(Yet "Eyre" is detailed, and makes the best possible use of every frame.) Both films take place around in a callous England of the 1920s. In both films a portion of every frame is consumed by impenetrable shadow. Both films were shot almost entirely in the studio, yet don't feel studio-bound they feel rather as though the directors had managed to find unusually claustrophobic out-of-door (or, in Lean's case, urban) locations. Yet when it's not reminding us that it's at heart a version of something else, it's a very good film, falling not too far short of David Lean's "Oliver Twist" - which it resembles.
#ORIGINAL JANE EYRE MOVIE MOVIE#
By the time Joan Fontaine had finished reading out Brönte's opening paragraph, with the sentences themselves before me, I was in no mood to watch the movie - I wanted to go away and read the book. We're in danger of falling in love with the book as an object before the story even begins. The first thing we see a leather-bound volume with the title "Jane Eyre" emblazoned on the cover the book opens to reveal the film's credits exquisitely lettered on the opening pages. Stevenson isn't willing to let us forget that his film is based on a book.