Tonight's Movie: Jennifer (1953) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The Allied Artists film JENNIFER (1953), starring Ida Lupino, was recently released on Blu-ray as part of the Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema XXIV collection.

This film, a first-time watch for me, is a compact 73 minutes written by Virginia Meyers and directed by Joel Newton. (Or was it? Kimberly Lindbergs raises questions at Cinebeats, in an article originally written for TCM in 2011.)

Lupino plays Agnes Langley, the new caretaker at a Montecito, California estate which is simultaneously sun-drenched and creepy.

Agnes learns the mansion's last resident, Jennifer, disappeared unexpectedly, and becomes obsessed with discovering what happened. As time passes, Agnes grows more concerned about bits of information she uncovers and conjures up stories about Jennifer ranging from blackmail to murder...but the truth may be more mundane. Or not.

Agnes is romantically pursued, somewhat aggressively, by Jim Hollis (Howard Duff, Lupino's real-life husband). Is he simply interested in Agnes, or does he have other motivations?

JENNIFER succeeds in creating a suspenseful atmosphere, thanks in large part to Lupino's acting and the sunny-yet-shadowy black and white cinematography of the great James Wong Howe.

The script and Lupino leave us wondering right up until "The End" whether Agnes simply has a creative imagination or mental health issues...or is something else going on entirely?

The movie's ambiguous final seconds, which will not be disclosed here, left me dissatisfied. Just when the viewer thinks answers are in hand...well, maybe not?

Along those lines, Jim's pushiness, repeatedly turning up at the estate or elsewhere, was never entirely resolved in my mind. Perhaps the short running time created a need for a fast-moving romance, but if so that ended up inadvertently raising questions about his character. Or perhaps his behavior is a deliberate red herring?

In the end I appreciated the movie's atmospheric ride but not so much the destination, as I didn't care for the uncertain ending.

It's interesting to note that Lupino made JENNIFER back to back with another "creepy house" movie, BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952). In that period piece she's trapped in her home by a crazy, aggressive handyman (Robert Ryan). She plays a much stronger character in BEWARE, MY LOVELY, but it's interesting she chose projects with thematic similarities so close in time.

The small supporting cast of JENNIFER includes Ned Glass, Robert Nichols, Russ Conway, and Lorna Shipp.

The film's score was composed by Ernest Gold, and there's a notable nightclub performance of the Matt Dennis-Earl Brent song "Angel Eyes," performed by Dennis. The song became a standard recorded by Cole, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, and others.

Kino Lorber's sharp-looking Blu-ray print is from an HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan. Sound quality is excellent.

Disc extras consist of a commentary track by Kat Ellinger and Martyn Conterio, plus a gallery of three trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

The other films in this set are UNION STATION (1950) and THE CROOKED CIRCLE (1957), which I'll be reviewing at a future date.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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