how much Welles in Jane Eyre?

[catbuglah]

I find it funny that Hitchcock had previously done Rebecca (with Joan Fontaine) - a story that I think is essentially an updated Jane Eyre.

Cordially,

Mark

[Gus Moreno]

That's a good point, catbuglah. I hadn't thought of that. That must be why Welles was attracted to both stories, and dramatized both for radio.

Tony, I'm glad you liked "Tommorrow is Forever", and you certainly don't have to apologize for your opinion. The Internet is still a democratic place...for now.

[Terry]

Tomorrow Is Forever has one of the few Welles roles in which he made me weep - a weepy indeed! The only other two are the finales of Othello (any version) and Falstaff. I guess the reconstructed Four Men on a Raft does too, though part of that may be my feelings about Welles never even being allowed to view that footage. Franco's Quixote makes me cry, but that's a different subject.

[catbuglah]

[quote]That must be why Welles was attracted to both stories, and dramatized both for radio.[quote]

I'll have to have a listen to 'em. Got me this mega mp3 DVD from EarthStation1.com. I never thought much of Rebecca, until this Hitchcock Museum exhibition pointed out the influence of the Gothic, Romantic, Supernatural genre on Hitchcock, therefore putting the Bronte-derivative Rebecca in that context - although I like Joan Fontaine, so it's worth seeing again anyway.

Cordially,

Mark

[catbuglah]

Another Hitchcock film, in passing, which Welles does on radio - The 39 steps - and even makes a little quip in reference to said director.

Cheers,

Mark

[NoFake]

Going back for a minute to "Jane Eyre" -- make of it what you will, it got some of the warmest applause from the audience I heard for any film at Locarno...

[Gus Moreno]

I'm not surprised by that. "Jane Eyre" was actually the first Welles film I ever saw in a theatre with an audience, and I can clearly recall that it was a genuine crowd-pleaser. Joan Fontaine is wonderful as Jane, Welles was born to play Rochester, and the two have a good romantic chemistry together, especially considering they didn't really like each other all that much. And little Margaret O'Brien gives Welles one of his worthiest scenery-chewing opponents as Adele.

[catbuglah]

I'm thinking the Maestro must have somehow directed the whole shooting match. The cinematography seems as good as the Stranger to me. The camera-work holds up real well to today's fast-paced, dynamic filming styles. Lots of poetic subtleties and attention to detail, dynamic camera movement, baroque camera-angles and frame composition, superb use of light and shadow and close-ups, creative use of sound, complex interaction of foreground, middle-ground and background elements. There's a scene at around 38 minutes into it, where Rochester returns and enters his castle that is just a cinematic tour-de-force that has Welles' name all over it.

Cheers,

Mark

[Gus Moreno]

I think my favorite scene in the film comes towards the end where Rochester desperately tries to persuade Jane not to leave him. The speech is beautifully delivered by Welles, and Hermann's music provides perfect support. Too bad they never worked together on film again.

[Terry]

But they did continue to work together on radio after that.

[Gus Moreno]

True, they did continue to do some fine work on radio together. I'm thinking in particular of "The Moat Farm Murder", a little 30-minute gem which is probably the best of the Mercury Summer Theatre programs. The Welles/Hermann chemistry works quite well in that show.

[catbuglah]

Orson Welles muscled his directorial skill, much to the despair of the producers, to secretly-craft the darkest, moodiest, most gothic melodrama/love-story ever to be made in Hollywood. Fontaine is at her finest, and most beautiful. Welles has never been better. The definitive version of Jane Eyre, a classic!

British DVD

Along with superb acting and music, I notice there's a fine craftsmanship in the attention to details i.e the use of visual elements (many are gothic commonplaces) as recurring motifs that resonate with specific points in the story - (candles, (along with whiteness/light, and darkness/shadow in general), stairways, windows, doors, clouds and storms, of course. And one can possibly see a couple of added Wellesian touches in the diverse, creative use of text pages and the use of the dancing toy couple to symbolize Rochesters unfrutiful dalliances... This movie makes a nice Romantic nolstalgia-phase triptych, along with Kane and Ambersons....

Cordially,

Mark

[chrissie]

I'm open-minded as to what OW's contributions on Jane Eyre might have been, but -- I take it we discount the quotes from various people (inc. Fontaine) who said that Orson was in large part prevented from seizing control of the picture? (Also his own comments, I guess.)

[Glenn Anders]

Chrissie: Here is another possibility:

Many of the talent in Hollywood, not the company town people, recognized what Welles had accomplished. Stevenson, an acquaintance of Hitchcock, no doubt recognized those accomplishments, and as a director relatively new to Hollywood, made use of them.

As others point out, Welles obviously was still able to drive a hard bargain, if the number of Mercury Theater people in the cast of JANE EYRE is an indication. Perhaps, the brass were still glad have their talents, too.

In additiion to the Mercury artists already mentioned, note that John Houseman worked on the screen play. There, one would think, is a clue to the Wellsian quality of the movie.

Note, too, the presence of Mae Marsh in a minor role. Perhaps, it is coincidence, but we know that, in addition to discovering new talent, Welles constantly sought out older, often forgotten players for his Hollywood films.

Finally, note that Welles' eye for striking blondes (a la Joy Lansing) may have brought Adele Jergens into the cast. She is one of the dancing girls appearing in the celebratory and (cut) brothel scenes of CITIZEN KANE.

Maybe, Welles exercised his influence in those protean days through osmosis!

Glenn

[catbuglah]

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre sure looks like star Orson Welles muscled his way behind the camera much of the time. (In fact, costar Joan Fontaine--who plays the title character--has maintained that Welles methodically did just that every day on the set.)

I take it we discount the quotes from various people (inc. Fontaine)

I must say that up until now, it appeared that Miss Fontaine had been the prosecution's star witness. I for one one am curious as to what motivated Miss Fontaine's stunning about face...

Uber-Welles scene - The one where Rochester is riding in to Thornfield and is thrown off his horse whilst avoiding Jane...