Scoval71

I was quite looking forward to seeing this. Now that I have, I feel letdown. As many have said, portraying MM is just about impossible. She was one of a kind. Or, simply: "she was." There can be absolutely no other. Michelle Williams, although a fine actress in her own right, just does not have the look, the sparkle, the radiance, the presence of MM. It was like watching a cloud. However, the character of Colin Clark, played by Eddie Redmayne and, Branagh as Olivier are excellently reenacted. Again, I feel Williams was miscast. MM just rolled off the screen when you watched her. She engulfed you. WIlliams does not. This is a pleasant romp of a movie capturing and remembering a time when a young man had the great fortune of being an assistant on a movie with the great Marilyn Monroe. That's all. A movie that I feel is the story of this young man's week (it was much more than that) with MM, but to me, since I was eager to seeing Williams portray MM, I was, terribly, let down. She is no MM. Was she even trying to be. Hardly in the looks department, and barely in the radiance department. Very flat, very humdrum.

A classic. A dear story of a impoverished English family who has to sell their prized possession, a collie dog named Lassie, to make ends meet. I never tire of seeing this movie whenever it plays, even though I own the DVD. Make sure to get out a handkerchief or some tissues for, surely, you will be tearful, if not totally slobbering. It is that touching and endearing. It is without time constraints, veneer or facade. This was the first Lassie movie and showcases the first Lassie. Now, in 2012, as I write this review, there is Lassie 10, a direct descendant of the original brilliant collie. Again, the collie escapes to travel many miles from Scotland to England to reunite with his master. He endures great hardships on his journey. The movie is lustrous, brilliant, and excellently acted with young ELizabeth Taylor. Just a lovely classic movie, as modern as it is old fashioned, yet not old fashioned at all. I enjoyed the speech patterns and scenery. A movie that is for any age, but remember, get out the tissues. What an endearing movie.

I do not know what to say about this perplexing movie. I have written many, many reviews on this site, but I am really at a standstill about my impressions of this movie. I had to read over some of the reviews and message comments before I actually, finally, understood the story. I mean, I did, sort of, but needed some clarification. As I see it, Portrait of Jennie is a story of the supernatural--told in a very unusual, sensitive, romantic way, and without the science-fiction angle. An astute commenter wrote, Jennie is a ghost who died--but returns--to die again. Figure that out. I did, however, I feel that Jennifer Jones, in her late twenties, should not have played the child, Jennie. Ridiculious. They should have used a child here to portray a child. Jones looks absolutely too old, with a face full of makeup and lipstick, and a ridiculous new school girl outfit. Cotten, as some have suggested, was too old to be portraying a struggling artist, but, I don't necessarily agree. Many of us do not find ourselves until much later in life. Anyway, the thing here is that the struggling artist just cannot seem to catch a break until his life is transformed and transfixed by the mysterious appearance of Jennie. She talks strangely of times past and long ago, and rather than thinking she is a nut case, the artist seems bewitched by her and whilst painting her portrait, seems to find his success in it. He falls in love with the now adult Jennie, and the movie traces his efforts to reconnect with her---think of the movie with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, Somewhere in Time--a very similar theme. You either love it or think it's really ridiculous. I wouldn't mind watching it again, now that I have a better understanding of Portrait of Jennie.