Peggy Ann Garner as young Jane



Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine



Orson Welles, Margaret O'Brien and Joan Fontaine



Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine
Orphaned, unloved, and unwanted ten-year-old Jane Eyre (Peggy Ann Garner) lives with her cruel and selfish, uncaring paternal aunt, Mrs. Reed (Agnes Moorehead) of Gateshead Hall. Jane is ecstatic when Mrs. Reed, eager to be rid of the child, arranges for Jane to be sent to Lowood Institution, a charity boarding school for young girls, run by the disciplinarian Reverend Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell).
Based on what Mrs. Reed has told him, Mr. Brocklehurst labels Jane a liar in front of her schoolmates and orders her to stand on a stool for hours on her first day of attendance. She is comforted and befriended by another student, Helen Burns (Elizabeth Taylor). Later, Jane protests when Brocklehurst orders that Helen's naturally curling hair be cut. Both are punished by being forced to walk circles in a courtyard during a downpour. Dr. Rivers (John Sutton), a sympathetic physician who periodically checks on the students, brings them inside, but it is too late for Helen, who dies that night.
Ten years later, in 1840, 20-year-old Jane (Joan Fontaine) turns down Brocklehurst's offer of a teaching position. She advertises for and accepts a job as governess for a young girl named AdÃ¨le (Margaret O'Brien). When she arrives at Thornfield, a gloomy, isolated mansion, she initially thinks her employer is Mrs. Fairfax (Edith Barrett), who is only the housekeeper for the absent master.
Jane goes for a walk one night, only to startle a horse into throwing and slightly injuring its rider, Edward Rochester (Orson Welles)âwho she doesn't realize is her employer. When Jane arrives back at Thornfield, she discovers this fact, and Rochester calls her into his library to interview her.
That night, Jane is awakened by strange laughter. She investigates, and discovers that Mr. Rochester's bed curtains are on fire. She rouses the sleeping man and they extinguish the fire without rousing anyone. Rochester bids her wait while he goes to another wing of the house, where mysterious seamstress Grace Poole (an uncredited Ethel Griffies) keeps to herself. When he returns, he tells Jane nothing other than that the matter is under control. The next morning, he leaves Thornfield.
A winter and spring go by before he returns with a large group of guests. Jane is greatly saddened when Mrs. Fairfax discloses that everyone expects Rochester to marry Blanche Ingram (Hillary Brooke). However, Rochester confides to Jane his conviction that Miss Ingram is attracted only by his wealth.
When a man named Mason (an uncredited John Abbott) of Spanish Town, Jamaica, arrives at Thornfield, Jane sees that Rochester is disturbed. That night, a scream awakens everyone. Rochester assures his guests it is just a servant's reaction to a nightmare, but after he sends them back to their rooms, he has Jane secretly tend a bleeding Mason, while he fetches a doctor. Jane assumes Grace is responsible. Rochester has the doctor take Mason away.
Rochester has a private conversation with Blanche, in which he bluntly asserts that she is a gold digger. Offended, she and the guests leave. Unaware of this development, Jane broaches the topic of her future employment elsewhere after Rochester gets married. He reveals to Jane that he intends to marry her.
During the wedding ceremony, an attorney intervenes and declares that Rochester has a wife still living, who is mentally ill and deranged. This is confirmed by Mason, Rochester's brother-in-law. Rochester calls off the marital ceremony and takes them back to Thornfield to reveal his insane spouse, who lives in a tower cell, guarded by Grace Poole. Jane rejects Rochester's offer to stay together without being married. She departs Thornfield.
With her funds exhausted, Jane returns to Gateshead. She discovers that her aunt has suffered a stroke, caused by worry over the ruinous gambling habits of her son, who it is revealed has committed suicide. There is a reconciliation. After Mrs. Reed dies, Jane ponders what to do next, when she hears an anguished and beloved male voice from thin air calling her name.
Jane travels to Thornfield and finds it in ruins. Mrs. Fairfax informs her that the lunatic escaped, set the place on fire, and fled to the roof. When Rochester tried to rescue her, she jumped and was killed. He was blinded when the burning staircase collapsed underneath him. With no other impediments, Jane joyfully returns to him. She narrates that, when their son was born, her husband's vision was sufficiently restored for him to see their child.
Who plays the role of Helen Burns?
Elizabeth Taylor