I recently rewatched Portrait of Jennie (1948) starring Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, and Ethel Barrymore and was just as enchanted by it as the first time I viewed it (the full movie can be watched here).
It got me to think about movie portraits which led me to wonder if there was a poster of the portrait in Laura (1944) that could be bought and framed, since not everyone is lucky to have been Robert Osborne and own the actual picture. And while I unfortunately did not come across just such a poster, I did find where you can buy the publicity photo version of the one in Portrait of Jennie. It is available in both black and white and color as well as in several sizes. I would definitely get the largest one and frame it with a wide, ornate gold frame. This would also make a lovely present for a fan of the film!
The actual "portrait" and the poster version of Jones posing like the portrait.
A silent film. A woman playing the piano. A man cranking the film. An enraptured young woman. Upstairs, a limping young woman, an impending storm, and a closet full of dresses. Behind the dresses? An eye! The limping girl is strangled! The piano continues to play.
So begins The Spiral Staircase (1945) starring Dorothy McGuire, Kent Smith, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, and a few other familiar faces. We know from the moment the credits start that this is going to be a suspenseful film. The eerie music can mean nothing else as the notes slide up and down, immediately inducing a feeling of uneasiness. And when a murder happens before the first line is spoken, one can only wonder, how many others are going to die during its course? But back to the scene of the crime.
Downstairs at the hotel where the murder took place, the moviegoers are sent home and the town doctors come to inspect the body. Through their conversation it is established that the younger doctor, Dr. Parry (Kent Smith) is new to the town and gets on the nerves of old Dr. Harvey, who resents the fact that some of his patients prefer Dr. Parry.
On his way home, Dr. Parry picks up the young woman (Dorothy McGuire) who had been watching the movie. We learn that her name is Helen, she works at the Warren house as a caretaker to old Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), and today is her day off. We also learn that she is a lost her voice several years ago. Dr. Parry believes that with a specialist's help, she could regain her voice back. It is apparent that Dr. Parry and Helen are attracted to one another.
Before they reach the Warren house, a boy runs up to their buggy and says that his mother is sick. Dr. Parry lets Helen out and leaves with the boy. As Helen walks home through the woods, the tension builds along with the growing storm. A rustling noise turns out to be a rabbit. As she reaches the gate, the storm lets loose. She drops her key in a puddle and we suddenly see that she is not alone. A dark figure in a raincoat is watching her and starts to move towards her just as she finds her key and takes off running to the house.
In the house, Helen heads to the kitchen to dry off before going upstairs to see Mrs. Warren. We learn from the housekeeper (Elsa Lancaster) that this murder was not the first and that the murderer targets only young disabled or disfigured women. The first had a scar on her face, the second was "simple-minded," and now this third girl who had a limp.
While going upstairs, Helen stops to look at her reflection in the mirror, moving her lips as if talking and then putting her hands to her silent throat. The camera backs away from the stairs and again that dark figure is watching her and his eye fills the screen. He sees Helen's reflection without a mouth, as she can't speak. This time he only watches, then disappears into the shadows.
Up in Mrs. Warren's room, the atmosphere seems to be more relaxed. She appears to be asleep but as Helen builds up the fire, she opens her eyes and tell Helen to come to her. It is obvious that the invalid woman is very fond of Helen. Her little smile turns serious and she warns Helen that she isn't safe there and must leave tonight!
Stephen, Dr. Parry, and Albert
Downstairs we meet the rest of the family. There is Professor Albert Warren (George Brent), his secretary Blanche (Rhonda Fleming), and his younger step-brother Stephen. Stephen, who has just returned from a long stay in Paris, is a bit of a womanizer and turns his attentions to Blanche. The constable stops by and warns them to keep an eye on Helen, as they have traced the murderer to their vicinity. Albert tells Helen to stay in the house and trust no one.
Back in Mrs. Warren's room, she has another attack. She expresses displeasure that Stephen has returned, as he always brings trouble with him. She also knows that there has been another murder, even though no one told her. When Dr. Parry arrives, Mrs. Warren tells him that she likes him because he is strong like her husband, not weak like her sons. She also tells him to take away Helen at once. The strain causes another attack. They send a man to town for some more ether, which they use as a stimulant.
Downstairs, Dr. Parry tells Helen to pack her things and he will bring her to his mothers and then to Boston to see about restoring her voice. He also tells her that he has learned how she lost her voice from a visitor from her hometown that was at the home of his last patient. When Helen was a girl, she saw her house burn down with her parents still inside. Dr. Parry believes that if she stops blocking the memory out, her voice will return. After he leaves, Helen has a daydream where she and Dr. Parry are getting married. It is broken when she can't say the words "I do."
While she is packing, Blanche visits her in her room and decides to leave too, as she doesn't like being the cause of the animosity between Albert and Stephen (she had been Albert's girl first). She heads down to the basement to find her suitcase. She is frightened by someone she knows and her smile of relief turns to terror as whoever it was strangles her, her face and the murderer shrouded in darkness.
While all of this is taking place, Mrs. Warren tells Helen of a murder she saw many years ago, on the grounds of this very house. It was a simple-minded girl. A "tree" moved and threw her into the well. Mrs. Warren couldn't find a rope to save her. Then she says something strange: "You were that girl, Helen." Again she warns her to leave, or at least hide under the bed.
Full movie
*THE REST OF THE POST CONTAINS SPOILERS*
Helen then goes downstairs to find Blanche and finds her body. She now knows the murderer is in the house. Suddenly she hears someone behind her. It is Stephen. He tells her to go call Dr. Parry. Helen runs out and locks Stephen in, thinking he is the murderer. She rushes to the phone but when the operator asks for the number she can't say anything. Albert walks in and she writes down what has happened. He starts to take her upstairs to his step-mother's room but stops at the mirror. He reveals that he is the murderer. "There is no room in the whole world for imperfection." He explains his actions as disposing the weak that his father detested. "He would have admired me for what I'm doing."
Helen manages to get away from him and locks herself in Mrs. Warren's room. She frantically begins searching for the gun that is usually on Mrs. Warren's nightstand. Then she sneaks back downstairs to let Stephen out but stops when she sees Albert's shoes at the bottom of the spiral staircase, where he was about to go tend to Stephen. She turns to go back up the stairs and who should be standing there with a gun but Mrs. Warren! Albert comes our of his hiding place and she shoots him multiple times, "ten years too late." Helen, for the first time, screams. She then goes and lets out Stephen, who rushes to his mother, who has now collapsed. "Forgive me, Stephen, I thought it was you. He always waited until you came home, so I thought it was you." Stephen again sends Helen upstairs to call Dr. Parry. This time she is able to speak.
Johnny Trouble (1957) is Ethel Barrymore's final film and the second film I saw of hers (the first was Portrait of Jennie in which she has a somewhat minor but still important role). It is also the last film of director John H. Auer. The only other "big" name in the film is Carolyn Jones of the later Addams Family fame. The title character is played by Stuart Whitman (The Comancheros). It was his first leading role. Fun Fact: he was considered for John Gavin's role in Psycho (1960). The film, though not well known, is still worth watching and is yet another emotionally outstanding performance by Miss Barrymore.
Katherine Chandler (Barrymore) is a widow who lives alone with her faithful butler/chauffeur/caretaker Tom (Cecil Kallaway) in an old apartment building that is being turned into a boys dormitory for a nearby college.
Mrs. Chandler, who is wheelchair-bound, refuses to move from her home. The college gives up and lets her stay. This causes some unique problems for the boy, as they have to be warned to clear the halls so she won't see them walking to and from the shower and they have to keep the noise down when she's sleeping. The boys soon all grow to love her and fit right in with her routine, like carrying her wheelchair down the stairs when the elevator is removed. They also try harder to live up and be the honorable young men she believes them to be. She truly brings out the best in them, not to mention she also invites them to tea every week.
One day Mrs. Chandler hears about a troubled student named Johnny Chandler (Whitman). She wonders if he could be the grandson of her only son, who had run away after being expelled from school so many years before. She sets out to befriend him, which isn't easy with his explosive temper. He's a war vet, a marine, and a little older than the other students. He doesn't know why the old lady keeps bothering him but the other guys won't let him disappoint her. She's like a grandmother to them all.
One evening Mrs. Chandler meets Johnny's girlfriend, Julie Horton (Jones) when she climbs through her apartment window, so she won't be caught in an all-boys dorm where she was visiting Johnny. While Mrs. Chandler doesn't approve, she befriends the young woman too and allows her and Johnny to meet at her apartment - while she's there of course. Johnny is grateful and begins to like the old lady, though it puzzles him why she chose him as her special friend and why she always asks questions about his childhood and parents.
Before the school year is out, Julie discovers she is pregnant with Johnny's child. Johnny plans to leave both Julie and school until Mrs. Chandler guides him into seeing that he really loves Julie and he should marry her. Julie is of course very grateful.
The end of the film is very emotional and beautiful. Luckily, the entire movie can be watched here for free! It can also be downloaded. There are over 500 hard-to-find/ not-on-dvd films on this site.
Every Ethel Barrymore fan should watch this film. If you haven't seen much of her work, this is a good film to watch. She transforms a mediocre film into something beautiful.
The movie stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, and Ethel Barrymore. This is actually the first movie I have seen Ms. Barrymore in. You can see the resemblance between Lionel and her, especially in the eyes. Though she doesn't have much screen time, you certainly don't forget her performance. In Joseph Cotten's autobiography, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere, he recalls that after their final scene together, when Barrymore's character talks about the spirit of Jennie, he "looked into her wise, expressive eyes. We said nothing. Without words she told me that she believed in Jennie's existence" (82).
Release Date: April 22, 1949
Running Time: 86 min.
Director: William Dieterle
Synopsis:
The movie opens in the winter of
1934. Eben Adams (Cotten) is a talented but struggling artist New York who has never
been able to find inspiration for a painting. One day, after he finally finds
someone to buy a painting from him, a pretty but odd young girl named Jennie
Appleton (Jones) appears and strikes up an unusual friendship with Eben.
Jennie inspires Eben in a way that nothing has ever inspired him. He is able to sell a sketch of her.
Over the next few months Eben meets Jennie again and again, eventually uncovering evidence that he has been conversing and falling in love with the ghost of a girl who died years earlier.
They did a fantastic job of making Jennifer Jones "grow up" as the film progresses.You can watch the movie on YouTube.
Trivia:
No credits are shown at the beginning except for the
studio logo, not even the title of the film. Instead, a narrator speaks the
prologue and then announces, "And now, 'Portrait of Jennie'". The
credits are saved for the end of the picture.
Bernard Herrmann was hired to write an original
background score and did compose several themes but dropped out and was
replaced by Dimitri Tiomkin who, at the insistence of Selznick, ended up using
themes by Claude Debussy. All that remains of Herrmann's contribution is the
haunting song sung by Jennie, "Where I Come From, Nobody Knows".
Based on a book of the same title by Robert Nathan
(he also wrote The Bishop’s Wife).
UPDATE: The book was really good! Only slightly different from the movie. Mainly the ending. I copied several passages from it.
Although almost the entire film is in black and white, the tidal wave sequence towards the end is shown in green tint, and the final shot of the completed portrait of Jennie is in full Technicolor.
Quotes:
Jennie: How beautiful the world is Eben! The sun
goes down in in the same lovely sky. Just as it did yesterday, and will
tomorrow.
Eben: When is tomorrow, Jenny?
Jennie: Does it matter? It's always. This was
tomorrow once.
Jennie: [singing] Where I come from nobody knows and
where I am going everything goes. The wind blows, the sea flows, nobody knows.
And where I am going, nobody knows.
Miss Spinney(Barrymore): [to Eben] As you get older, you'll come to believe in many things you don't see. Maybe you saw Jennie, or maybe you created her because you needed her, needed her to open up your talent."
