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If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I first saw Portrait of Jennie when I was 8 years old (63 years ago) and have never forgotten it. Mesmerized me and I have always wanted to see it again. My daughter got me a copy on DVD as a surprise for Christmas which I am watching for the third time today. Beautiful love story.

Eben Adams is a talented but struggling artist in Depression era New York who has never been able to find inspiration for a painting. One day, after he finally finds someone to buy a painting from him, a pretty but odd young girl named Jennie Appleton appears and strikes up an unusual friendship with Eben.The film is notable for Joseph H. August's atmospheric cinematography, capturing the lead character's obsession with Jennie, amongst the environs of a wintry New York. August shot many of the scenes through a canvas, making the scenes look like actual paintings. August, who used many lenses from silent film days, died shortly after completing the film. He was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.The film does mark a milestone in fantasy film, which really didn't much exist in the earlier years so far as I can recall. The cinematography really does set it apart. The scenes where the background looks like canvas is just a brilliant idea, and has us questioning what is real and what is just a creation. Indeed, even by adding an opening narration, we are left with the impression that this is intended as a story (creation) rather than anything that could be considered reality.

Daid O. Selznick struck Hollywood good with his four hour 1939 technicolor GONE WITHE THE WIND and his two hour 1949 black and white RECBECCA. Eight years later he made PORTRAIT OFJENNIE on the parallel dark brooding supernaturally tinged premise to REBECCA which lasts only 86 minutes the first hour in nblack and white the remainder switching from green monochrome to techicolor. Ethel Barrymore in a lead role and Lillian Gish coming out of retirement for a considerable length cameo continue his tradition of producing Hollywood gold. The choice of Joseph Cotten in the central role and Florence Bates in a cameo lends merit to the film. The film was originally shown in a not working well prelude to cinemascope called Cyclorama which was abandoned quickly and is not available in modern cablecasts or DVD. Jennifer Jones was his chosen bride and star of the era who can be beautiful in finery and cosmetics but plays for much of the film a little girl dressed down. Her vocal shortcomings would not be worth stardom today. Her sound track comes out less than satisfactory on modern cablecast and DVD.

This film captivated me when I first saw it on television over 40 years ago. I later learned that it had received a pasting from the critics when it was first released. After many viewings, I can see its faults, but it still has that sense of timelessness and otherworldliness that caught my imagination all those years ago.Eben Adams, a struggling artist played by Joseph Cotton arrives at a gallery run by Mr Matthews and Miss Spinney, played by two of Hollywood's most brilliant scene-stealers, Cecil Kellaway and Ethel Barrymore. Eben's lack of inspiration is revealed when he shows Miss Spinney some of his painting, but her belief in him encourages him to go on.Eben meets a strange young girl called Jennie in Central Park. They meet a number of times and each time she is several years older although only a week or so has elapsed. He realises that she comes from another time. Eben does some detective work and tracks down a number of people who help fill in the missing pieces so that when Jennie reappears, he understands the events she seems to be reliving. Jennie becomes Eben's ghostly muse and inspires him to paint her portrait. However tragedy awaits.The movie is nearly overbalanced by some over-the-top acting from David Wayne as Eben's cab driver friend, and the Irish patrons at a pub – it's a relief when they leave the screen. On the other hand, Joseph Cotton seems too dependable and too balanced – it is a stretch to accept his single-minded pursuit of art despite rejection at every turn. At 43, he was also too old for the part.Jennifer Jones at 29 faced the same problem, especially as she was required to age from twelve to late teens during the course of the film. But Jennifer Jones had an ethereal quality anyway – age aside, this film was perfect for her.Robert Brackman, an accomplished portrait painter, produced the finished painting and a beautiful pastel study that appears briefly after Eben first meets Jennie. Jennifer Jones sat a number of times for the painting and sketches. The scenes of Jennie and Eben in the studio are the best in the film; it is here that the movie is at its most romantic and haunting.The reverence paid to art and portraiture is probably the biggest element of fantasy in the film. The portrait ends up in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art revered by all who see it. Today, a neatly rendered, representational work such as this would be a hard sell as great art, especially with the influence of all the 'isms over the last 100 years or so. However, the film makes you believe in its power.The final meeting between Eben and Jennie on a rocky headland in a storm is pretty mad. David O Selznick wanted to film the sequence in a real storm but had to settle for studio effects and miniatures. Never one to leave well enough alone, he urged the use of coloured filters in the last 10 minutes of the film – it didn't need them.It's easy to see the miscalculations in "Portrait of Jennie" but the film sustains a brilliant mood throughout with atmosphere to spare. "Portrait of Jennie" is a film you don't forget – there is nothing quite like it in the history of the cinema.