MovieChat Forums > The Bigamist (1953) Discussion > A Ranking of Joan Fontaine's Movies

A Ranking of Joan Fontaine's Movies

posted 11 years ago by marhefka
6 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen all of Joan's movies yet. One I would like to see is "The Constant Nymph." Here is my own ranking of the movies of hers that I've seen.

1. Rebecca Rebecca was her defining role. It was directed by Hitchcock and it won the Oscar for Best Picture. She was nominated for an Oscar.
2. Suspicion. Another Hitchcock film. In this one, she did win the Oscar for Best Actress.
3. Letter From An Unknown Woman. As a 31 year old, Joan played the part of a 12 year old girl. It was very believable. Later she played the same character when she was 18. Finally, as a mature woman.
4. Jane Eyre. Some of the greatest actors in history have played opposite Joan. Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, and now Orson Welles.
5. The Bigamist. An underrated movie with a great plot.

Joan was at her best when playing the part of a shy and naive girl and/or woman. This was the case in the first four movies I mentioned.

[–] kenny-164 9 years ago

Marhefka,

It took some doing for me to finally see this film, me being a big Joan Fontaine fan. Another excellent performance by her here, and I am glad I saw it. Still I do not think it is as up there as some of her other roles.

Yes, The Constant Nymph is excellent, and I recommend it.

As for this film, interesting direction from Ms. Lupino, and the choices in characterizing O'Brien's performance were to good effect.

But I would not say it is now a favorite Joan film for me.

[–] marhefka 9 years ago

kenny,

You're absolutely right. The Bigamist, while a good movie, is not a very good role for Joan. Actually, since I wrote this post, I've become very involved in Joan's movies and have seen 27 of them. I even have them ranked 1 through 27. Rebecca, Suspicion, Letter from an Unknown Woman, September Affair, and The Constant Nymph are my top 5. Nos. 26 and 27 are Tender is the Night and Island in the Sun.

[–] kenny-164 9 years ago

marhefka,

Interesting you mention September Affair. I have yet to see that and very much want to. Have you seen Frenchman's Creek? Also on the list to be seen.

Fwiw one i really enjoyed that not many mention was This Above All. Also recently saw Born to be Bad. Joan was great in it.

[–] marhefka 9 years ago

kenny,

She's been in so many great movies that This Above All is overlooked by some. It's available on Youtube. I also liked Born to be Bad and Frenchmen's Creek. I knew I would like September Affair before I ever saw it. The plot is, imo, ingenious. Joan and Jospeh Cotten miss an airplane. The plane crashes and everyone dies. Joan and Joseph are mistakenly put on the dead list. The have a chance to start a new live in Italy if they wish. I won't say anymore as I don't want to ruin it for you. I've actually uploaded this movie to Youtube and, as a big Joan Fontaine fan, you should watch it.

[–] tseybert 9 years ago

The Constant Nymph is a very entertaining movie that is occasionally unintentionally hilarious because of Joan Fontaine being passed off as a 14-year-old girl. Her performance is actually pretty good but she doesn't look as young as all that and at times it reminded me of one of those movies where a forty-year-old actor (like Jerry Lewis or Martin Short) is playing a small child.

The Constant Nymph is actually kind of surreal.

Joan Fontaine is one of my favorites, by the way. Suspicion is my favorite Hitchcock movie.

Janet! Donkeys!

[–] pouncemo 8 years ago

I love Joan Fontaine, but I realize I have not seen many of her films. Of the ones I have seen, I love:
1. Rebecca
2. September Affair
3. Until They Sail

These three are favorites that would be on a desert island list.

For some reason, I thought "The Bigamist" was one of Joan's early films from the late 30's so I was in no rush to see it. I have it on Youtube right now, and it does seem like an intriguing story. But it seems very low budget for some reason -- it is dark and the film hasn't aged well. Some black and white films such as my three favorites aged well, but maybe they were digitally re-mastered.

It seemed that Joan's career careened around from first-rate, high budget films in black and white to high budget show pieces like "Island in the Sun" and "Serenade".

I saw "Island in the Sun" for the first time last summer and really loved it. It would definitely be a "soap opera" and a "woman's picture" if it were not for the serious themes of race and class. Only criticism is that Joan had such a small part and her story with Harry Belafonte was really just hinted at. Still, very colorful and all the stars were gorgeous!