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.
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.