Expected more

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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 mixed feelings about this film.On the positive side, Joseph Cotton turns in another outstanding performance. I almost always impressed with him, and while watching film I finally figured out why -- he acts real...natural; it doesn't seem as if he's acting.But that brings out a negative for this film. Jennifer Jones is the very opposite...she looks like she's acting. Even her walk or run do not look natural.The story here is interesting. Yes, amnesia, again...not that the topic is the focus of that many movies. 1942's "Random Harvest" starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson handles the topic better, but this does fairly nicely, as well. The middle of the film drags a bit, but the beginning is very interesting, and there's a surprise twist in the conclusion that never occurred to me.The cast here is inconsistent. Ann Richards as Jennifer Jones' friend is fine. Cecil Kellaway is always a treat (was he always old?). Anita Louise is dependable, as well. Gladys Cooper was one of the great character actresses, but here her talents as the adopted mother of Jones are wasted; perhaps the director thought people who had a stroke were rather dead humans; too bad...I usually enjoy her so much.And then there's the song "Love Letters"...one of the finest love songs of the 1940s. Too bad it showed up a bit too often throughout the film.While watching this film, I kept thinking how much better it would have been if Selznik had been producing it. But, it's a pretty decent film. Recommended, but it won't show up on my DVD shelf.

I am very fond of the stars and many members of the supporting cast. I adore Portrait of Jennie. I think Ayn Rand was a prophet and wise beyond the ability of most people to even comprehend. Putting all of that aside. Even putting aside all of the music, the clothes, the atmosphere and the dialog. This is still wonderful. This is a story of fate, of love and how the two sometimes come together in an undeniable vision that, once seen is never forgotten. This is a wonderful movie and I enjoy it more with each viewing. Now that Ms. Jones is gone. she can always be as she was here and that is, she was loved by not just one man but by almost everyone who saw her back then when she and the world were so very much younger. Fate, not always so kind but somehow this movie makes one feel that there are worse things than to be fated to an inescapable love.

Hmmm...this is a rather hard film to rate. On one hand, it has a wonderful and romantic feel to it and the actors do a great job. But, on the other, the plot strains credibility WAAAAAY beyond the breaking point.The film begins with two soldiers. One (Joseph Cotten) is writing a love letter for his buddy. It seems that the buddy has a female pen pal and he does not have a knack for words--so Cotten writes for him--much like the story of Cyrano. Now this is hard to believe, but I could suspend disbelief.Cotten is injured in the war and sent home. However, he's depressed and out of sorts and his life is a mess. Eventually, out of desperation, he seeks out the women to whom he wrote earlier in the film (Jennifer Jones). However, he has a lot of trouble finding her and even hears she might be dead! However, he eventually DOES find her--only to find that she has complete amnesia and has no idea who she is or her past or his letters. The amnesia ploy is very hard to believe, but I could still suspend disbelief.Next, Cotten is told some disturbing things about Jones. First, the "buddy" from earlier in the film married her--without telling her he really didn't write any of the letters. Second, and no one seems sure why, she was then convicted of killing him! So, in such a situation as this what would you do? Yep, you'd marry Jones and never tell her about the letters and begin a life based only on the present!! At this point, my sense of disbelief was screaming in my ear!! I could not possibly accept what was happening--even if Cotten and Jones made a nice romantic pair (just like they did in "Portrait of Jenny").While I've revealed a lot about the film, I can't really say much more about the plot, as there are some nice (though hardly believable) twists at the end. It's all rather enjoyable and glossy but the writing is hopelessly bad---very, very silly in fact. However, I do think many could look past the plot holes--I just know I could not.

This film is more than just the best of the "other fellow writes love notes" genre. The Ayn Rand screenplay, though a potboiler, conveys the absolutist nature of true romantic love, which certainly dovetailed nicely with her objectivist philosophy. Jennifer Jones is lovely as ever, and extremely convincing in her amnesiac role. A fine film.