Orson Welles & Joan Fontaine in “Jane Eyre“ (1943) - feat. Agnes Moorehead & Elizabeth Taylor

In 1829, nine-year-old orphan Jane Eyre (Peggy Ann Garner) lives at the English estate of her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed (Agnes Moorehead), who favors her spoiled son, John (Ronald Harris). Mrs. Reed sends Jane to Lowood Institution, an austere boarding school for orphans, run by sadistic Henry Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell). Jane enjoys learning, and her friendship with Helen Burns (Elizabeth Taylor), a kindhearted pupil. Jane also appreciates the attention of Dr. Rivers (John Sutton). One day, Brocklehurst cuts off Helen’s curly hair, then orders her and Jane to march in the rain as punishment for their “vanity“ and “rebelliousness.“ The harsh experience proves fatal for Helen, and Jane loses her gentle friend. In 1839, Brocklehurst offers Jane (Joan Fontaine) a teaching job, but she is determined to escape Lowood. After placing an ad seeking a position as a governess, Jane travels to a country estate known as Thornfield, where she is met by Mrs. Fairfax (Edith Barrett), the housekeeper. Jane’s pupil is a French girl named Adele Varens (Margaret O’Brien), the ward of Thornfield’s absent master, Edward Rochester (Orson Welles). At night, Jane sees smoke coming from Rochester’s bedroom. Jane awakens Rochester before he is consumed by the fire, and he allows her to assume that the blaze was set by Grace Poole (Ethel Griffies), a supposedly unstable seamstress living in a little-used wing of the mansion. The next morning, Rochester leaves for a house party at the home of Blanche Ingraham (Hillary Brooke). The winter passes without word from Rochester, until one day, the household learns that he is to arrive with Blanche and other guests. Much to Jane’s dismay, Mrs. Fairfax insinuates that Blanche will soon become Rochester’s wife. Jane grows more troubled upon meeting the beautiful, haughty Blanche, but both she and Rochester feel their bond grow stronger when they talk. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Mason (John Abbott ), of Spanish Town. Rochester accuses Blanche of caring more for his money than for him, and she leaves with her family and the other guests. Rochester then tests Jane by informing her that he has found another position for her, and when she finally confesses her love for him, he passionately proposes. Adele is thrilled that Jane is to be her new mother, but Mason stops the wedding ceremony by announcing that Rochester is already married to Mason’s sister Bertha. Rochester then leads the wedding party to Thornfield and shows them Bertha, who is violently insane. With nowhere else to go, Jane returns to Mrs. Reed, who has fallen ill, and nurses her until her death. One night, Bertha sets the Thornfield mansion on fire and Rochester is seriously injured. Finally, Rochester enters the ruins of the mansion. Jane realizes that he is blind, and her passion convinces him that she feels more for him than mere pity. A 1943 American Black & White drama film directed by Robert Stevenson, produced by Kenneth Macgowan and Orson Welles (uncredited), screenplay by John Houseman, Aldous Huxley and Robert Stevenson, based on Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel of the same name, cinematography by George Barnes, starring Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, Margaret O’Brien, Peggy Ann Garner, John Sutton, Sara Allgood, Henry Daniell, Agnes Moorehead, Aubrey Mather, Edith Barrett, Barbara Everest, Hillary Brooke, Ethel Griffies, Eily Malyon, Ivan Simpson, Erskine Sanford, John Abbott, Elizabeth Taylor, and Mae Marsh. Released by 20th Century Fox. Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s role as Helen Burns was uncredited. The musical score was composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann. David O. Selznick hired John Houseman in February 1941 while Houseman was directing Philip Barry’s play “Liberty Bell“. Houseman’s first assignment for the producer was writing this. Aldous Huxley also contributed to the screenplay, rendering the character of Mrs. Rochester unseen, assuring that she would be more menacing, and circumventing British censorship regulations on the depiction of madness. Other screenplay contributors include DeWitt Bodeen, and playwright Keith Winter. In early December 1942, Selznick wrote Goetz that he and Welles agreed on the importance of casting character actors who were new to motion pictures. He offered to be present at a casting meeting, and asked that Welles be there, as well—“because I know few people in the history of the business who have shown such a talent for exact casting, and for digging up new people.“ Mercury Theatre players from stage and radio who appear in Jane Eyre include Agnes Moorehead, Erskine Sanford, Eustace Wyatt, and Edith Barrett; but the character roles generally went to familiar Hollywood performers, many of them with British stage credits. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, called this a “moody“ film, “grimly fascinating in its own right,“ with “continuous vitality as a romantic horror tale“ in which Welles’s “ferocious performance“ was “interesting to observe.