Film review: Jane Eyre (1944)

[my_daroga]

Jane Eyre is not my favorite adaptation of Jane Eyre, nor is it a strictly faithful one. It relies heavily on its “literary” merits, demonstrated by passages of typed exposition that do not actually appear in the novel (though large parts of the dialogue do). Its 96 minutes necessitate gross cutting of major subplots. And at no time does anyone

Comments

[my_daroga]

There was a girl in high school I very much admired who loved Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice and is more or less the reason that I read both. I'm glad you enjoy reading my reviews, thank you!

I'm not entirely sure about the old vs. new dichotomy in terms of stylization and doctoredness. Part of me thinks that we cannot see the artificiality of the current style, because we are "in" it. But I think there are plenty of conventions and stylistic shortcuts modern Hollywood films take. It used to be that a handful of companies made every film and streamlined the product so it all looked "of a piece." Now the economy and focus groups and box office does more or less the same thing. We don't have the "star system" anymore, actors/directors/writers aren't under contract to a specific studio, but don't think still work more or less the same way?

Put it another way, I'm not sure if there *is* more intention in older films. Citizen Kane, sure, because for once one person was "in charge" of every aspect of production. But for the most part, it's always been collaborative, and they've always fiddled and changed endings and re-shot and added/subtracted comedy/pathos/suspense as they thought the audience would respond.

[seraphcelene]

I didn't mean to imply that there *is* greater intention in older films, just that I get a greater *sense* of it. Which, as you point out, probably has more to do with the distance between me and older films than it has to do with the objectives of the film itself. I'm more likely to miss it in newer films. I don't know if maybe I just expect less or the morality and themes are more familiar and thus less noticeable. That's not to say that I don't notice it because there are moments and films where it's very obvious to me what the filmmaker or scriptwriter is trying to achieve. For example, I think it was lostakasha who did a marvelous review of Superman Returns that opened up the film for me as a commentary on immigration and terrorism and other themes that apply very specifically to a post-9/11 global environment. I didn't see any of that until she pointed it out, which also likely has much to do with my skills at parsing films. :)

But the "differences" in older styles of filmmaking and, perhaps, more "antiquated" ideas of morality (please don't throw a tomato at me) sometimes feel more obvious to me.