Jane Eyre (1934)

Director:

Christy Cabanne

Writers:

Charlotte Brontë (novel)
Adele Comandini (writer)

Release Date:

15 August 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Jane Eyre is an orphan who was raised by her aunt until she came to Thornfield Hall as governess to the young ward of Edward Rochester...

Plot Keywords:

Canceled Wedding | Schoolteacher | Old Mansion | Romantic Rivalry | Orphan

Cast

Virginia Bruce	...	Jane Eyre
Colin Clive	...	Edward Rochester
Beryl Mercer	...	Mrs. Fairfax
David Torrence	...	Mr. Brocklehurst
Aileen Pringle	...	Lady Blanche Ingram
Edith Fellows	...	Adele Rochester
John Rogers	...	Sam Poole
Jean Darling	...	Jane Eyre as a Child
Lionel Belmore	...	Lord Ingram
Jameson Thomas	...	Charles Craig
Ethel Griffies	...	Grace Poole
Claire Du Brey	...	Bertha Rochester
William Burress	...	Minister
Joan Standing	...	Daisy
Richard Quine	...	John Reed
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gretta Gould	...	Miss Temple (uncredited)
Anne Howard	...	Georgianna Reed (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Jeweler (uncredited)
Gail Kaye	...	Mary Lane (uncredited)
Edith Kingston	...	Lady Ingram (uncredited)
Desmond Roberts	...	Dr. John Rivers (uncredited)
Clarissa Selwynne	...	Mrs. Reed (uncredited)
Hylda Tyson	...	Bessie (uncredited)
William Wagner	...	Halliburton (uncredited)

Directed by
Christy Cabanne

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Charlotte Brontë		novel "Jane Eyre"
Adele Comandini		writer

Produced by
Ben Verschleiser	....	producer

Cinematography by
Robert H. Planck		(as Robert Planck)

Film Editing by
Carl Pierson

Sound Department
Ralph Shugart	....	sound recordist (as Ralph Sugart)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Abe Meyer	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
E.R. Hickson	....	technical director

Production Companies

• Monogram Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Monogram Pictures Corporation (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario)

Company:

Monogram Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Version of Jane Eyre (1961) (TV)

Fair Low-Budget Version

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.