The Orphan of Lowood (1943)

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Movie
German title Lowood's orphan
Original title Jane Eyre
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 97 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Stevenson
script John Houseman ,
Aldous Huxley ,
Robert Stevenson,
Henry Koster
production William Goetz , Kenneth Macgowan , Orson Welles , for 20th Century Fox
music Bernard Herrmann
camera George Barnes
cut Walter Thompson
occupation

The Orphan of Lowood (original title: Jane Eyre ) is an American drama film directed by Robert Stevenson from 1943. The film produced for 20th Century Fox is based on Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre . The title role of Jane Eyre is cast with Joan Fontaine , that of Edward Rochester with Orson Welles . In supporting roles are Margaret O'Brien as little Adele, Peggy Ann Garner as a child Jane and John Sutton as Dr. To see rivers.

action

The action takes place in England, initially in 1829. The nine-year-old orphan Jane Eyre is in the care of her aunt, Mrs. Reed, a cruel person who sends the girl to Lowood, a strict boarding school for impoverished children. While the facility's sadistic director, Henry Brocklehurst, tries to make life as difficult as possible for Jane, she finds Dr. Rivers has a humane teacher and a loyal friend in classmate Helen, who, however, soon dies.

Jane continued her education and in 1839 went to the Thornfield country estate as a governess, where she was supposed to raise a French girl named Adele. Her father, Edward Rochester, associates Thornfield with unhappy memories and for this reason rarely stays there. When Rochester and Jane finally meet, an increasingly close relationship develops between them, which is temporarily called into question when Rochester also shows interest in the beautiful Blanche Ingram, who - unlike Jane - is socially equal. When Rochester realizes how much Jane loves him, he finally confesses to her.

The wedding ceremony comes to an early end when Mr. Mason, who has traveled from Jamaica, reports that Rochester cannot marry because he is already married to Mason's sister Bertha. Bertha is insane and violent and has been kept hidden in an otherwise unused wing of the property for years.

Because she has no other refuge, Jane moves to her aunt, whom she looks after until her death. Driven by a gloomy premonition, however, she returns to Thornfield, which has since burned to the ground. Bertha, who started the fire, died in the process. Although Rochester lost sight while trying to save her, Jane is overjoyed to be reunited with him.

production

Production notes

The filming took place at 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City near Los Angeles. The 35mm black and white film cost an estimated $ 1.7 million to produce.

Joan Fontaine had recently played a closely related role in the Hitchcock film Rebecca (1940). In the role of Helen Burns, the eleven-year-old Elizabeth Taylor was seen, for whom this was the third film after There's One Born Every Minute and Homesickness . In a television version produced later, the scenes with Taylor were completely missing.

reception

Further films, publication

The Orphan of Lowood is the 6th film adaptation of the novel. Theodore Marston made a silent film version as early as 1910, other versions date from 1914 and 1921. In 1926, a silent film version was made in Germany with Olaf Fønss and Evelyn Holt in the leading roles and Kurt Bernhardt as director. In 1934 Christy Cabanne filmed the material with Colin Clive and Virginia Bruce in the leading roles for the American film company Monogram Pictures . The material has been filmed more than 24 times so far.

The film premiered on December 24, 1943 in London and Ireland. On February 3, 1944, the US premiere took place in New York City . The mass start in the United States took place on April 7, 1944. It was also published in Mexico, Australia, Sweden and Portugal in 1944. In 1946 it started in Turkey as well as in France and Spain (Barcelona and Madrid). It was published in Finland, Norway and Japan in 1947. In July of the same year it was shown for the first time in Germany and Austria. Denmark released the film in August 1949. It was re-released in Finland in 1959 and in France in 2012. He could also be seen in Bulgaria, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland and the Soviet Union.

On June 4, 2010 the film was released by Alive on DVD with a German soundtrack.

criticism

The lexicon of international films wrote: “An exquisitely played morality immersed in a gloomy atmosphere.” The TV magazine Prisma was also convinced: “Although Orson Welles only plays the role of young Rochester, the atmospheric and stylish film is reminiscent of his directorial work Der Splendor of the House of Amberson . In addition to Joan Fontaine, who harmonizes perfectly with Welles, there are a number of outstanding actors, such as Margeret O'Brien, Agnes Moorehead, Henry Daniell and the young Elizabeth Taylor (...) “The US film historian Leonard Maltin described the film as being quite slow , but artistically remarkable film adaptation. Kino.de spoke of an "atmospheric film adaptation of the horror romance with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine". Clearly noticeable is the film "the influence of Orson Welles, who not only embodied the grumpy Rochester imposing", "but acted behind the scenes as a kind of unnamed producer". It went on: “At his side, Joan Fontaine, as a bondaged young woman, offers another version of the role type with which she had become famous four years earlier in ' Rebecca ' . The film experience is rounded off by the film music by Oscar winner Bernard Herrmann, who performed with Welles a. a. had worked at ' Citizen Kane ' . "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jane Eyre - The Orphan of Lowood Fig. DVD case
  2. ↑ The Orphan of Lowood. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 27, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ^ The orphan of Lowood at Prisma online. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  4. ↑ Jane Eyre at Turner Classic Movies (English). Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  5. ^ The orphan from Lowood sS kino.de