Jane Eyre (1934) | 
| Director: Christy Cabanne
Actors: Virginia Bruce, Colin Clive, Beryl Mercer, David Torrence, Aileen Pringle
Studio: Alpha Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $7.98
Buy New: $2.95
You Save: $5.03 (63%)
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 63695
Format: Black & White, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 62 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 089218411891
EAN: 0089218411891
ASIN: B00008G8WJ
Theatrical Release Date: August 15, 1934
Release Date: March 18, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
DVD January 6, 2009
Terry Mahon
Given that this movie was made in 1934 it was well done for that time period. Of course I like the more updated versions much more.
Interesting as Historical Curio January 16, 2007
Tsuyoshi
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This 1934 version is produced by Monogram Pictures, one of the studios in so-called `Poverty Row,' slang used in Hollywood to refer to the smaller film companies specializing in low-budget action adventure films. Some of these studies made a low-budget version of classic literature and such titles as `Oliver Twist' or `The Moonstone' were produced by Monogram (both available on Alpha Video DVD). These films run only about 60 minutes and you just cannot find the same artistic value as MGM's `David Copperfield' or `A Tale of Two Cities.'
So you cannot and should not expect much here. The film runs only 62 minutes and how can you tell the story of a Victorian classic novel within 62 minutes? But the film does try and like the same company's `The Moonstone' (in which characters use electricity), some drastic changes are done to the plot and settings of Charlotte Bronte novel. The film's story often goes so fast, skipping some of the key elements of the book's first half. Jane's horrible experience at the boarding school is reduced to less than ten minutes, and what she experiences there is not so terrible.
The film spends more time on Jane's romance with Edward Rochester and the mysteries surrounding the mansion, but results are far from satisfactory. Two main leads Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive certainly make an attractive couple, but not in the way Charlotte Bronte had envisioned. Colin Clive, who is best remembered as Doctor Frankenstein yelling `It's alive!' shows more restrained acting as intelligent gentleman, but his handsome and mild-mannered Rochester does not have the tragic shadow that every reader of the book would remember. Equally ineffective is the subplot about the mansion's attic, which lacks suspense or surprise.
After all this `Jane Eyre' would be interesting only as a curio or a historical proof showing the difficulty of film adaptation of classic literature.
 A Film Time Capsule thankfully preserved on DVD. July 24, 2006
J. Kara Russell (Hollywood - the cinderblock Industrial cubicle)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
This version of JANE EYRE is enjoyable for film history buffs. So, thank goodness it has not been lost, and is available on DVD.
This is a very early talkie, from one of the smaller movie companies, and all the growing pains show. (Garbo's ANNA CHRISTIE was made the year before this, and while still stagey, it shows what a larger, more successful film company could do, compared to this smaller one. Garbo's film was a film, this feels more like a record of a stage performance.) The script is rather "favorite scenes from JANE EYRE." It takes major plot points and turns them into a brighter story all together, mixing and matching elements at will
Virginia Bruce is tall, platinum, strikingly beautiful with a lovely contralto voice, voluptuous figure and mesmerizing sad eyes (that inspired Italian doll maker Lenci, in many of his boudoir dolls of this period). All of this, of course makes her wrong to play Jane, in one of the most total miscasting moments of film history. Worse yet, she slumps and slinks around like a 1930s starlet, more Jean Harlow than Jane Eyre. To see her languidly lounging against a pillar or a piano, combined with some of the abrupt dialogue lines that contradict the original story, brings lots of laughs to a Bronte fan. This version also added characters and played loose with details in ways that also made me laugh.
Colin Clive as Rochester is handsome, refined, and gentlemanly. He treats her like an Etonian suitor. Virginia Bruce rather brusquely runs the scenes with him, and often seems very bored with him, practically rolling her eyes. So, of course, all of this is wrong for the story. Now, I must say, they are both very good actors, and inhabit their roles, and for this period, they are both very fine (compare them with the supporting cast, especially the hysterically bad Adele - a child actor coached to the ends of every finger and curl in the most obvious stage mannerisms of the day), but the limitations of the medium of that day and their miscasting does them no favors.
The casting of his fiancee is very odd indeed, and shows how the beauty of WOMEN was valued at that time, over girls. She looks a good ten years older than Rochester, and quite the dark-haired demimonde vamp. Watching many versions of JANE ERYE, I find that the casting of this role and Adele tell us a tremendous amount about the tastes of the times.
The sets are bright and light, but we must understand, that some of this dynamic was needed for the cameras that were being used at the day, the makeup is very dramatic, but again, the makeup then needed for a face to "read" on camera was not even natural skin tones. So for these things, this version is a fascinating film study of a particular moment when films were transitioning. Miss Bruce's costumes are lovely - more Cinderella than plain Jane - and are also a notable moment of history, when this high waised, fully flounced skirt was "in style" for period films. This type of dress, too, was copied by doll maker Lenci. You will notice that all the lines are spoken very slowly and distinctly, and many will dismiss it as bad acting, but this too, had to do with early sound recording, it was necessary for the way film was made.
Since I AM interested in film history, this has made me anxious to see more of Virginia Bruce. I want to see if her particular presence was used in more contemporary pieces, where her looks and personal style would have made her shine. This is a time capsule.
Decent Movie. And By The Way The Director Christy Cabanne Was A Man Not A Woman! January 21, 2006
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
I have seen several movie version of the classic novel Jane Eyre and this is my least favorite and is the least faithful to the book but despite the flaws like Jane being played by a tall beautiful blonde when Jane is susposed to be plain in looks and Adele being a klutzy moron who kept doing stupid things I actually liked this movie. No it's definitely not as good as the Timothy Dalton version but it's okay. And by the way, I read the review by the female reviewer saying that Charlotte Bronte would be happy if she knew that a movie of her book was directed by a woman. Well if this movie had been directed by a female then yes maybe it would have pleased Charloote Bronte but I think you saw it said it was directed by Christy Cabanne and assumed it was a woman when in fact the director Christy Cabanne was a man. Yes that's right Christy Cabanne was male! His full name was William Christy Cabanne. Believe it or not but a long time ago Christy was used as a boys name, usually as a nick name for Christopher but sometimes because the mother's maiden last-name was Christy. If you don't believe me do a web search for Christy Cabanne the director and go to web sites like Internet Movie Database and you will find out that what I'm saying is true! Sorry to burst your bubble!
Jane Eyre (Monogram, 1934) with Virginia Bruce&Colin Clive September 11, 2005
L. Studer (Albert Lea, Mn.)
3 out of 12 found this review helpful
Monogram was a B-picture studio, however, they did occaisonally venture into the classics; in 1934 they produced two quite respectable adaptations based on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. Jane Eyre was adapted by Adele Comandini, a screenwriter of note, and stars Virginia Bruce as Jane. Monogram surrounded Miss Bruce with a wonderful English cast: Colin Clive as Mr. Rochester, and plucked from the British colony, Ethel Griffies, Beryl Mercer, Jameson Thomas, John Rogers, Lionel Belmore and David Torrence. Miss Bruce is a superb Jane and does her own singing and her beautiful long blonde hair is on full display as she prepares for night. She understands her part and the conditions of 19th century English life. Colin Clive is far better as Rochester than Orson Welles in the later version, albeit this version lacks the atmosphere of the Welles-Fontaine film.
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