Tender Is the Night (1962) User Reviews

Jones, Robards shine in this Fitzgerald adaptation

[Boyo-2 · 7/10 · 28 August 2004]

**spoiler alert**

This movie does not have the greatest reputation in the world. I'd read that Jennifer Jones was too old to play Nicole, that she overacts, that she has no chemistry with Jason Robards, that it was too long, etc.

Well don't believe it!

It DID take me several attempts to watch the whole thing, but that nothing to do with the movie, that had to do with something else. When

I finally saw the whole thing all the way through, I enjoyed it very much and questioned why it does not have more admirers.

It explores many themes, thoughtfully and without exploitation. Should a doctor romance his patient? When does the patient stop being a patient, exactly, and start being a person?

Nicole meets Dick in a sanitarium. She's there for a variety of reasons, none of which sister Joan Fontaine really care to discuss. It has something to do with their father. Nicole eventually is released and runs into Dick years later, and they get married. They have a wonderful life and two children but it starts to fall apart. Not because of Nicole's mental state - actually, as it turns out, she becomes the stable one. But a friend of theirs (Tom Ewell, making a fool of himself as a chronic drunk) dies, their daughter almost dies from alcohol poisoning, and Dick is see with an actress (Jill St. John) at a brawl in a café and their picture makes all the front pages.

Jennifer Jones is prone to be very mannered. In spite of them she's still a favorite, but here she's really very good, she's not too old to play the part, and her chemistry with Robards is believable. Fontaine doesn't do much but enjoy her own wardrobe. As I mentioned, Ewell is a drunk but his death scene (or, rather, the circumstances surrounding it) are the worse thing in the movie. Jill St. John is first seen as a youngster but she matures as the movie progresses..unfortunately, her acting does not improve.

At over 2 1/2 hours, its an investment, but worth your time. Now I want to watch it again. 8/10.

I guess everyone enjoyed this film more than I did

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 2 December 2012]

Well, c'est la vie.

A wonderful cast and beautiful scenery are the highlights of "Tender is the Night," a 1962 film starring Jason Robards, Jennifer Jones, Tom Ewell, Joan Fonaine, Jill St. John, and Paul Lukas. The film is based on a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald wrote beautiful prose, but much of his work has been difficult to adapt to the screen. He himself worked as a writer in Hollywood but wound up uncredited on most of the scripts and told someone that he did recognize one of his lines in a film that evidently had not been cut from a script.

In this film, Robards plays Dick Driver, a psychiatrist who falls for one of his patients, Nicole (Jones). Nicole is being treated for mental instability, the result of incest (though this is only hinted at). When Dick realizes his feelings, and hers, he quickly distances himself, but she runs into him after she leaves the sanitarium and the two wind up getting married.

Nicole is filthy rich, and the money is controlled by her sister (Joan Fontaine). Dick gets lulled into the good life, the parties, the travel, the luxury, and while he intends to return to his work at the sanitarium and finish a book, he doesn't go. This is mainly because the insecure and sometimes paranoid Nicole is resistant. When he finally returns to the sanitarium, his mentor (Lukas) is dying and the sanitarium has been taken over by a colleague, who only wants Driver's investment. Driver refuses, since he would have to get the money from Nicole, but she insists. But for Driver, it feels like it's all too late.

The acting is superb and Jones, one of my favorites, looks gorgeous throughout. She is somewhat nervous and mannered as Nicole, but that's the character, and she captures her. Robards is strong, emotional, and excellent as the deeply convicted Driver. And how wonderful to see Paul Lukas. I actually recognized his voice and then looked at his face -- I'm so used to seeing him in movies made 20 years earlier that I didn't recognize him at first.

The problem with the film for me is that so much that goes on is beneath the surface -- this can be a fascinating feature, but it is directed at too leisurely a pace by Henry King. The St. John character is never really fleshed out, she darts in and out of the picture; ditto the drunken composer played by Tom Ewell. We just don't know enough about him to care. Joan Fontaine wears some great clothes and acts well, and we do get to know her somewhat.

The other problem is the time in which it is set, which seems a bit generic. It's supposed to be the '20s - I can tell by the music - but not by anything else. The ambiance is '60s.

Nevertheless, Tender is the Night was an ambitious project that probably could have used some judicious editing, but if you're a Jones fan you won't want to miss it.

Oblique is the night

[krorie · 6/10 · 27 October 2006]

The great 20th century American novelists all created books that were difficult to transfer to the big screen successfully. Hollywood had better luck adapting the short stories of Faulkner and Hemingway to the motion picture medium than with their master works. Fitzgerald was no exception. None of his masterpieces was a total success when rewritten as screenplays, even when directed by such skilled artisans as Henry King. Only John Steinbeck's works were ready-made for media exchanges. But who would place him on the same creative sphere as Faulkner, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald? "Tender is the Night" has its moments of greatness, in particular toward the end and who can fault the acting of such a stellar cast.

One distraction for this viewer was the failure of the director and cinematographer to capture on film the essence of The Jazz Age the way Fitzgerald did in his novel. This version of "Tender is the Night" has the 1960's written all over it from the clothes worn to a jet-set aura rather than the Lost Generation expatriate ambiance of the Fitzgerald masterpiece. Even the music is more 1930's swing than 1920's jazz. The only saving grace in the music department is the original score provided by virtuoso composer Bernard Herrmann.

All that remains of Fitzgerald is the bare bones story of the cosmopolitan Divers, focusing on Dr. Dick Diver, played with élan by Jason Robards Jr, a psychiatrist, married to Nicole (Jennifer Jones), who has suffered a mental breakdown. The good doctor becomes both a husband and an analyst to his mentally unbalanced spouse. On the French Riviera just before the stock market crash of 1929, Dr. Diver, near middle age, meets and falls for a rising starlet, Rosemary Hoyt (Jill St. John). As the plot thickens, Dr. Diver slides into a maelstrom of drunken escapades until he hits rock bottom. The story somewhat parallels Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda's own experiences, though Fitzgerald claimed it was based on friends Gerald and Sara Murphy's struggles.

By all means read the novel before watching this screen adaptation. I recommend the film only as a supplement to the book, perhaps Fitzgerald's best work.

Somewhat stiff but still worthwhile version of a moving romantic drama

[DrLenera · 9 July 2004]

This movie was a flop at the time and has been pretty much forgotten, which is a shame. It's a faithful adaptation of F.Scott Fitzgerald's moving story which is a touch lifeless, but still worthwhile.

The plot is ofcourse very good, a love story which is intriguing and very sad. There is perhaps not quite enough emotion throughout most of the film, but by the time the end comes the film has become pretty moving. Jason Robards was definately miscast as Dick Dyver [a good name for a porn star!]but Jennifer Jones shows what a good actress she sometimes could be ,especially when she is displaying her character's 'madness' ,if that's not too strong a word. None of the supporting characters are as interesting as they should be except Jill St John's aspiring actress and there is somehow little feel for the period, but the strength of the story just about carries one through. Mention should be made of Bernard Herrmann's often touching [if a bit self derivative!]music, but having the film's theme song [which he did not write] played endlessly on the piano by one character gets a bit annoying.

Despite it's flaws ,this is a fairly solid romantic drama that probably seemed old fashioned even in 1962, but deserves some reappraisal.

Intimacy in the vastness

[EdgarST · 7/10 · 29 August 2012]

Under the firm hand of Henry King, known in his time as one of the best translators of literature into film, F.Scott Fitzerald's "Tender Is the Night" reaches its conclusion as a solid but rather cold drama. Produced with the usual ornaments of any Fox motion picture of those years, the shooting in real and colorful European locations and the vast CinemaScope compositions seem to go in opposite direction to the intimate drama with four key characters: a psychiatrist (Jason Robards), his patient and wife (Jennifer Jones), his old and wise mentor (Paul Lukas) and his rich sister-in-law (Joan Fontaine). Around them there are a frustrated composer (a very obnoxious character played by Tom Ewell, that guarantees that the title song is played endlessly), a starlet (Jill St. John), a wealthy Roman with nothing to do (Cesare Danova), and other characters that advance or retard the plot. There is not a single close-up in the film to get us close to those faces, not as a voyeuristic act to see their pores, wrinkles or grimaces, but as a most useful syntactic resource of cinema language. Everything is seen from a distance, with extreme prudence, aggravated by the fact that the film extends to 2 hours and 22 minutes that screenwriter Ivan Moffat should have prevented, or editor William Reynolds could have reduced. Maybe in a film house with a huge screen it worked better. After "Tender Is the Night" and 50 years in the film industry, Henry King retired from cinema.

unforgettable music

[sbalcet · 7/10 · 17 May 2020]

I saw this movie when i was 20 . the music still remains in me . every time i travel to the french riviera , to Cuba , to Mexico , every night i recall this divine music .

A little underdone

[tomsview · 6/10 · 10 February 2017]

"Tender is the Night" seemed to be the sort of film Jennifer Jones should not have been making at that time in her career. She was a woman who had emotional problems that seemed uncomfortably close to the problems her character in the film experienced.

The film is based on what is considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's most autobiographical novel. According to some sources, Jennifer Jones' character, Nicole Diver, was based on Fitzgerald's marriage to a highly-strung woman who suffered from severe psychological disorders.

Like Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", the film is set among expatriate Americans in Europe in the 1920's. Nicole (Jennifer Jones) is married to psychiatrist Dick Diver (Jason Robards). They are financially well off and their life revolves around serious partying. They even have a resident, alcoholic, piano playing composer, Abe North, played by Tom Ewell, who is frustrated at having a great melody stuck in his system.

We learn through flashback that Nicole had been Dick's patient and there is concern that she may not really be cured and that Dick himself may have issues. Infidelity lurks in every corner, especially when a young starlet takes a fancy to Dick. Eventually Nicole and Dick drift apart as Dick heads deeper into alcoholism (as did Fitzgerald).

Jennifer Jones still exuded that amazing aura and fits the part well; too well if one is aware of her story.

Cary Grant was considered for the part of Dick Diver, but it finally went to Jason Robards. Although he was a brilliant stage and character actor, Robards didn't project the charisma of a Cary Grant, and maybe that's what was needed.

Although the final scenes do pack a punch, for the most part the film seems dry and talky.

There is location work in Switzerland and France with brilliant scenes at the end shot on the French Riviera, but much of the interior studio work is flat and uninspired. Also, Bernard Herrmann's score doesn't marry with the fabric of the film the way his scores did for "Vertigo", "North By Northwest" and many others.

The actors are photographed mainly at the middle distance with few close-ups. Possibly Selznick forbade closing in on Jennifer Jones who was about 43 at the time. She looked fabulous though with a tightly bobbed hairstyle.

Big and glossy, the film is interesting more for the behind-the-scenes story, but for Jennifer Jones fans, she is still a good reason to seek it out.

Something distinctly artificial

[MarieGabrielle · 5/10 · 22 April 2007]

and stilted about this film, and its casting.

Jason Robards who always delivers, just seems wooden and ineffectual as Dick Diver. Jennifer Jones as the ever desirable, but tragic Nicole Diver, just seems unsympathetic, even strident and cruel.

The alcohol flows freely and the jet-set lifestyle is invoked by a humorous Tom Ewell, who sings the movies theme song at the beginning of this disjointed movie. (Tom Ewell is forever planted in my memory as Marilyn Monroes bumbling neighbor in "The Seven Year Itch", or as the silly, clichéd father in "State Fair") That being said, it almost seems as if the writers did not know how to treat the subject of psychoanalysis and mental illness. F Scott Fitgerald and his wife endured tragedy, his wife Zelda Sayre Fitgerald was diagnosed with schizophrenia while still in her 20's. She was delusional at times, and probably never walked around at all times looking like a John Robert Powers model,(as Jones does in this movie).

It was 1962 after all, psychoanalysis was chic and stylish, so this film presents the illness as stylish and merely the effect of being rich and bored on the French Riviera. I wanted to like this film, but it is sorely dated and due for a remake. If nothing else it aptly demonstrates society stigma and misconceptions when portraying mental illness. No wonder there is still so much denial, if this film was considered an acceptable story of a physician and his wife in 1962. Worth seeing as a curiosity. 5/10.

Perhaps Impossible to Make

[jromanbaker · 7/10 · 6 February 2024]

I feel sorry for Henry King as he is in so many ways a good director, and yet not given enough praise for it. He knew how to get performances out of the actors he worked with, and to mention only two; Jeanne Crain never better than in ' Margie ' and David Wayne superbly moving in ' Wait till the Sun Shines Nellie. ' In ' Tender is the Night ' he gets a hardened, bitter performance out of Joan Fontaine, the soft edges gone from many previous films, and her role in ' Rebecca ' comes instantly to mind. As for the film itself it is a fairly faithful adaptation from the Scott Fitzgerald masterpiece of a novel. I think he bit off more than he could chew with the subject matter of the weak overwhelming the strong, and Jennifer Jones does not quite match up to the neurosis of the character, and as for Jason Robards I found him miscast. A bit like Fitzgerald's ' The Great Gatsby ' it is perhaps impossible to get ' right ' castings as we all have a Gatsby of our own in mind, and the same applies to Dick Diver in ' Tender is the Night. ' Only one scene comes vividly alive and that is when Jennifer Jones has a breakdown that she cannot understand, and Robards as her husband cannot help much either. The failure of his help, and her feeding off his so-called strength eventually takes its toll, and no spoilers the ending just fizzled out. In my opinion the film could have been better in black and white so the hard edges showed more, and more attention should have been payed in conveying the 1920's. Widescreen again in my opinion not needed, and just dancing the ' Charleston ' is not enough. Tom Ewell as a hanger on also not at his best. And yet despite these criticisms the film is well worth seeing. King does manage to convey overwhelming failure and sorrow and as a director he was good at that. A brave film at the end of his career.

Slow and tedious...and you wonder how much is Zelda and Scott!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 11 October 2020]

The only reason I watched this film is because it's the final Jennifer Jones film I haven't seen. The film also features a pretty good cast--with Jason Robards Jr., Joan Fontaine, Paul Lukas and several other very good actors.

The story is from F. Scott Fitzgerald's final complete novel...a story that owes MUCH to his life with his wife, Zelda. In fact, so much is like their actual lives together, it really makes you wonder what's real and what's fictional. This was written during a time when Zelda was institutionalized for mental illness.

Dick (Robards) and Nicole (Jones) have rented a villa in southern France. After inviting some neighboring expatriates to a party, the couple end up getting in an emotional fight. A bit later, through flashbacks, you learn more about them. Apparently Dick was Nicole's psychiatrist! Back in the day, a psychiatrist marrying a patient was not necessarily considered unethical (today it would surely get your license to practice revoked). Anyway, he married her out of some misguided notion that she needed him and he wanted to take care of her. Where all this goes, well, you should just see the film for yourself.

As for the movie, I actually LIKED the plot. But the film was so bereft of life and energy, they managed to take a good idea and make it flat and dull. I think the actors all try hard but I think the fundamental problems were with the script and, perhaps, the direction. Speeding things up a bit and eliminating much of the first portion of the film might have meant less Fitzgerald, but I do think speeding up the plot really would have helped. Also, having more energy...that REALLY would have helped. Not a bad film...but one that seems to plot...and it's two hour running time feels like three.

"We Loved Once In Spendor"

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 6 December 2010]

Despite David O. Selznick's omnipresence whenever his wife was involved in a film even if it wasn't his own, director Henry King managed to make a fine film adaption of F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated autobiographical novel, Tender Is The Night. Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards, Jr. are nothing short of wonderful in the leads.

A lot of the personal lives of both the leads went into roles of Nicole and Dick Diver. Jennifer Jones saw enough tragedy in her life for about five people and saw the inside of mental institutions a few times while on the mortal coil. And Jason Robards love of the grape was also well known.

Robards purportedly is Fitzgerald himself who fell in love with a high flying millionairess Zelda Sayre and the easy living he became accustomed to sapped his creative energy. In this work Robards is a psychiatrist who forgot professional ethics and fell in love with his patient. Zelda Fitzgerald also saw the inside of an asylum, but no one ever affected a lasting cure for her.

The two live in real luxury as American expatriates in Europe and 20th Century Fox spent no small expense turning the locations in Europe like the Riviera, Paris, and Zurich into what they looked like in the Twenties. Bernard Herrmann wrote a musical score that interwove more melodies from that era than I could count.

Robards falls in love with the beautiful Jones as he helps bring her out of her mental illness. The Code was as omnipresent as David O. Selznick and the barest hint of the cause of her illness was made because talk of incest was still a big taboo. It would take Chinatown more than ten years later to bring that sin into the open on screen. One thing that wasn't included from the novel was a theme of miscegenation as well in deference to our Southern audiences still not the beneficiaries of the Civil Rights revolution. Fascinating as to what was considered worse by Hollywood box office standards in 1962.

Joan Fontaine plays Jennifer's older sister and custodian of the family legacy. The father was one of those robber baron tycoons who committed suicide and of course it was that and the incest that drove Jones to her illness. Fontaine totally misreads Robards as a fortune hunter, but since he's pried the family's dirty secret from Jennifer's mind, better to have him in the family. Because of Jennifer's illness Fontaine controls the family purse strings.

Loving Jones and at the same time resentful of being tied financially to her, Robards loses professional detachment. This was something he should have learned from his mentor Paul Lukas who has a small part. Tender Is The Night is an object lesson about not getting involved with a patient personally.

Tom Ewell as a Broadway composer who has lost his muse in alcohol has a good role as a kind of hanger on to the Robards/Jones party world. He's a good ornament to have at a party. I believe his role might be based on Vincent Youmans who gave up his career to both tuberculosis and to a drinking problem. The theme song by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster also serves as a symbol of a lot of unfinished lives. Ewell keeps playing the melody and he can't complete it. When someone else does he takes it all wrong and tragedy ensues.

The title song Tender Is The Night is one of my favorite movie melodies. I have a recording of it by Tony Martin and it received the only Academy Award nomination the film had. The song lost to the title song of another fine film, The Days Of Wine And Roses. Personally I like Tender Is The Night much better.

Tender Is The Night was the farewell directing assignment for Henry King who in his long career directed some of the best films 20th Century Fox ever made. For some reason he's not considered at the very top of his profession and I think it's because he was contracted to one studio and stayed there. I think the reasoning is that if you're the very best you can go from studio to studio and you must be the best if everyone wants you. A contract director like King just gets assignments. But King always did his films with a certain amount elegance to them and so what if he toiled only at one dream factory. Guys like King and Woody Van Dyke and Clarence Brown at MGM always get a short shrift when discussing directors.

Fitzgerald purists will not be crazy about Tender Is The Night, but I think it holds up very well almost fifty years after its first release. Really top flight entertainment.

no appeal

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 16 February 2020]

This is a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. In the South of France, Nicole Diver (Jennifer Jones) grows jealous about her psychiatrist husband Dr. Dick Diver (Jason Robards) over movie star Rosemary Hoyt. In flashback, Nicole is a troubled patient of Dick. Baby Warren (Joan Fontaine) is her socialite sister.

I'm not feeling this marriage. I don't particularly like either character and they generate no heat for me. Robards is not really the romantic lead type. When he's with the kids, he looks like the grandfather. The only compelling relationship is Dick and Baby. The problem is that I don't understand Dick's dilemma. If he wants to get back into his profession, he should simply go back into his profession. He doesn't need to build a clinic. He has lots of rich friends and he could turn them into patients. I guess psychiatry is practiced differently back in the day. The story is muddled. The central relationship is flat. I don't know anything about the novel. This is not compelling.

Little more than European locations in CinemaScope.

[gregcouture · 26 April 2003]

When this was released I managed to see most films first-run, except the ones clearly aimed at my age group. (Such a snob, n'est-ce pas?!?) So, being a fan of both Jennifer and Joan, I went to a Los Angeles-area theater with top-notch projection and sound. Back then Twentieth-Century Fox rarely stinted on sending companies to the actual locales of the stories being filmed, so this one has plenty of its share of gorgeous shots set in Switzerland and elsewhere on the Continent, as I recall.

But, as other comments herein attest, the rest is somewhat of a disappointment. Henry King, the director, seemed to encourage Jennifer Jones in some of her less-attractive mannerisms which somehow were not so apt as a rendition of her character's mental distress. Jason Robards, Jr. was never much of a success as a romantic lead, in my opinion. And Joan Fontaine was assigned the rather thankless role of a rich "bitch." All in all it's a prime example of how the studio "system" was growing out of touch with an ever-younger movie audience. Nevertheless for those of us who have always appreciated luxurious eye candy, it was a fairly tasty treat.

Another Selznick Flop

[m0rphy · 5/10 · 14 June 2002]

David O Selznick was not having much luck with the films he produced from about 1957 onwards.Jennifer Jones, his wife, had just had another flop 5 years before with her previous film, "A Farewell To Arms"(1957), based on the Ernest Hemingway book.Hemingway never approved of the screenplays and filmed results of his work and F Scott Fitzgerald fares no better here with the film of his book, "Tender Is The Night".Maybe with Henry King as director Selznick hoped for better.King had had a hit with Jones in, "Love Is A Many Spendid Thing (1955), but was now rather old and out of touch with modern film direction techniques, especially sophisticated, European genres that were breaking new ground with modern audiences.

The story, such as it is, involves the central character, Nicole who is in a psychiatric ward in Zurich, Switzerland in the 1920's.Her doctor, (Dick Diver) played by Jason Robards Jnr. almost cures her so she can leave the clinic.In the process he becomes emotionally involved with her (unprofessional) and a cynic would say it was because Nicole comes from a very wealthy American family where money is no object.He marries Nicole but in the process loses his career drive being seduced by the easy money for which he no longer has to work.Joan Fontaine plays Nicole's elder sister, Baby Warren and ultimately controls the purse strings.To get back his self esteem Dick Diver finally leaves his idle wife and child and returns Stateside to redicover his life's values.The rest of the film justs drifts, showing rich people doing nothing in particular.

I felt the film failed mainly because you do not have sympathy for any of the central characters and because the plot line is very sparse.I would have thought Selznick would have learnt his lesson after the previous debacle, mentioned above.

Tedious soaper...one which gives no hint as to F. Scott Fitzgerald's passion or genius

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 5 December 2010]

An American doctor in the 1930s marries the mental patient he has been treating, but life together in the South of France proves to be an unsettling mix of emotional highs and lows. F. Scott Fitzgerald's epic novel, the last book he had published before his death, is most likely unfilmable; this glossy, indifferently-made adaptation has so little depth that it barely seems to give the source material a chance. Jason Robards continually snarls and flashes his teeth as Dr. Richard Diver (whom everyone ridiculously keeps referring to as 'Dick'); Jennifer Jones is the unstable wife he has 'cured'; Joan Fontaine is Jennifer's decadent sister; Jill St. John is a flirtatious actress out to stir up trouble in paradise. No one involved has the vaguest idea how to approach the material, least of all director Henry King, who allows his cast to visibly flounder. In a dated subplot, Robards, who has been treating a young homosexual, is accused by the boy's father of having similar inclinations, to which Robards responds like a rabid dog. It's too ludicrous to take seriously, and yet too limp and meandering to be passable as camp. The locales are nice and the Oscar-nominated title song is a big plus. Otherwise, an awfully long 'Night'. ** from ****

David Selznick's Valentine to his Wife Jennifer Jones

[AndersonWhitbeck · 10/10 · 1 September 2007]

David Selznick loved his wife Jennifer Jones. John Huston wrote in his "An Open Book" that "David laid everything on the line for his adored Jennifer". This movie was years in the making and while this was a 20th Century Fox production, not a Selznick International production Mr. Selznick was always behind the scenes suggesting ideas for the Movie. Selznick himself tried for many years to personally produce this property but could not get the financing.

Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, Ivan Moffat wrote a fine screenplay, and David Selznick approved Henry King as Director for as DOS put it " Henry King gets the best results with Jennifer" as King directed Jennifer Jones in two of her greatest hits her Oscar winning performance in "Song of Bernadatte" and Oscar Nominated "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" both hits at 20th Century Fox. Oscar Winner Joan Fontaine in her auto biography "No Bed Of Roses" noted that Henry King downplayed the erotic nature of Nicole and Dick Diver relationship, and also that Joan Fontaine was treated like an extra by the crew but not by Jennifer Jones who was a Friend.

Jennifer Jones was a major star in the l940's and early to mid 1950's with 5 nominations and one Oscar win but semi retired for 5 years from 1956 thru 1961 and that is a long, possibly too long an absence for a major star to be off the screen. Jennifer Jones was as good an actress as Meryl Streep is regarded today, and was very analytical in her performances. In this film Jennifer Jones- An Academy Award Winner and Major star for nearly 20 years- had Paula Stasberg -most famous as coach to Marilyn Monroe-as her on set acting coach which irked Henry King no end. Ms. Fontaine, again in her book No Bed of Roses scoffed at the coaching and in her bio wrote "Charming and Talented Jennifer was the most insecure Actress I ever worked with" Fontaine noted that Jennifer would hold up production as she talked long distance with Selznick in Hollywood things such as set dressing! Fontaine observed that Director Henry King had not the slightest care or understanding of European cafe society.

The movie is lushly produced and David Selznick insisted they shoot some of the scenes in Europe in Zurich, on the Riviera and in Paris. In fact Selznick wanted the entire film to be shot in Paris rather than 20th's stages in Beverly Hills. The movie is very well cast with stars who can act: Jennifer Jones, Jason Robards and Joan Fontaine as Jennifer's brittle older sister. Some criticism was made of the fact Jennifer Jones was too old to play Nicole I disagree. Jennifer Jones eschewing 20th's makeup man Ben Nye and costumers Charles Le Maire and William Travilla- looks beautiful, and younger due to George Masters great hairstyles and famed designer Balmain's great outfits than Jennier Jones did in Selznick's " A Farewell To Arms" five years earlier.

Many top Male stars and previous Jennifer Jones leading Men such as William Holden and Gregory Peck were offered the role of Nick Diver and declined but I gather they felt in any DOS obsessed production Jennifer Jones would be the spotlighted star not them. Correct! The role of Nick went to Jason Robards and while in the early 60's he had not attained the stature as he would later in his career I feel Robards is superb and the chemistry between Jason Robards and Jennifer Jones is real on screen. It is also great to see Oscar winner Paul Lukas in a small pivotal role.

Some of David Selzinck's complaints about the movie are accurate: some of the sets are not at all 'Roaring 20's like', and the music could be more reflective of the period.

When the movie was released it was not well received and David Selznick requested 20th pull back the movie and add scenes, but alas 20th Century Fox released it worldwide "as it was" and after the fanfare of a big New York premiere, it was quickly released and forgotten. All except the beautiful theme- which Selznick hated- which was Oscar nominated and played today the song is haunting and beautiful.

Tender Is The Night was Jennifer Jones last movie as a true Superstar. The Selznick's hoped this film would garner Jennifer a 6th Best Actress Nomination and return her to the upper strata of leading ladies. At the time of his death David Selznick was in talks for Jennifer to appear in one of Ross Hunter's great soap operas at Universal in the hope that a Ross Hunter film would do for Jennifer what Hunter's great films did for Lana Turner mid career.

The Idol in 1966 with Michael Parks, and the disastrous 1969 Angel Angel Down We Go would follow and a cameo in the Towering Inferno and Ms. Jones would retire.

Unfortunate

[Skylightmovies · 2/10 · 9 May 2022]

This was hard to get through.

There must be another adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel that is bearable. Someone let me know.

Robards does Robards, so no great stretch there but if this was supposed to be a poem to Selnick's missus ...fail.

Looks like Jones' days as an attractive young thing were long gone by the time this project was put in to motion. The 50's/60's hairstyles and Jones' inability to convince as an older woman were hard to watch. Being playful is not in the M. O. and Jones' head moves out of time with the script.

Dancing the charleston and screaming like a neurotic woman were embarrasing to watch. I noticed this awkard largeness that Jones became in The Towering Inferno when it fell out of the scenic elevator and the largeness seemed to eclipse skinny 'femininity' that was all over that show, namely Blakely and Dunaway.

Here the galumphing clumsy try to appear hyper and fragile did not work, neither did the makeup. Jones's expressive eyes were lost in age and thick false eyelashes and disappeared by the end of the movie, the short hair did no favours.

Fontaine on the other hand carried the sophisticated matriarch sister look quite well and Jill St John was only a few years away from the pleasantly silly Tiffany Chase, and it shows. Ewell will always be the shy hen pecked dreamer from Some Like It Hot and that's about it.

God knows what the point of this movie was as it was so predictable. The worst thing was I stopped caring about the Jones' scenes and fast forwarded through the ones without Jones.

So that was two and half hours of Selnick's life that didn't add up to much. Even Dick gives up at the end. So should we.

Miscast stars can't bring F. Scott Fitzgerald novel to life...

[Doylenf · 11 May 2001]

Neither F. Scott Fitzgerald nor Ernest Hemingway ever have much luck in having their novels transferred to the screen with any degree of success. 'Tender in the Night' suffers from several things: the casting of leads (Jennifer Jones, Jason Robards, Jr.) and a weak script that never manages to make us believe the story's tragic overtones. And at 146 minutes, the film is rambling and overlong.

Jennifer Jones is alienating in the principal feminine role as a neurotic and never manages to make us feel any sympathy for her character. Jason Robards, Jr. is physically miscast as Dick Diver and does not add to his reputation as a fine actor. Jones gives an odd, uneven performance with critics claiming that age was one of the factors for her failure to be convincing in the role--although Time magazine was impressed enough to give her a rather left-handed compliment: "She is well cast as a neurotic and does her best work in a decade." But the majority of critics were not favorably impressed.

Whatever, the film did not reinforce her prestige as a box-office star as Selznick hoped. Joan Fontaine does fairly well as a sophisticated woman in a rather peripheral role that does not warrant star billing.

And oddly enough, despite some lush location photography, everything about the "look" of the film seems artificial and stage bound. This artificial streak runs through the script too.

a great socialcritical novel turned into a 60's melodrama

[kmykolajivna · 4/10 · 18 February 2021]

After reading Fitzgerald's novel, which I admit has its long passages, I can't say I enjoyed this film adaptation. Fitzgerald wanted to show the life of the super-rich in the 1920s. His characters are distant, the reader is not really supposed to sympathize with them. Whereas the movie is way more pathetic, I think. It seems like a melodrama from the 50s. The only traces we find from the roaring 20s are a few seconds of Charleston and Joan Fontaine smoking graciously with a cigarette holder. The novel was way more modern and merciless than the film adaptions a few decades later. Many episodes of suspense were left out, such as Dick being arrested and beaten up in Rome for slapping a policeman, Nicole driving off road on purpose with the whole family in the car, Dick cheating on his wife with Rosemary - and above all the dead man in the hotel, whom nobody cares about. Instead we see loads of love declarations that were not in the novel and which easily could have been left out. Too bad Billy Wilder didn't direct the picture. He might have captured the mood of the novel much better, shown all the bitterness and indifference of the characters and therefor done better justice to Fitzgerald.

Typical F.Scott Fitzgerald female lead ruins this sad story of an otherwise promising couple.

[cgvsluis · 4/10 · 1 June 2022]

Just like F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels...I found this very long film hard to swallow. What ruined it for me is my same objection to his novels, his female leads.... I hate them. This story is even more irritating in that our "hero" knows the lady in question is crazy before he marries and has kids with her. Don't get me wrong, F. Scott's novels are well written...in fact I would say beautifully written, but as a woman I object to these horrible women he portrays. They are cold, devoid of real feelings, self centered and completely out of touch...but beautiful. Gag! Gag! And gag again! Jennifer Jones is miscast as a similar character.

Rich lush settings in this film and some decent costuming, my main objection is to the storyline and Jennifer Jones.

This the very depressing story of a psychiatrist who meets a beautiful patient and thinks he has "cured" her, so he marries her and has a few kids with her...meanwhile she is still suffering from mental illness and they are both living off of her inheritance which is controlled by her sister "baby". Ugly people and an ugly story as this idealistic psychiatrist spirals downward to the big D.

I can't say I recommend this film...although the acting of Jason Robards is exceptional, it is based on a classic however which might be enough to recommend it to some...be prepared for a depressing story however.

Good love story

[Anakim7 · 8/10 · 2 December 2006]

Other comments cover every aspect except: The semi-autobiographical nature of Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald's novel, "Tender Is The Night". It is the story of his love for Zelda Sayre. Putting himself in the role of a psychiatrist who makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with a patient. F. Scott Fitzgerald from Minneapolis, MN, transforms his real life experiences into fiction beautifully in the Fitzgeraldian style. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald spent time at Shepard-Pratt Hospital and at Eudowood Sanitarium. Fitzgerald and Zelda became hypnotized by the lifestyle provided by the money from Scott's work. When the money ran out he went back to work until his luck ran out. I enjoyed seeing "Tender Is The Night" several times and would enjoying seeing this film again.

It should have been Glenn Ford

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 20 June 2023]

The first half hour of Tender Is the Night is excellent. I thought certainly Jennifer Jones would get another Hot Toasty Rag nomination out of it, but after her one and only scene that showed heavy dramatic acting, she acted like a bored society girl. It was as if two different movies were spliced together and no one noticed!

Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, it provides (hopefully) another cathartic release for his unhealthy relationship with Zelda. The protagonist is a rational, intelligent psychiatrist who runs a clinic in France. He's married to someone with unpredictable, irrational emotions. He always has to take care of her and can never fix her. To self-medicate, they host lavish parties and get drunk with their friends. Sound familiar?

I usually can't stand Jason Robards, and this movie didn't change my mind. He spoke in his usual monotone and put no emotion delivery into his lines. His costars couldn't feed off of his energy because he had none. Perhaps if another actor had been cast, the movie wouldn't have felt so long, tedious, or pointless. The original casting was going to be Elizabeth Taylor and Glenn Ford, which would have been wonderful. Glenn would have put a lot more into the role, and Liz could play a bored socialite in her sleep. Others considered were Paul Newman, Cary Grant, and Richard Burton-all better choices than the last man standing.

One of the reasons that makes Jason so unlikable isn't his fault: in the story, he gets his head turned by a bimbo: Jill St. John. He practically violates his marriage vows right in front of his wife! Even if Glenn Ford were cast, he still wouldn't be very likable; but I know he would have had the decency to look conflicted about it. Poor Jonesy wasn't given enough character development to challenge Jill or confront her husband. Instead, she just continues to drink alongside her pals Paul Lukas, Tom Ewell, and Joan Fontaine - who tries very hard to steal the show with her fast-talking vamp-y character.

Really, the biggest compliment I can give this movie goes to Marjorie Best's costumes. Jonesy and Joan look very pretty in their 1920s attire. If you're a die-hard Fitzgerald fan, you probably like to read everything and watch all the adaptations. Just don't expect much from this one besides a lot of eye candy among the actresses. Jennifer Jones is a very beautiful woman.

Very Underrated Classic

[churei · 9/10 · 28 January 2007]

'Tender is the Night' remains one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most important works, but, sadly, he, today, is not recognized as one of America's truly formidable writers. Film representations have not always worked, but his characterizations are etched superbly when given to the right performer e.g. Alan Ladd's extraordinary depiction in 'The Great Gatsby'. The film of 'Tender is the Night' had been criticized for all the wrong reasons, one of them, perhaps, relating to the fact that some critics continued to misinterpret the work of Jennifer Jones, surely as fine an actress of the era as is Meryl Streep today. Perhaps Selznick did limit her access to some of the best scripts offered, but, here, in 'Tender', she is still so absolutely right in every movement and shading of Nicole's character. Jason Robards, a brilliant actor, may not have been perfectly cast, but Joan Fontaine, in the latter part of her career, expertly captures the selfish, ego-involved woman of the era. Jill St. John and Tom Ewell are only adequate, but, in total, the film works because of the expert script, the cinematography, the music, King's direction, and the ever-important work of Fontaine and Jones. Both of these women essayed numerous kinds of roles in their careers. Here, Jennifer Jones is still in top form, and the film deserves to be reevaluated.

Jennifer Jones A Real Movie Star!

[williwaw · 9/10 · 1 July 2010]

Jennifer Jones was a real movie star. Chic, glamorous and was simply great in front of the camera. A very good actress who in hindsight made far too few films. In this Henry King directed film of the classic Fitzgerald novel, Jennifer Jones stars in the lead role of Nicole Diver Jennifer Jones looked 30 years old in this picture beautifully photographed by 20th's top studio camera man Leon Shamroy. I liked Jennifer Jones in this movie more so than any other save for "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" and "Song of Bernadette" both directed by Henry King. The King-Jennifer Jones relationship was meaningful in the success of those films.

The outdoor scenes shot in Europe are particularly good; the interiors were done at 20th's studios in Los Angeles.

Oscar winners Paul Lukas and Joan Fontaine give fine support to the Star and I found Jason Robards fine as Dick Diver. There was much discussion about former Jennifer Jones co stars and friends Gregory Peck or William Holden playing Dick Diver but eventually the role went to Jason Robards who had played F Scott Fitzgerald in the play The Disenchanted on Broadway.

Kudos to a great theme song Tender Is The Night which was nominated for Best Song, it should have won. A beautiful haunting song!

This lushly produced movie really gets to you and when you see it over and over it is like a beautiful spell.

I wish I could see this movie uncut and at a major revival house in wide screen. The picture when released was not critically well received and 20th Century Fox quickly released the film and forgot about it.

20th Century Fox needs to release the DVD of this Film.

Jennifer Jones Superb

[Williliwaw · 10/10 · 29 April 2006]

Miss Jones returned to the screen after a 5 year absence and looked better in this film than she had in years..and gives a truly nuanced performance, edgy, beautiful, just perfect for the role of Nicole. She got beat up bad when it premiered saying she was too old for the part, seen today, she looks wonderful. Isn't that what acting is about? Does every actor have to be the exact age of the role played?

The costumes for the film to me did not seem very authentic to the period but it wasn't David Selznick's fault...he carped, badgered and stormed 20th Century Fox with endless memo's about 'this and that'. If only had DOS made this film. It is like a baseball manager guiding the team from the locker room or worse the hotel room vs. the dugout.