FAQ

Orphaned at an early age and raised in the Lowood Institution, a charity boarding school run by Reverend Henry Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell), a harsh and self-righteous headmaster, Jane Eyre (Joan Fontaine), now 20 years old, decides to leave Lowood and take a job as a governess for a young girl at Thornfield mansion in Yorkshire (England). At first, Jane is put off by the ill-tempered owner of Thornfield, Edward Rochester (Orson Welles), but she soon learns to see his gentle and vulnerable side and falls in love with him, and he with her. Unfortunately, Edward is privy to a dreadful secret that will forever keep them apart.

Jane Eyre is an 1847 novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, writing under the pen name Currer Bell. The screenplay for the movie, written by John Houseman, Aldous Huxley, Henry Koster, and Robert Stevenson, is based on a radio adaptation of the novel by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air.

No. Prior to this version of Jane Eyre, there were a number of full-length silent versions, including Jane Eyre (1910), Jane Eyre (1914), and Jane Eyre (1921), as well as two talkies titled Jane Eyre (1934) and a very loose adaptation called Vaudou (1943). Following 1943, there have been numerous film adaptations, including Jane Eyre (1961), Jane Eyre (1968), Jane Eyre (1970), Jane Eyre (1996), and Jane Eyre (2011), along with two TV miniseries-Jane Eyre (1983) and Jane Eyre (2006)-and two TV series-Jane Eyre (1956) and Jane Eyre (1963).

Although not listed among the credits, a very young Elizabeth Taylor plays Helen Burns, Jane's first friend when she is placed in the Lowood Institution.

Following the death of her aunt, Mrs Reed (Agnes Moorehead), Jane returns to Thornfield only to find that much of the mansion has been destroyed in a devastating fire. Mrs Fairfax (Edith Barrett) explains how Grace Poole (Ethel Griffies) set the fire and then jumped from the battlements when Edward tried to save her. Edward was severely injured when the great staircase collapsed, leaving him lame and blind. Edward appears, using a cane to walk, and orders Mrs Fairfax to go back into the house and prepare dinner for Adele. Edward realizes, after Fairfax leaves, that there is someone else there, so Jane identifies herself. At first, Edward is overjoyed to know she is there, but he then tries to send her away because she can't spend the rest of her life 'on the mere a wreckage of a man.' Jane pleads with him not to make her go. In the final scene, which takes place some months later, Jane and Edward are walking together in the garden. In a voiceover, Jane explains how Edward's sight gradually returned until he was finally able to gaze upon the face of their newborn son and see that the boy had inherited his own eyes—large, brilliant, and black.