YMMV / Jane Eyre (1943)

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • Most of the adaptations follow the trend where Jane and Mr. Rochester put out the fire on the latter's bed together. In the novel, Jane is the only one who managed to do that herself while Mr. Rochester is  asleep until he felt drenched.
  • This is the first adaptation to combine Helen Burns with Julia Severn, the girl whose hair Mr Brocklehurst orders cut short. It also adds in a scene where Jane protests and offers to have her own cut instead. This part is so remembered it's included in a good chunk of other adaptations.
• Awesome Music: The main theme is fitting for its gothic setting of the movie.
• Hollywood Homely: It's a bit hilarious seeing Joan Fontaine, one of the most gorgeous actresses even to grace the screen, declaring herself "plain and little." To say nothing of a young Orson Welles calling himself "as ugly as sin".
• Retroactive Recognition: In 1943 version, the child actress who played as Helen was Elizabeth Taylor, who later became a famous actress in the following years.
• Values Dissonance: Dr. Rivers come across Jane as a child, crying at Helen's gravestone, and gives what is to today's audience an extremely harsh and blunt monologue about doing your duty and going back to Loxwood, even if she finds it unpleasant. This is especially jarring given that Dr. Rivers saw to Helen while she was sick, and knew that the school's harsh treatment of its students indirectly caused her death.

  Dr. Rivers: Jane, you know what duty is, don't you? Duty is what you have to do even when you don't want to do it. I may not want to go out into a snow storm to visit a sick child, but I know I have to go because it's my duty. Now, what is your duty, Jane?

  Jane Eyre: I don't know.

  Dr. Rivers: Yes, you do, Jane. In your heart, you know perfectly well. Your duty is to prepare yourself to do God's work in the world.