A meek governess and her mysterious employer strike up a romantic relationship.A meek governess and her mysterious employer strike up a romantic relationship.A meek governess and her mysterious employer strike up a romantic relationship.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
Gretta Gould
- Miss Temple
- (uncredited)
Anne Howard
- Georgianna Reed
- (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten
- Jeweler
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
According to the Internet Movie Database there are 22 versions of the famous Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre done, counting both silent screen and small screen adaptions all the way to the present time. I never realized how popular a property Jane Eyre was for dramatization. I doubt very much if anyone would ever consider this 1934 version starring Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive as the best of them.
Still in reviewing this movie you have to take into account that this was done for Monogram Pictures on a shoestring budget. Bruce and Clive were borrowed from MGM and Universal respectively and neither was exactly a box office name. The running time is only 63 minutes so like every other work of literature there will always be stuff left out unless it's a TV mini-series and you have several hours to play with.
One criticism I will agree with. Jane Eyre in fact is a plain Jane and the glamorous blond Virginia Bruce just isn't right for the part. Joan Fontaine was far closer to Charlotte Bronte's idea of Jane Eyre in her version with Orson Welles on a much bigger budget with MGM.
It's definitely a subpar version of the novel, but be a bit more charitable to this Jane Eyre considering the circumstances of its creation.
Still in reviewing this movie you have to take into account that this was done for Monogram Pictures on a shoestring budget. Bruce and Clive were borrowed from MGM and Universal respectively and neither was exactly a box office name. The running time is only 63 minutes so like every other work of literature there will always be stuff left out unless it's a TV mini-series and you have several hours to play with.
One criticism I will agree with. Jane Eyre in fact is a plain Jane and the glamorous blond Virginia Bruce just isn't right for the part. Joan Fontaine was far closer to Charlotte Bronte's idea of Jane Eyre in her version with Orson Welles on a much bigger budget with MGM.
It's definitely a subpar version of the novel, but be a bit more charitable to this Jane Eyre considering the circumstances of its creation.
Creaky stagy and truly muffled and, well, ancient, this 1934 Monogram talkie has 1929 production values which clearly irritate some viewers. One must be kind to these 61 minute double feature barrel bottom scrapers and emotionally account for the time and place they were made. Monogram was formed in 1931 as a result of the talkie boom, and by 1934 were trying to upgrade their image. They were probably still using the same 1928 equipment the first bought second hand in 1931 from some creaky talkie outfit the folded in 1930. Remember this was a time when there was 30,000 single screen cinemas in the USA alone so anything and everything had a chance of showing in maybe six or seven thousand cinemas. Monogram charged a flat rental fee for their films and since they knew how many cinemas would play a particular sort of film they knew show much profit was in it before it was even made. Some very entertaining films from this period include their 61 minute version of OLIVER TWIST, their 66 minute operetta musical KING KELLY OF THE USA complete with an animated sequence!...and their super block buster again around 65 minutes GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. The only reason they would have attempted JANE EYRE is because: a: it was out of copyright and they could make it 'for free' b: Oliver Twist made some money and the sets and costumes were still at the studio c: Monogram Pictures were double feature fillers usually and they needed to make another, and one with a veneer of 'quality'. d: they were trying anything to see if they could make it. Monogram fans would see the same stairs and rooms and furniture for the next 25 years in almost every other Charlie Chan Mr Wong and Bowrey Boys Monogram Picture...even as late as 1958 in The House On Haunted Hill and in 1965 in the Elvis comedy in a ghost town TICKLE ME. True!
For the most part this is a fairly weak Monogram (read budget with a capital B) adaptation of the Bronte classic. Colin Clive is woefully miscast as Edward Rochester, a character so complex and filled with such passionate brooding that it takes the likes of an Orson Welles or a George C.Scott to really pull it off. Instead Clive plays the master of Thornfield like he is just some normal single dad on the make who just happens to have his unbalanced first wife locked up in the attic.Maybe director Cabanne thought that this interpretation would make the character seem more suspicious to the audiences of 1934. Unfortunately this reviewer writing in 2002 finds Clive's Rochester about as suspicious as a stained glass window. In a Lutheran church.Virginia Bruce is adequate as the title character but unfortunately her best lines are undermined by unnecessary stock music pulled from Monogram's Oliver Twist (released the previous year). However horror fans especially those who feel at home with the jump-out-of-your-skin style of Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame should see this film for the well-timed SHREIKS emanating from that attic. Claire DuBrey's banshee routine is enough to make your heart jump out of your mouth and do the macarena on top of the TV. So see this Eyre for the Screamer not for Ward Cleaver.
Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" is one of the great novels in the English language, and almost any reasonably faithful movie adaptation can be worth watching. At the same time, the depth of the characters and the complexity of their relationships make it very difficult for a movie to do complete justice to the story, and even the best film adaptations are usually better as movies in their own right than as adaptations. This scaled-down, low budget Monogram version can hardly be compared with the original, but in itself it is pretty much an average B-movie of the era.
Virginia Bruce plays the lead role, and her portrayal of Jane is sympathetic, if rather different from the Jane of the novel. Given the overall production, Colin Clive was a reasonable choice to play Rochester, since he adds a nervous energy to his roles that fits with Rochester's secret concerns, although for much of the time his Rochester is little distinguishable from Henry Frankenstein. Some of the secondary characters are also portrayed a bit differently from the novel, fitting in with the somewhat simplified nature of the adaptation.
Viewed in its own right instead of being compared with the novel, the script sets up a few decent scenes, although at other times some of the running time is wasted on relatively inconsequential material. As other reviewers have pointed out, this version does not work as an attempt to convey some of the depth of the novel and its memorable characters. Instead, it tells a rather simpler story using the same main characters, and in that respect it's about average for its genre.
Virginia Bruce plays the lead role, and her portrayal of Jane is sympathetic, if rather different from the Jane of the novel. Given the overall production, Colin Clive was a reasonable choice to play Rochester, since he adds a nervous energy to his roles that fits with Rochester's secret concerns, although for much of the time his Rochester is little distinguishable from Henry Frankenstein. Some of the secondary characters are also portrayed a bit differently from the novel, fitting in with the somewhat simplified nature of the adaptation.
Viewed in its own right instead of being compared with the novel, the script sets up a few decent scenes, although at other times some of the running time is wasted on relatively inconsequential material. As other reviewers have pointed out, this version does not work as an attempt to convey some of the depth of the novel and its memorable characters. Instead, it tells a rather simpler story using the same main characters, and in that respect it's about average for its genre.
... that's not at all faithful to that tale. Virginia Bruce stars in the title role, a young woman raised in an orphanage who hires on as a governess of the niece of the cranky Mr. Rochester (Colin Clive). As Jane tries to find her way within the household, she starts to fall in love with her boss while also wondering about the strange screams coming from the room into which she's forbidden to look.
Some sources have called this the best movie ever made by a Poverty Row studio. There are plenty that I liked more than this, but I'm not really the audience for this type of story. The acting is decent, and the costumes and sets are nicer than in most Monogram efforts, but it still seems clunky, sometimes amateurish, and with very uninspired direction. Running at just over an hour, it's not a major investment in time.
Some sources have called this the best movie ever made by a Poverty Row studio. There are plenty that I liked more than this, but I'm not really the audience for this type of story. The acting is decent, and the costumes and sets are nicer than in most Monogram efforts, but it still seems clunky, sometimes amateurish, and with very uninspired direction. Running at just over an hour, it's not a major investment in time.
Did you know
- TriviaEthel Griffies also played Grace Poole in the 1943 version (Jane Eyre (1943)), starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Jucy (2010)
- SoundtracksSchwanengesang
("Swan song") D.957: Ständchen (Serenade)" (uncredited)
Music by Franz Schubert and lyrics by Ludwig Rellstab
Performed by Virginia Bruce
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Jane Eyre l'angelo dell'amore
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 2 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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