Joan Fontaine as a 14 year old?

I actually thought she resembled a teen at the beginning of the film. If I hadn't known who she was, I would have thought she was still in high school. However, the closeups of her pretty face made her age much more difficult to conceal. Still, she did an outstanding job and deserved her Oscar nomination.

No blah, blah, blah!

Well, Ginger's *character* was pretending to be a child, so I think some of that artifice was deliberate...also because it was a comedy. And having Diana Lynn's character acknowledge the phoney kid act, was just great. :)

I think Joan Fontaine did only alright - so many of her characters in other movies are meant to be "innocent", so I guess that was her forte as an actress. I'll be honest with you - she's not exactly my favorite actress because I'm not a fan of the "fragile flower" type "flitting about", as Majuro put it. :)

I do find her performance in The Constant Nymph overrated, considering all the rapturous reviews I've read. In certain moments she had a youthful awkwardness, posture and that sort of thing. Other times I thought she was trying too hard, even for a child who's hyperactive. I also found myself distracted by her voice sounding too mature, especially in scenes with Joyce Reynolds who played her sister. I don't know if Joan could've changed the pitch, or just altered her inflections in some way, but I felt that her voice wasn't childlike enough. Maybe I was thrown by the accent sounding too sophisticated? :P

Overall, I would have to disagree with Leonard Maltin, etc. I can't say it was an amazingly realistic portrayal, because I never truly bought into the illusion and forgot she was an adult playing a child. At times an okay performance/impression of a 14 year old, but I was always "studying" her instead of just believing.

ETA:
Just read Neil Doyle's review, in the IMDb user comments section... pretty much sums up my reaction to the film.

I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago on TCM and I was quite excited to finally see this movie. However, when I finally watched it, I was a little disapointed, but nevertheless, it was a good movie. Definitely, the kind the studios don't produce anymore. Even though I liked the leads, I have to agree with one poster that I think either Cary Grant or Douglas Fairbanks Jr. would have been better for the lead of Lewis Dodd. Even Tyrone Power or Joseph Cotten would have been good as well. I like Joan Fontaine, and in the first half of the film, she's very convincing as a 14 year old teenager with her body language and costumes, but in the second half she just looks like an adult playing a child and her voice is way too mature. The ending was sad, but I honestly think that she was miscast. I think that Linda Darnell (who was 19 during the filming of this movie), Susan Peters (a former Warner Brothers contract player who was now at MGM and was nominated for a supporting role for Random Harvest and in the beginning of that film she plays a teenager and quite convincingly, she was about 19-20) and Anne Baxter (who was about 18), check out this clip :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN9sEB9msB0

Anne was doing a screen test for Rebecca as the 2nd Mrs. DeWinter and she was only 16 at the time!! Imo, I think all three of the aforementioned ladies would have been great. Another young actress who would have been perfect for the role was Gail Russell. She starred in two John Wayne films in the late forties and in a hilarious comedy in 1944 titled "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay". She seemed to have the right amount of fragilty and vulerniblty for the role of young Tessa. Plus, she had this haunting beauty which would have been perfect. In the end, Jack Warner was looking for stars for the leading roles and Fontaine and Boyer were huge stars at the time.

Alexis Smith, in her first major role for WB was incredible!!

i thought the same thing. Fontaine's pixie movements early in the movie seem a put-on and overdone, as if the audience should be force-fed the idea of her nymphic youth. it's this point that detracts from the overall quality of the picture. fortunately, those scenes are early and by the time the denouement comes they don't matter as much as when first seen.

all in all Nymph is a very good movie.

Coburn is always enjoyable. as a character actor he had great range and adds a quality touch to all the fliks he's in. here, he performs the role of a steady rock-solid relative.

The only actress that could expertly pull off playing a child is Jennifer Jones. She should have played the part in this film

If you think this is bad, watch Letter from an Unknown Woman. She is 30 and plays a 12 year old. Her friend in the movie is 18, playing 12, and even she looks ridiculous. I can suspend disbelief just so far.

I guess it's like looking at clouds. You see one thing and I see another. Peace.

I adore Joan Fontaine, so I am not knocking her. I still agree with those who said she was more convincing in the first half of the film. By the later part of the film I could see the "real" Joan Fontaine and it made me come here and look up her age. She was 26! I think it's even funnier that her "older" cousin Florence is played by Alexis Smith who was 22!

Then again, if one tries to suspend disbelief one gets a wonderful film about a deep spiritual and emotional connection that cannot be openly expressed.

Actually, I thought she pulled it off quite well - and Coburn as usual is just super. I would have enjoyed just talking with him.