o/t: Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Posted on June 4, 2014 by realthog Standard

000 The latest essay (#89) in the Wonders in the Dark Romantic Movies Countdown is, thanks to the kind hospitality of the folks there, one written by, er, moi.

Wonders in the Dark

Impoverished artist Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) makes the acquaintance of art dealers Matthews (Cecil Kellaway) and Spinney (Ethel Barrymore).

by John Grant

vt Tidal Wave

US / 87 minutes / bw with some tinting (green/sepia) and brief color / Vanguard, Selznick Dir: William Dieterle Pr: David O. Selznick Scr: Paul Osborn, Peter Berneis, Leonardo Bercovici Story:Portrait of Jennie (1940) by Robert Nathan Cine: Joseph August Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe, Henry Hull, Florence Bates, Felix Bressart, Clem Bevans, Maude Simmons, Anne Francis, Nancy Olson, Nancy Davis.

The novel by Robert Nathan upon which this movie is based is often cited as a classic of fantasy fiction, even though today it seems really quite dated in many respects, notably its overt religiosity. (It’s also unfashionably short; you sometimes come across it described as a novella.) Aside from that religiosity, however…

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One thought on “o/t: Portrait of Jennie (1948)”

Sam Juliano says:

June 5, 2014 at 1:05 pm

The honor is ours John!!! You’re debut?

Smashing! No less! 🙂

Reply

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If you'd like to browse the book at Amazon.com, please click this link. For other regions and e-tailers, please click Where to Buy the Book at the top of this page.

Modus Operandi

In mid-October 2013 the publisher Limelight released my book A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir: The Essential Reference Guide. The book has entries on well over 3,000 films noirs and related movies from all over the world, including over 2,000 from the US alone.

The purpose of Noirish is to act as an extension to the Encyclopedia -- an annex, if you like -- where I can add entries for movies that for one reason or another didn't make it into the printed book.

In some instances, this is just because the movie concerned was released too late for inclusion.

Most often, though, the reason was logistic. Although the Encyclopedia takes the broadest possible view of film noir, there were some movies that were either too obscure or too tangential to the theme to merit the use of precious page space: 800+ large-format pages -- nearly 700,000 words -- may seem a lot but, when you're trying to cover in excess of 3,000 movies, you soon learn to appreciate the constraints.

That's why this enterprise has the title it has: Noirish. Many of the movies here are very borderline noir, and some aren't noir at all but have associational interest.

Just because a movie's obscure doesn't mean it's lousy . . . although there'll be some lousy movies covered here. There'll also be plenty of movies that are, shall we say, undistinguished -- which is not to say they're without at least some points of interest, and certainly isn't to say they're not lots of fun to watch.

After posting a bunch of entries to get myself started, I'll be adding new movies to Noirish as and when I watch them.

Frisk the Suspect

Vitals

The abbreviation vt stands for variant title.

Movie titles given in UPPER CASE refer to entries in A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir.

SPOILERS are everywhere.

Prior Offenses

Bad Guy (1937) April 15, 2020
A Bad Thing (2011) April 11, 2020
The Bat (1959) April 8, 2020
Date with Disaster (1957) April 4, 2020
Beyond Suspicion (1993 TVM) April 1, 2020
On a Volé la Cuisse de Jupiter (1980) March 28, 2020
Gun Cargo (1949 TVM) March 25, 2020
Fear and Desire (1953) March 21, 2020
Plurality (2012) March 18, 2020
Grand Central Murder (1942) March 14, 2020
The Beloved Brat (1938) March 11, 2020
Irreversi (2010) March 7, 2020
The Counterfeit League (1963 TVM) March 4, 2020
Miss Fane’s Baby is Stolen (1934) February 29, 2020
The Hitchhiker (2011) February 26, 2020
A Short by Elliot Lavine: The Twisted Corridor (1982) February 23, 2020
A Short by Elliot Lavine: Blind Alley (1981) February 22, 2020
A Short Interview with Elliot Lavine February 21, 2020
Secret Witness (1988 TVM) February 19, 2020
Une Balle dans le Canon (1958) February 15, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #12: The Woman in the Room (2010) February 12, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #11: Glove Compartment (2015) February 11, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #10: Pitch Black Heist (2011) February 10, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #9: Mute (2009) February 9, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #8: Katchem Kate (1912) February 8, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #7: Memoria (2013) February 7, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #6: The Lie (1955 TVM) February 6, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #5: No Chaser (2010) February 5, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #4: The Woman in the Room (1983) February 4, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #3: SLR (2013) February 3, 2020
book: The Hypnotist (2009; trans 2011 Neil Smith) by Lars Kepler February 2, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #2: Lure (2010) February 2, 2020
Twelve Shorts for the Shortest Month #1: Camille (2009) February 1, 2020
book: The Memory Police (1994; trans 2019 Stephen Snyder) by Yoko Ogawa January 30, 2020
Tarnished Angel (1938) January 29, 2020
book: I Will Have Vengeance (2007; trans 2012 Anne Milano Appel) by Maurizio de Giovanni January 27, 2020
book: The Procedure (1998; trans Paul Vincent 2001) by Harry Mulisch January 27, 2020
Autopsy (2009) January 25, 2020
I Accuse (2003) January 22, 2020
book: A Florentine Death (2005; trans 2007 Howard Curtis) by Michele Giuttari January 21, 2020
o/t: Burning Love and Bleeding Hearts charity anthology January 20, 2020
book: The Stranger (1942; trans 1988 Matthew Ward) by Albert Camus January 18, 2020
Affairs of a Gentleman (1934) January 18, 2020
book: Jar City (2000; trans 2004 Bernard Scudder) by Arnaldur Indriðason January 16, 2020
Tendre Poulet (1977) January 15, 2020
book: Based on a True Story (2015; trans 2017 George Miller) by Delphine de Vigan January 14, 2020
Drugoe Litso (2008 TVM) January 11, 2020
book: The Swimmer (2013; trans 2015 Elizabeth Clark Wessel) by Joakim Zander January 10, 2020
Nightmare in the Sun (1965) January 8, 2020
book: Once on a Moonless Night (2007; trans 2009 Adriana Hunter) by Dai Sijie January 7, 2020

Perp’s Profile

John Grant, a Scot by birth but a long-term inmate of New Jersey, is the author of some sixty books. His nonfiction has included The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters, Masters of Animation, three pocket books on cinema (Animated Movies, Sci-Fi Movies, and Noir Movies), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (with John Clute), and a series of books on the misuse and misunderstanding of science, begun with Discarded Science and continued most recently with Denying Science; for his writings on popular science he has been described by Gregory Frost as “the living heir to Martin Gardner.”

His fiction has included novels like The World, The Far-Enough Window, The Dragons of Manhattan, The City in These Pages, and The Lonely Hunter, as well as numerous short stories, some of which have been collected as Take No Prisoners.

For his nonfiction work he has received the Hugo Award (twice), the World Fantasy Award, and various other international awards and nominations. His editorial work, in particular his time running the celebrated fantasy art book imprint Paper Tiger, has brought him a Chesley Award and a World Fantasy Award nomination.

You can visit his website here.