together neither distance nor time can separate them is lovely, but using the adult actress as the young child when the couple first meets is so creepy. That's the word that kept coming to me as I was watching this movie, creepy, creepy, creepy.Jennifer Jones is an adult playing a child when Joseph Cotton's character first meets her and the voice she uses and the song she sings are so creepy. Her being an adult playing a child (not clear on the age but definitely pre-teen years) and having this man be obsessed with her is just disturbing. If they had cast a little girl that looked like her, there still would have been a pedophilia element, I guess, but it would have been easier to believe he didn't have sexual feelings about her than it is when she is obviously an adult on her knees. Ick. Even better, why not have him first meet her when he is a child. The child version of her could have come to him when he was a child. That would have been so much better.Even if you can get past the hints of pedophilia, the movie is still mawkish. The music and the voice-over are so sappy and melodramatic. So, it is both creepy and syrupy.Now, for the good stuff. Ethel Barrymore is excellent. The special effects are fun. I think I jumped at the lightning. The shot of the spiral staircase is lovely and eerie. The canvas effects are fun at first but get tiresome. I always enjoy Joseph Cotten, and I guess I'm glad I watched it.