Review: Jane Eyre

The journey of a poor young girl in 1800s England as she goes from cruelly-treated orphan girl (played by Peggy Ann Garner) to adulthood as a governess (now played by Joan Fontaine). As a child she is cruelly punished by headmaster Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell), whilst as an adult her employer is the dashing but brooding and tortured Mr. Rochester (Orson Welles), who seems to be keeping something peculiar locked up in a tower cell. Elizabeth Taylor plays childhood Jane’s only friend at the orphanage, John Sutton plays Dr. Rivers, one of the only other sympathetic figures from Jane’s childhood. Margaret O’Brien plays adult Jane’s young ward, whilst Agnes Moorehead plays Jane’s thoroughly unpleasant Aunt, and Hillary Brooke plays the current lady in Rochester’s life, the aptly named Blanche.

 

This 1944 adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte classic from director Robert Stevenson (Best known for “Mary Poppins” and the underrated “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”) and his co-writers Aldous Huxley (famed author of “Brave New World”) and Oscar-winning actor John Houseman (an Orson Welles associate) is the closest I’ll get to enjoying this kind of ‘romantic classic’ stuff. I normally shun stories about frilly dresses and that sort of thing like the plague. This Austen/Bronte-type stuff is normally very much not my kind of thing, but this Gothic-tinged, rather doom-and-gloomy minor masterpiece is in some ways very much my thing. The darker edge and overall Gothic mood is what really makes the difference for me I think, though there’s lots of other things to credit the film with too.

 

The thunderous Bernard Herrmann (“Psycho”, “Cape Fear”, “Taxi Driver”) score is excellent, and the film looks absolutely fantastic as shot in B&W by George Barnes (“The Return of Frank James”, “Spellbound”, “Rebecca”). Black and white photography seems to make the foggy scenery and Gothic architecture look even more oppressive and doom-laden. At times it nearly approaches horror movie atmosphere, with particularly effective use of shadow. You’d swear this was Edgar Allen Poe material. And is there ever anything good found at the top of a spiral staircase?

 

The casting is top-notch pretty much from top to bottom. I always felt Joan Fontaine was the lesser talent to her sister Olivia De Havilland, but she makes for the perfect Jane Eyre here (It’s perhaps a touch weird that I like this but didn’t like Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” in the slightest, the latter starring Fontaine). Always sympathetic, effectively meek and downtrodden, but slowly gaining some strength as the film progresses. Fontaine sells it very well, whilst young Peggy Ann Garner is rock-solid as the younger Jane early on (It’s quite sad that both she and co-star John Sutton both died under 60 years of age). Orson Welles’ stamp is clearly all over the film, though he apparently refused a producer’s credit. I think Barnes’ camerawork has a distinctly Welles-ian look to it, with the angles and a few scenes with large wide shots in very large rooms. It’s very “Citizen Kane” in visual terms at times. As for his acting, Welles is perfectly cast as the tortured, brooding, arrogant, possibly psychologically unstable yet undeniably dashing Mr. Rochester, who still has the hint of nobility somewhere deep inside him. His bold, bad arse entrance on horseback is an undeniable cinema classic. This is Welles at his best as an actor, before he became a bloated ham in films like “Touch of Evil” (his performance is the weakest thing), there’s still a lot of life and fire in his eyes and the bluster is used more judiciously. A talented actor when it was his wont, he also does a good job at playing a character who was a bit older than Welles himself was at the time. The supporting cast is outstanding, with the standouts being Henry Daniell, young Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret O’Brien (the latter is the only cast member still alive as of 2021), Hillary Brooke, and Agnes Moorehead. Daniell is pitch-perfect casting as the cruel and unbending disciplinarian Mr. Brocklehurst. Apparently Daniell was an unassuming, thorough gentleman in real-life but geez was he ever-brilliant at playing the darker side of humanity. Similarly, Agnes Moorehead is suitably hateful, and even the pug in her lap clearly isn’t a fan. It’s a shame she’s not in more of the film, but Moorehead nonetheless makes an indelible impression. Elizabeth Taylor was never in my view better than she is here in a small but important role as young Jane’s sweet-natured, but sickly friend. She breaks your heart. Young Margaret O’Brien is immediately adorable, though some might find her a tad too precocious and ‘child star’-ish. Hillary Brooke is perfect as Jane’s rival for Rochester’s affections.

 

This sort of stuff isn’t normally my thing in terms of genre, but the dark, brooding and oppressive tone matched with pretty impeccable casting makes this one irresistible. Fontaine has never been better, Welles would never be this good again (not even in his terrific cameo in “The Third Man”). This is so damn good, though hardly a sunny, happy picture. You’ve been duly warned.

 

Rating: B+