again, feeding my love of orson welles. i watched this version of “jane eyre” last night. today, i thought how different acting for film has become. welles is very theatrical in this performance..effectively harsh, then kind, then flirtatious, then loving and so on, but also constantly mannered. the lighting in this film made me laugh. there is a scene where jane is talking to rochester; he looks off over her head and the light shines like two pinpoints, right in the center of his eyes. it was meant to convey, i think, emotional depth, but it was hilarious. and the make-up. oh, too much.
there is no hint, in this adaptation, that bertha could be a sympathetic character, or that rochester could have pushed her from the burning roof–only that rochester is long-suffering (as is eyre) and rewarded at the end with true love. charlotte bronte actually wrote a more complex novel than this. rochester is more complicated and less sympathetic. eyre is more independent and less self-sacrificing.
i am interested in agnes morehead. she was in kane and the magnificent ambersons–they were her first films, in fact–long before she was endora. what else has she done that’s worth seeing? dramatic roles? as kane’s mother, she was terrifyingly strong.
and i knew it was her, but elizabeth taylor was helen. and the only film stills on imdb were of her. she dies in the beginning of the film.
and i would put in a photo, but i haven’t been able to upload images since the weekend.
