PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1949) B/W & C 86m dir: William Dieterle

w/Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe, Florence Bates, Lillian Gish, Henry Hull, Esther Somers

An artist encounters a strange, beautiful girl in Central Park, paints her, and then falls in love with her, although he suspects she is from the past. A haunting fantasy that's suffused with a real romantic glow. Jones' loveliness has never been seen to better advantage: she plays the girl at four different ages and she's terrific. Cotten's performance is also a standout. The original release prints featured a Technicolor sequence in the final reel.

From The Movie Guide: "Dieterle's direction is sensitive and the sequences are wonderfully constructed, with no scene bruising the next. He draws forth stellar performances, especially from Cotten; Jones is seen too briefly, but projects a genuine ethereal quality during her moments on the screen. [Joseph] August's photography is stunning, and [Dimitri] Tiomkin's lyrical score, drawn from Claude Debussy's themes (principally 'The Afternoon of a Fawn') is highly memorable. The forward of the film, written by Ben Hecht, sums up the story's effect: 'Out of the shadows of knowledge, and out of a painting that hung on a museum wall, comes our story, the truth of which lies not on our screen but in your heart.'"

PORTRAIT OF JENNIE won an Oscar for Best Cinematography (August). It was also nominated for Best Visual Effects.