Jane Eyre (1943)

In this faithful adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's classic romantic story set in Victorian times by director Robert Stevenson - a brooding, atmospheric mystery (filmed beautifully in expressive black and white and enhanced by Bernard Herrmann's original score):

• the opening scene (voice-over narration) of abused, neglected and orphaned young Jane Eyre (Peggy Ann Garner as child, Joan Fontaine as adult) reading from the first paragraph of the printed novel: ("My name is Jane Eyre. I was born in 1820, a harsh time of change in England. Money and position seemed all that mattered. Charity was a cold and disagreeable word. Religion too often wore a mask of bigotry and cruelty. There was no proper place for the poor or the unfortunate. I had no father or mother, brother or sister. As a child I lived with my aunt, Mrs. Reed of Gateshead Hall. I do not remember that she ever spoke one kind word to me.") [Note: The opening words were not from the original novel, which began: "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day..."]
• at the charity boarding school Lowood Institution, ten year-old Jane's public punishment by rigid disciplinarian Reverend Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell) to stand on a stool and remain ostracized from the other students, and afterwards given a piece of bread by sympathetic fellow classmate Helen Burns (a young Elizabeth Taylor, uncredited)
• the delayed entrance of mysterious Edward Rochester (Orson Welles), thrown off his horse in the foggy moors, when Jane stepped into his path, and his harsh reprimand of her
• Jane's 'mousy' and timid demeanor throughout the film (similar to her role in Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940)) in Rochester's Thornfield Hall
• the character of Grace Poole (Ethel Griffies, uncredited) (spoiler- revealed as the nurse/guard of Rochester's insane wife locked up in a tower cell)
• the Gothic scene of darkly moody and tempestuous Edward Rochester demanding that prim and intimidated governess Jane Eyre express her love and marry him -- followed by lightning striking a nearby tree and cracking off a large branch

Rochester's Marriage Proposal	Lightning Strike of Tree	Interrupted Marriage

• the marriage ceremony of Jane and Rochester, interrupted by Mason (John Abbott), the elder brother of Bertha Mason, Rochester's deranged, locked away wife