Portrait of Jennie (1948) - William Dieterle 

Two things seemed to happen in the 40's. First Hollywood prescribed William Dieterle to be their resident fantasy director, and second and more dominantly David O'Selznick was positively determined to make Jennifer Jones a household name. There is nothing particularly wrong with either of these objectives. Dieterle was a very competent director who got his training amongst the Expressionists and films of a fantastic nature were right up his alley. Jones was a fine actress in her own right but Selznick could rarely leave well enough alone. Everything was over the top and rather than let the public warm up to Jones he simply made them take her, and despite being a decent actress she was pretty much never going to be a real movie star, certainly not in the Crawford, Davis, or Garbo mold. Her work here is somewhat limited and despite top billing again she is very much supporting, but perhaps being the Jennie of the title gives her a little extra. Joseph Cotten is a textbook of lonely, lovesick, disillusionment and is in top form throughout. A rather strong cast that includes a very brief supporting turn by Lillian Gish as the head of a convent is likewise excellent. The story by its nature is a little hard to pull off, because fantasies are always tougher when they involve a love story of some kind. This is the reason why some people (myself included) found Pandora and the Flying Dutchman to be a bit of a miss. By the end of the film you get a sense that these two belong together but I wonder if the hook isn't used almost too late. The film makes that turn from reality into a supernatural realm rather late, but there are enough clues throughout that it doesn't come as quite the shock it may have otherwise been. For their efforts Portrait of Jennie earned Oscar nominations for best black and white cinematography and special effects and lost both. The storm sequence although spectacular is textbook Selznick trying to make his film grander than it has to be. I do wish Hollywood could learn from their past as this sequence looks better than nearly all CGI storms we've seen in recent years.