tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post5098472696329365092..comments2024-03-13T07:47:36.572-07:00Comments on Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear: Portrait of JennieNathanael Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01667245328396233986noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-26981022829493347272021-05-07T02:30:21.330-07:002021-05-07T02:30:21.330-07:00David O Selznick certainly gave us an enigmatic vi...David O Selznick certainly gave us an enigmatic visual feast when he concocted this strange production. Probably made to promote his star (and soon to be wife) Jenifer Jones.<br /><br />This was the final film for Award-winning Cinematographer Joseph H. August (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame ’39) who created many beguiling visuals for this impressive oddity. The epic storm at sea, featuring the haunting abandoned Graves Lighthouse in Massachusetts, is quite an eye opener - with its eerie tinted sequences and the final full color shot of the stunning portrait - making for an unforgettable closing. <br /><br />Joseph Cotton is convincing as the obsessed painter, living on poverty Rd and continually searching for the elusive Jenny. He gets good support from Cecil Kellaway and Ethel Barrymore, as a couple of art dealers who take pity on the struggling artist. Dimitri Tiomkin provides the descriptive musical moods by adapting several melodies by Debussy - but he also has some additional help from Bernard Herrmann. <br /><br />A failure when originally released, it’s now regarded as a Fantasy Masterpiece, but finding a quality transfer on DVD will take some research, as there are several sub-standard editions on the market. I purchased The Film Collection release which claimed to be Re-mastered but has visible scratches and soft focus, making playing on a large screen a somewhat disappointing experience. A good-looking treat for those with a liking for the classically unusual. <br />KenRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13158317807406605461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-3337239082143312482018-08-25T18:52:20.348-07:002018-08-25T18:52:20.348-07:00Portrait of Jennie is my favorite movie, not only ...Portrait of Jennie is my favorite movie, not only of the excellence of all elements: cast, music, performances, etc., but also since it was filmed in NYC when and where I was born. I have often wondered how the looked at that time.My parents first lived in the Inwood Park when they first married. We would visit the Cloisters over the years. I know that is why I became a medievalist. There are many levels on which <br />to view this film. It is something that is very personal to me. Also, it has become a cult classic just as Casablanca. Not widely appreciated in its time--yet rediscovered later on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-63407260512430770312018-05-06T16:29:10.502-07:002018-05-06T16:29:10.502-07:00My dear anonymous ---I haven't seen Portrait o...My dear anonymous ---I haven't seen Portrait of Jennie (I'm not even sure how I stumbled on this review) ---but I can't leave this page without saying that I've probably never read more of an outpouring of tender emotion than I found in your reply. Clearly, Life hasn't defeated you. My sincere congrats. As we used to say to our girlfriends in high school annuals, "Don't ever change!"Michael Guarinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09523022288189875925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-76718783345912582212017-09-17T10:20:08.357-07:002017-09-17T10:20:08.357-07:00Oh, this film! Watched this movie several times th...Oh, this film! Watched this movie several times through the years, from age 23 to the current, now, age 64, "Portrait of Jennie" brings me full circle, as the second love of my life and I are now separated by 2300 miles during a long and difficult marriage of 8 years. Love, despondency and pain, and then, back to deep love again. Oh, the ebb and flow of emotion! This movie pulls so at my heart today, and I find it difficult to breathe.<br />Eben says, '...the sea flows, the wind blows; God knows.'<br />'I think He knows, Eben,' Jennie replies.<br /><br />Mr. Hood, your inspiring narrative of one of my favorite movies touches me with wave upon wave of longing, thinking of the wild, solid, desperate love for a man sent to me out of Time after 15 years of widowhood.<br /><br />"Portrait of Jennie" touched my young heart in the decades of my life, but never so much as today, in the fall of my life!<br /><br />I will call my love. I will tell him that, 'God knows.' I will explain that our hearts, though broken, were nevertheless knit together from Time in memorial, and, that before Time runs out, we must come together again, and soon, very soon! We must gather the frayed strands of our marriage and, in faith, allow the mysteries of Time to dictate our future path.<br /><br />As I was concluding the film, I became curious about the miraculous greenish cast during the storm cloud scene. I paused the show and then searched on Google for info; your commentary on "Portrait of Jennie" from 2010 met my eyes.<br /><br />Reaching into 2017, just at this point in Time, your narrative of "Portrait of Jennie" reminds this woman of a man who still loves her desperately and wants her to come back to him. The Future is open and ready to welcome us!<br /><br />Thank you for your awe-inspiring commentary, Mr. Hood. From the perspective of living alone, the elderly spinster, miss Spinney, assuredly knows much about love; this is evident in your beautiful discourse as well, Mr. Hood, as your own life experiences ooze from the descriptive phrases of your discourse. Thank you, sir.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-10938232626185265112017-09-12T20:30:15.325-07:002017-09-12T20:30:15.325-07:00I also enjoyed the film and your review.ive become...I also enjoyed the film and your review.ive become very curious as to the present location of the Robert Blackman portrait of miss Jones used in the movie and am trying to learn if it still resides with the Selznick family.Michael Kramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01603588639250984002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-48304344278004334402016-12-28T17:04:49.836-08:002016-12-28T17:04:49.836-08:00Back in pre-Trump Manhattan when the poor eked an ...Back in pre-Trump Manhattan when the poor eked an existence, I saw this at the movies. At a stone throw or less from the 86th St. congeries of nabes Was Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum (no entry fees)So diegetic and extradiegetic flowed.<br /><br />Child of the Great Depression<br />Classof 1933<br /> johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00110267567286950529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-40512149421381536202015-05-24T11:22:57.702-07:002015-05-24T11:22:57.702-07:00I've watched Portrait of Jennie over a hundred...I've watched Portrait of Jennie over a hundred times, and the haunting music and photography always cast their spells. Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton and Ethyl Barrymore weave the tale of poverty, passion, love, lost love and art. I suspect I'll watch it again soon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-71869210209989816352014-04-17T11:45:00.342-07:002014-04-17T11:45:00.342-07:00I complete agree.I complete agree.Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01667245328396233986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-49666242035817199662014-04-03T05:01:28.499-07:002014-04-03T05:01:28.499-07:00I have watched this movie many times over several ...I have watched this movie many times over several years and it just never gets old. Its a masterpiece. Its flawless and seamless. I remember in the movie a scene, when looking at the finished painting of Jenny, the actor Cecil Kellaway, Ms. Spinneys partner, talks about Ebens painting of Jenny and how it's beauty trancends time. This discritption aptly applies to the movie itself. No rating gives the movie justice. No review can say enough about this magnificent and haunting movie.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05284871574437409040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-1251756871526928202013-09-19T11:20:40.177-07:002013-09-19T11:20:40.177-07:00No I haven't. But I'll look for them! Than...No I haven't. But I'll look for them! Thank you!Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01667245328396233986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-57682395819031040912013-07-24T19:20:15.578-07:002013-07-24T19:20:15.578-07:00Portrait of Jennie is one of my favorite films. I ...Portrait of Jennie is one of my favorite films. I know so many of these classics...almost by heart! I've seen them so many times. As a child growing up in NYC in the 1950s, there was a nightly television program called "Million-Dollar Movie" on Channel 9 WOR. They would show the SAME MOVIE five nights in a row. The movies were often repeated. This was one of my favorites. Have you seen "Since You Went Away" or "So Proudly We Hail"? Two more I recommend if you haven't seen them. Leslie Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09100248299901879844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-65598180192952057552011-11-20T15:42:13.951-08:002011-11-20T15:42:13.951-08:00Awesome! Thank you very much! I'll give it a ...Awesome! Thank you very much! I'll give it a gander!Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01667245328396233986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-46862924776892772322011-11-15T13:11:37.236-08:002011-11-15T13:11:37.236-08:00One of my favorite films!; good review. You have s...One of my favorite films!; good review. You have some great "forgotten" treasures here. Good job bringing them to peoples attention. If you like, you should take a peek at my own list of forgotten and under-appreciated films; you might find a few more to add to your own<br /><br />http://www.imdb.com/list/jsoIEIUorBk/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-44231688488700007472010-11-13T14:24:19.622-08:002010-11-13T14:24:19.622-08:00Once again, it's my pleasure!
Hope you like i...Once again, it's my pleasure!<br /><br />Hope you like it as much as I do!Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08959797971471060052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-66587255063004315962010-11-13T06:10:02.084-08:002010-11-13T06:10:02.084-08:00This sounds so particularly up my alley I'm go...This sounds so particularly up my alley I'm going to track it down right now. I'll let you know my own take afterwards. Thanks, bro!Wildlingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-25934600468500261402010-11-08T12:58:14.239-08:002010-11-08T12:58:14.239-08:00Oh writer's block.........
My old mistress......Oh writer's block.........<br /><br />My old mistress..........<br /><br />Well...to be honest, I get writer's block all the time. I had massive writer's block when writing this article. I had no idea how to write it.<br /><br />So, I did the one thing that I always do when I get writer's block...I write about how bad my writer's block is.<br /><br />Go back and reread the first paragraph of this review...it's essentially me expressing how I have no idea how to write it.<br /><br />Really, the only advice I can give is to just sit down and write. Write about anything...your fingers, your keyboard, the clouds outside, what you had for breakfast. The biggest hurtle is getting started. Once you actually start writing, it becomes exponentially more easy.<br /><br />Tell me if that was any help!Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08959797971471060052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-21397654854057620072010-11-08T12:20:32.700-08:002010-11-08T12:20:32.700-08:00I think I need a Jennie of my own now more than ev...I think I need a Jennie of my own now more than ever. During the past month, more time has been spent staring at the computer screen than writing what the mind wants to say. When an essay or project is finished, there is no better feeling in the world. When it gets postponed due to writer's block, I wonder why I even bother. As a former English major, these roadblocks have been especially costly both in finance terms and my overall future.<br /><br />How do you cope with writer's block, Nathanael? There doesn't seem to be a definitive cure no matter how badly I want there to be one. But maybe there's something to try that hadn't occurred to me before.Ian Montgomeryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02617512627906067345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-42569872101823261332010-11-06T13:27:50.886-07:002010-11-06T13:27:50.886-07:00Ha! Hey, how ya doing, man?
Good to see you post...Ha! Hey, how ya doing, man?<br /><br />Good to see you post!<br /><br />I'm glad that you like what you see. Who knows? Maybe I will be the one to finally make you like older movies!<br /><br />But if you check my entries, some of them are quite recent. The most recent was Clint Eastwood's "Changeling." But there are a bevy of other films from the 2000s and 1990s that you can check out.<br /><br />I hope that you'll stick around!<br /><br />Thanks again!Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08959797971471060052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-71334660345718806132010-11-06T12:34:25.023-07:002010-11-06T12:34:25.023-07:00Hey, it's the local person from /tv/.
Great st...Hey, it's the local person from /tv/.<br />Great stuff you have here. While I have never been much one for older movies, I'll be sure to give this a look.L. Kemmererhttp://www.facebook.com/phaedrus.ruenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-87875166039142592022010-11-06T09:01:47.368-07:002010-11-06T09:01:47.368-07:00I changed the video. Try it now.I changed the video. Try it now.Nathanael Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08959797971471060052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856798792320939017.post-7719702598752309282010-11-06T08:03:12.843-07:002010-11-06T08:03:12.843-07:00Wow! Quite a review. Maybe I'll get to see it ...Wow! Quite a review. Maybe I'll get to see it one of these days. Clip don't work.S. M. Ranahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11186829793949408897noreply@blogger.com