Jennifer Jones always superb! - Gone to Earth (1950) Discussion

[–] Steve Crook 16 years ago

What play? It started off as a novel. I wonder, was the play made from the film or from the original novel?

It's an odd story. The original novel is quite melodramatic and that comes through in the film. And of course any Powell & Pressburger film can be described as "a bit odd, a bit unusual". Not that that's a bad thing in any way.

But I agree, Jennifer was superb in it.
I saw the film in Much Wenlock [http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Trips/Shropshire/20020526/index.html ] with a lot of local people, some of whom had been extras in scenes like when Hazel buys her dress in Much Wenlock. They all agreed that she'd nailed the accent and got it just about perfect.

A lot of people who had been extras said how she was always very nice and friendly, talking to all of them. She does seem to be a very nice lady but I do wonder if she was tuning her ear to the accent when she was speaking to them

Steve

reply

[–] Montmartre1 16 years ago

thanks, that's so interesting.
Yes, it is an odd thing--unusual story.
But Jones was so perfect as the untamed girl--a girl with a wildness to her.
hated the end, but the title is the tip-off.
Yes, some other poster mentioned it was a play, I hadn't known that either.
It's nice to hear she was so nice to everyone, but then again, she looks like a lovely lady.
thanks for the reply!

Hello everybody!

reply

[–] Xcalat3 15 years ago

she was really good in this

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

reply

[–] Franz_Walsh 14 years ago

As of this writing, the Stanford Theatre is having a festival celebrating the life and work of the late Jennifer Jones, and I had the pleasure of watching this wonderful film in a beautiful print a few nights ago. Jones always had great presence and talent in films like Portrait of Jennie and Madame Bovery, but her work for this too-little-seen gem from the Archers is a true highlight in her filmography that deserves more recognition. The Technicolor in the film captures an equally lush and forboding landscape that really symbolizes the wild nature of Jones' complex character. Seeing her show the textures of desire for a pure life with the holy man Cyril Cusack while also wanting to satisfy her sexuality with domineering masculinity of David Farrar (the scene of him stepping on the flowers is amazing) was no easy task for any actor, but Jones does so with grace and the empathy we have for her is completely earned.

reply

[–] Montmartre1 14 years ago

What great insight you have! I saw the film some years ago, but I suppose that's the test of a great film, when I can recall Jones' performance in it as though I had seen it yesterday.
It is a unique film, highly unusual and with great performances and direction and so on
Jennifer Jones was probably my favorite actress-but equally as you say the other performances were superb.
Now I want to see it again! hope they show it again--perhaps a season of Archer films?

reply

[–] denham 13 years ago

I thought Jennifer Jones was good in the part (and terrific in Beat The Devil, a favorite of mine), but her accent especially in earlier scenes noticeably meandered toward the mid-Atlantic. For me, the standout performance in the picture came from Cyril Cusack; what an excellent and perhaps under-appreciated actor he was.

reply

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

Can I ask where you're from and how well you know the Shropshire accent?

When we showed Gone to Earth in Much Wenlock, the village where she buys the dress, we invited a lot of local people along, particularly people who had been extras in those scenes filmed in Much Wenlock.

So many people turned up that we couldn't fit them all into the village hall and had to have two screenings

I made a point of asking a lot of the local people about Hazel's accent, and they all reckoned that Jennifer got it just right.

Steve

reply

[–] Montmartre1 13 years ago

very fair point. i take that on board about the accent. but i think many times Directors overlook even things as important as accents in order to get the best actor for the part. i mean it's just my opinion.
Having said that I'm sure actually that a British actress could have easily done the role. Perhaps others wanted the hugely popular actress to do it and won out.

reply

[–] denham 13 years ago

@Steve Crook - I read your previous comment and naturally I accept your point about what the locals said. As it happens I'm from the West Country rather than Shropshire; however, fairly early on one definitely if briefly hears JJ sounding a good 3,000 miles west of Wenlock!

@Montmartre1 - "Perhaps others wanted the hugely popular actress to do it and won out" ...perhaps her status as Mrs David O Selznick, wife of the film's co-producer and financier, could have been a factor... Though to be fair, a British actress from another part of the country might herself have had the odd slip of accent, who knows?

I only got round to seeing this film recently, and it was visually far richer than I'd imagined. The look of it and the storyline put me very much in mind of Hardy, with elements of Far From The Madding Crowd and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, sort of Bathsheba Everdene meets Angel Clare. Or something...

reply

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

I'm not Professor Higgins but there are differences between the British West Country, Shropshire & East Anglian accents. They aren't all the general "Mummerset" accent that British producers too often use for the accents of country people. There are many aspects of an American (or mid Atlantic) accent that can often reflect its roots in a lot of British regional accents.

Which scene is it where you particularly think there was a bit of mid-Atlantic slippage?

While we were in Shropshire we also visited quite a few of the locations used in the film. See http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Trips/Shropshire/index.html. There's a lot there that is still very recognisable from the film.

A lot of the Shropshire people we spoke to commented on how friendly Jennifer was, talking to lots of the local people. I have no doubt that she was a lovely lady, but I do wonder if she was listening to & learning the accent as she talked to them all

I agree with you about Cyril Cusack. He wrote the book on under-stated. This performance and the stuttering Cpl Taylor in Powell & Pressburger's The Small Back Room (1949) are a joy to behold.

Steve

reply

[–] denham 13 years ago

Sorry, I can't place the exact scene, but fairly early on with her father I think.

I did once see The Small Back Room, but it was long ago and I don't honestly remember Cyril's performance. But as you know, he was pretty good in the world outside P&P too! I do recall him vividly as the village mayor in the fondly remembered television serial Clochemerle (with Roy Dotrice - memo to BBC, kindly repeat) and many small supporting roles, for example the gunsmith in Day of the Jackal...

reply

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

But as you know, he was pretty good in the world outside P&P too!

There's a world outside P&P?

Yes, Cyril did a lot of good work on film. Although he did even more on stage, especially with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin

Steve

reply

[–] FANatic-10 11 years ago

I was thoroughly captivated by Jennifer Jones in this film, and have to count it as one of her very best performances. Besides being very beautiful, both in her wilder, gypsy-like scenes or sweet and demure, she seemed to more than fill all the various dimensions of this role. I can't speak to the accuracy of her accent, but to my admittedly foreign ears, she did not sound out of place in the context. Cyril Cusack was also quite outstanding as the parson she marries. All in all, a fine Hardy-like melodrama, not as thrilling as "The Red Shoes" or "A Matter of Life and Death" (among other brilliant P & P works), but still outstanding and not deserving of its lesser reputation.

reply

[–] cookiela2001 10 years ago

I was thoroughly captivated by Jennifer Jones in this film, and have to count it as one of her very best performances. Besides being very beautiful, both in her wilder, gypsy-like scenes or sweet and demure, she seemed to more than fill all the various dimensions of this role.

Jennifer Jones is lovely in this (I also especially like her in Carrie), and according to the biography Showman (1992), the reason she's freer in this than many other performances is because her VERY controlling husband David O. Selznick was mostly busy with other projects while this was shot, and not able to obsessively intrude on production to the extent he usually did.

It seems that Mr. Selznick hurt Jones' career more than he helped it, as producers didn't often want to cast her...as the team kind of came as a package deal.

reply

[–] James_Byrne 9 years ago

Watched this last night and was mesmerized by Jennifer Jones and the whole film. What a work of art! Jennifer always seemed to be marrying the wrong bloke in her movies, ala RUBY GENTRY, DUEL IN THE SUN, GONE TO EARTH, etc.

Jennifer Jones was indeed superb, in every way.

http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

reply

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

I haven't seen any of her other films but I found Jennifer Jones to be meh in this. It may not have been helped by the fact that I didn't care much for Hazel the character.

Fatima had a fetish for a wiggle in her scoot

reply

[–] Montmartre1 11 years ago

Fair enough.
It's a strange film. It's not superb entertainment, it's too sad for that and dark I think.
I'd suggest seeing several of Jones' films in order to decide if you like her acting or not.
Why not start off with Portrait of Jenny?

reply