Jennifer Jones Monday August 17th

[CineMaven]

Love her or hate her??? I love her!

I have a confession. Well two confessions. I keep having to remind myself of the SilverScreen Oasis. Oasis is the operative word here. I must drill into my head that this place is where cooler heads prevail...serious (I should say meaningful) and fun film discussion takes place...and multiple identities are verboten (YAY on that score).
So here I wander and come upon this thread on Jennifer Jones. Yay!!! But I’m already a month behind you guyz. So I've gotta catch up.

My second confession is I am a big fan of Jones’. When I see her performances I’m not critiquing and analyzing her Stanislavskian/Adleristic/Strassbergian DNA. I love a lot of actors/actresses from the classic era but there are only two who I have an intense visceral reaction to. Jennifer Jones...and Ingrid Bergman. There’s a vulnerability to her that I find palpable. I’m hopeful her leading men will protect her when I see her films. I guess I kind of want to see her in a position of having to be protected. I haven’t seen all of Jones’ films and some I really don’t want to see. But just wanted you to know where I was coming from as I read your well-formed posts. Do I need a therapist? Can you recommend one?

MRS.L. writes: FOR CRYING OUT LOUD !!!! 1:30 A.M. ??? We all dearly love “Since You Went Away” and “Love Letters” and even “Portrait of Jennie” but couldn't the programmers put “Good Morning Miss Dove” on at a reasonable hour?...I said it about two years ago, and I repeat myself, those programmers are either smoking something funny, or they never speak to each other for advice or consultation.

Wow! You sure did blow a gasket. But think about it, TCM, like every channel, wants to put their big-ticket items up front to get the most bang for their buck in audience viewership. Fire up your VCR or DVD-recorder and let her rip to capture those movies on past your bedtime. I feel your frustration. I do wish the programmers would pass the ‘peace pipe.’

SROWLEY writes: And I'm another big fan of “Cluny Brown” but then I also believe Ernst Lubitsch could do virtually no wrong. I would consider that film the highlight of the day.

I’ve never seen this movie. I don’t know why it is when I hear the title I’m thinking of her in the bayou or some Tobacco Road-type setting. Seeing the screen cap set me straight. Jones has on a real sharp outfit in that shot. And Helen Walker is in it...I’m sold. I keep going back to the screen cap I see below. Is it possible Jennifer Jones’ smile is brighter than our sun and can make men melt as much?

It's very interesting to read remarks by (I assume) Jennifer Jones fans. In other groups I've joined, the majority can't stand her, but I think it may have more to do with her personal life than her acting ability.

Well see...they’re wrong andwe’re right. Simple.

Feaito writes: Jennifer is one of my favorite actresses and personalities, notwithstanding her acting flaws, and she starred in my favorite all-time movie "Portrait of Jennie". "Love Letters" (1945) is a must see! Gladys Cooper is superb and Ann Richards is very good as Jennifer's friend..."Madame Bovary" (1949) Jennifer never looked so beautiful and lovely...and the ballroom sequence is one of the most perfect ever filmed. What a beauty! Minnelli was a master indeed.

I don’t know if I’m anywhere near a fan of Jennifer Jones as you are. Both of those movies just about breaks my heart. I think she’s at her most vulnerable. How can you not give her what she wants when she looks at you. I understand she and Joseph Cotten were great good friends. Gladys Cooper was good but Ann Richards really caught my attention. I’ve always shied away from “Madame Bovary” becuz i’m not big into costume dramas but I did finally see it in its entirety. Poor delusional Jenny... living beyond her means; compromising her reputation left and right all for the sake of appearances. That ballroom dancing scene was dizzyingly orgasmic and in the arms of the handsome Louis Jourdan??? Whew! Mr.Minnelli...I need a cigarette.

Kingrat writes: As people have always noted, she can be mannered. She lacks the secure technical base of a Meryl Streep...For instance, in THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT she has a not very well-executed scene where she refuses to look at a letter.

I’ll have to re-watch “...Gray Flannel Suit” to see what Jennifer doesn’t do with a letter becuz she does so much more for me. Meryl Streep is a giant. No doubt. She can do anything. I believe her in everything I’ve seen her in. (Loved her in “Out of Africa” and loved her in “Mama Mia.” But she does not touch my heart. And that matters to me more than anything; that my heart is touched.

The surprising thing is what a wide range of roles she played, much wider than any of her female contemporaries, let alone the others who were great beauties. Just imagine any of the others trying to play Elizabeth Barrett Browning or a spinster schoolmarm. Jennifer Jones could be cast as saint (THE SONG OF BERNADETTE) or sinner (DUEL IN THE SUN). Other stars who played the All-American girl next door (SINCE YOU WENT AWAY) didn't appear in half-Indian (DUEL IN THE SUN) or Eurasian roles (LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING). She was equally believable in contemporary and period parts, in realism and romance.

I absolutely agree with you here and didn’t put it in my mind this way. Yes. Very few could be sinner and saint, contemporary and period, what you said. There are others who can portray these difference...but very very few.

Jennifer Jones is always conventionally feminine in 1940s terms--she's definitely no Lauren Bacall--but over and over again she plays characters who are strong-willed, sometimes deceptively so.

Again I agree with you. So very true. Even though she was emotionally damaged in ”Love Letters” she was still open to learning and trying to gain her memory back. Bacall...straight-forward looks you right in the eye, Jennifer is not that person. Her gaze goes right to your heart.

You write very well. I’ve read your work over at TCM City. You sound like an academician. Welcome!

Moirafinnie writes: I agree completely about the quality of her beauty, but have rarely seen anyone mention how aptly black and white cinematography complemented her dark hair and eyes and high cheekbones. I also think that the suitability of the coloring and bone structure of the faces of Gene Tierney, Linda Darnell, and Ava Gardner contributed to their lasting impact in b & w film too.

You (and others) have given me loads to think about. I never thought about Jennifer in black and white. Her beauty (and those ladies you’ve listed additionally Ingrid Bergman), is very transcendent.

There is something I find particularly appealing about the way that light and shadow plays across her face in “Song of Bernadette”, “Madame Bovary”, “Portrait of Jennie”, and “Since You Went Away”, as well as “Love Letters”. She is quite ravishing in each of these films, despite the fact that I can see the dramatic limitations of these movies.[/b]

Nicely written. Ravishing...yeah!

JDBL writes: I agree with you, S., she leaves me stone cold. I find her the same in everything she does, and whether that's because of the sameness of the characters, I can't say, but probably not, because I feel the same in her few departure roles. My primary impression of her is "simpering." Don't care much for her looks, either, although I don't find her unattractive -- just... unremarkable. I still maintain that she wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as far as she did if she weren't Mrs. Selznick.

Looks: unremarkable...personality: simpering...sameness of character. Wow! Well to each his own. This is America and... No man, you’re wrong! You’re wrong!! So wrong.

CHARLIECHAPLINFAN writes: I still can't get a proper handle on Jennifer Jones, perhaps I haven't seen her in enough films, I like her voice and some of her mannerisms. I'd love to see ‘Madame Bovary’, it's one of my favorite books and I do like Louis Jourdan.

I do hope you get to see “Love Letters” and “Portrait of Jennie” among some of her other films. She is just a pleasure to watch.

I’m a fan folks...what can I say. I see movies from an emotional p.o.v. Jennifer Jones has a firm place in movie history. Perhaps not the intense power house of Hepburn and Davis. Perhaps not the gossamer lightness of Loy and Dunne. Perhaps not the blazing sexuality of Harlow and Marilyn or Rita and Ava. She is in a class by herself or with two or three others (Ingrid Bergman is one). Incandescent, luminiscent, transcendent...yeah. Keeping up with the Jones, she’s ALL that!

Thanx for your time.

[jdb1]

JDBL writes: I agree with you, S., she leaves me stone cold. I find her the same in everything she does, and whether that's because of the sameness of the characters, I can't say, but probably not, because I feel the same in her few departure roles. My primary impression of her is "simpering." Don't care much for her looks, either, although I don't find her unattractive -- just... unremarkable. I still maintain that she wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as far as she did if she weren't Mrs. Selznick.

Looks: unremarkable...personality: simpering...sameness of character. Wow! Well to each his own. This is America and... No man, you’re wrong! You’re wrong!! So wrong.

I am just as amazed at your vehement support for this actress as you seem to be by a dissenting voice. But I would never call you wrong for having that opinion, or for expressing it here.

[CineMaven]

JDBL...I was joking when I said wrong.

Of course there is no right or wrong when it comes to what performers we connect with or not.

I was kidding.

[moira finnie]

Good to have you posting again, CineMaven.

I've actually run across more people who loathe JJ more than like her, but Jennifer Jones' appeal seems to be like finding certain types of music appealing or discordant. If you don't like her tune, there's little you can do to make yourself like those notes she sang. Personally, I think that JJ played only a few tunes, but there were times when her music was played exquisitely.

I wonder if part of her appeal for some of us (and her seeming mannered to others) might be her apparently real shyness?

Btw, honest, Judith, CineMaven was kidding in response to your comment. Like you, she has a good sense of humor too.

[knitwit45]

Add my name to the list of those who find her really annoying when it comes to portraying deep emotion. The best performance she ever gave, in my opinion was of the repressed, cold spinster, Miss Dove. It didn't seem to be any kind of reach for her. When her roles called for an emotional meltdown, or even just an outburst, it seemed forced and phony, and always distracts me from the story itself.

[charliechaplinfan]

Glad to see you posting again, Nancy

[CineMaven]

Hi there Moira. How are you. Gulp! I think I came on like gangbusters. I guess I've been so blinded by her that I didn't realize that everyone was not a fan of Jennifer Jones. My eyes have been opened in that regard. And I've spent so long at TCM City that I also have to understand that folks here are not familiar with my humor. (Know thy audience).

I hope to visit this oasis more often and be a little more tempered with my thoughts. Oh...thanx for vouching for me.

[Ollie]

CM, we're in LA for two months, but if you'll send me an email about your CLUNY BROWN 'status', I'll do my best to ensure corrective steps are taken.

("Know your humor", ha ha... well, you've always been incredibly adept with mine, so I continue to owe you wide latitudes in response. You and everyone else.)

[JackFavell]

Wow!

CineMaven, I'm with you...I'm actually quite shocked that there are those who are not bowled over at Jennifer Jones supernatural beauty. Ditto her uncanny acting ability. For me, the key to her appeal lies in her childlike way of making everything seem new. I especially like her in the ghostly romances Portrait of Jennie and Love Letters, but enjoy her very much in Song of Bernadette and Since You Went Away (in which she breaks my heart). Her Madame Bovary is wonderful, because we understand exactly where Emma is coming from. She is selfish and vain, but she wants more from life, and who of us doesn't? And who of us could really stand to be married to Van Heflin?

I really see the connection between Jones and Bergman. At their best, they are both carried by pure emotion.... there is something exciting about a woman who can be so taken by a particular mood or feeling. I think the two share an ability to express many fleeting emotions at the same time. With Jennifer, I think she is at her best when she is caught between two conflicting thoughts or feelings.... her struggle is always fascinating to watch as it plays over her face.

(click to enlarge):

[feaito]

Beautiful photographs Wendy. She looks so gorgeous in "Madame Bovary" (1949). A real beauty.

One of Jennifer's films that used to be a favorite of mine when I was younger is "Song of Bernadette" (1943), but not anymore, but it has to do with the fact that I no longer enjoy films about Saints' lives (Francis of Assisi" (1961) comes to my mind too) and not with Jennifer's performance.

I've mentioned this before somewhere else, but does anyone see the connections between Jennifer's and Norma Shearer's career?: both were married to first-rate producers who took care of their careers and guided them to stardom; both were determined, driven, ambitious and hard-working; both tried hard to be versatile, tackle different kinds of roles and genres; both did not want to be typecast and succeeded in changing their images at a certain point of their careers: Norma from a naive, good-natured young woman to a sultry, independent, sexually available womanin her 1930s Pre-Codes; Jennifer from a Saint to the Ultimate sinner (Pearl Chavez); both won only one AA; both were hardly criticized because of her acting talents; both achieved stardom in spite of their acting flaws and mannerisms, and both had a huge appeal and a unique quality -especially with women cinemagoers- that surpassed and sometimes annulled those flaws; both starred in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1934 & 1957); both were married to their respective husbands until their deaths; they both have appealed to me immensely during my life...but I have to admit that I feel that Jennifer is the better actress.

[CineMaven]

CM, we're in LA for two months, but if you'll send me an email about your CLUNY BROWN 'status', I'll do my best to ensure corrective steps are taken. - Ollie.

An e-mail is a-coming on my Cluny status.

CineMaven, I'm with you...I'm actually quite shocked that there are those who are not bowled over at Jennifer Jones supernatural beauty... - JackFavell.

What can you do...different strokes. The fotos you’ve supplied of Jennifer Jones are beautiful and proof enough for my taste of beauty. And I totally agree with your assessment of the connection between Jones and Bergman.

I've mentioned this before somewhere else, but does anyone see the connections between Jennifer's and Norma Shearer's career? - feaito.

You know Feaito, I never thought of the connection before. But the similarities you pointed out is astounding. (I think of Jean Peters and Howard Hughes). I wonder as Shearer watched Jones’ career if she thought the same thing.

[feaito]

You know Feaito, I never thought of the connection before. But the similarities you pointed out is astounding. (I think of Jean Peters and Howard Hughes). I wonder as Shearer watched Jones’ career if she thought the same thing.[/i]

I wonder the same and I also ask myself what could have been of both actresses' careers and of the perception of the public and critics in relation to both of them, without their mentors' aid and strong guidance, which sometimes might have affected them negatively in some aspects.

Jean Peters is another example, although she did not achieve the status of Shearer and Jones.