Creative Work attributes
Portrait of Jennie is a 1948 fantasy film based on the 1940 novella by Robert Nathan. The film was directed by William Dieterle and produced by David O. Selznick. It stars Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten. At the 21st Academy Awards, it won an Oscar for Best Special Effects (Paul Eagler, Joseph McMillan Johnson, Russell Shearman and Clarence Slifer; Special Audible Effects: Charles L. Freeman and James G. Stewart). Joseph H. August was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography - Black and White.
Plot
In Depression-era New York, painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) despairs at his lack of success. One cold winter evening in Central Park, he meets an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl, Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones), who captures his fancy when she asks him to wait for her to grow up. Soon after, Eben sells a sketch of Jennie to kindly art dealer Miss Spinny (Ethel Barrymore) and, as he meets the oddly mutable Jennie in fleeting moments, begins to realize they share a special destiny.