William Dieterle brought a high level of skill and intelligence to the genres of fantasy and romance, and the Robert Nathan novella proved a nearly perfect showcase for his talent. The film stars Joseph Cotten as Eben Adams, a struggling, world-weary artist who has labored long without... [More]

William Dieterle brought a high level of skill and intelligence to the genres of fantasy and romance, and the Robert Nathan novella proved a nearly perfect showcase for his talent. The film stars Joseph Cotten as Eben Adams, a struggling, world-weary artist who has labored long without success. While painting in New York's Central Park, he meets an ethereal young girl named Jennie (Jennifer Jones), who tells him stories from a distant era. Every few months, the mysterious Jennie appears to the painter, and each time she is a few years older, finally meeting him as a grown woman. Adams is so inspired by her radiance that his drawings of her surpass anything he's done, and they bring him his first success. Yet, even as he falls in love with this intriguing woman, the painter realizes that the world she discusses has no bearing on the one he knows, and he begins to research her origins in the hope of finally understanding who she is. That such a slender scenario could provide such a delicately haunting experience owes much to its outstanding cast--which also includes LillIan Gish, Ethel Barrymore, and David Wayne--to the mesmerizing photography of Joseph August, and to the taste and skill of Dieterle. [Less]