Micransix Crappy film

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

clanciai This is a delightfully ingenious comedy with Leslie Howard in one of his most spiritual roles, transmuting between 1784 and 1933. The conversation is enjoyably brilliant throughout like in all Leslie Howard's films, and so is the charming music. Frank Lloyd made some of the best films in the 1930s, and this is one of them although rather forgotten today and neglected while its wit transcends practically everything in the 30s. Particularly amusing is the play with confusions, and even Sir Joshua Reynolds is involved in it and is terrified. This is one of those many outstanding old films that are worth restoring and rediscovering indeed.

Richard Chatten Most of us feel dissatisfied with the time in which they are living (I was five in the year 1964, to which I have long felt a powerful desire to return when I have the time, and will this time be paying more attention); and the feeling that the past is still out there somewhere going about its business continues to resonate through such disparate works of fiction as 'Wild Strawberries' and 'Goodnight Sweetheart'.Through the medium of that authentic miracle of time travel, YouTube, having just watched the 1951 Technicolor version with Tyrone Power of John L. Balderston's West End hit of 1926 I was immediately able to summon up like magic the earlier version adapted by Balderston himself with the star of the Broadway production of 1929, Leslie Howard; which for many years was once a lost film. (As a visitor from the future, I was intrigued to discover that Howard's fiancée Kate Pettigrew was played by the British stage actress Valerie Taylor - also from the original Broadway cast - who I know as a middle-aged woman from 'Went the Day Well' in 1942.) The romance between Peter Standish and Helen Pettigrew engages the interest far more in this version, which has that pre-Code deftness of touch (Heather Angel as Helen also wears a chic thirties suit with a fur collar easily as eye-catching as her 18th Century creations).With the benefit of hindsight, it's sobering to be aware that Howard, Power and Christopher Reeve (star of 'Somewhere in Time') were all taken before their time; something only a visitor from the future - or a film viewer - could know.

mark.waltz The greatest of all time travel romance dramas, this is a sweet tale of two lovers destined not to be together in life but vowing to be together in eternity. Leslie Howard is a rather mystical young man consumed with the past for some reason beyond his knowledge, and when he returns to his Berkeley Square home one night, finds him living 150 years before, in period clothing, and engaged to a distant cousin. The family senses something odd about him from the get-go, and the romance between him and his fiancée is obviously non-existent, he falling head over heels in love with the more innocent cousin (Diana Wynard) who is intrigued by his ability to see into the future. In a key moment of the film, he gives her the ability to see the future, and she is horrified by what she sees. (And this was only events up to 1933!) Howard's character is considered by his distant family to be some sort of evil omen, having taken over the spirit of the actual cousin coming from America. When his shipmate Alan Mowbray arrives for a visit, he senses immediately that something other worldly has taken over him as the senses of who he was have totally vanished. Everybody around him from the family elders to a local painter are disturbed by his ability to read into their secrets, the painter truly spooked by Howard's mentioning a painting nobody knew about that he was in the process of completing.This is a story that no review can really describe. Like its Tyrone Power remake ("I'll Never Forget You") and one of my favorite modern classics (the underrated "Somewhere in Time"), this is the story of romance that time and human frailties cannot wither. In modern times, Howard must face the truth that he's never going to find his true love in his own era and lives with the memory of somebody long dead. Howard's performance shows the despair but acceptance that this causes him, and in this lies the tragic element of the story.Strikingly filmed, acted and directed, "Berkeley Square" is one of those sleepers beloved by classic film connoisseurs but obscure for everybody else. It is one definitely worth re-discovery.

clementj This is a very amusing love story with a good dash of humor. Much of the humor centers around the culture clash between Standish and the 18th century family. Standish uses modern terms and slips when he reveals things that happen in the future. The culture clash is a cautionary tale for would be travelers. This film appealed to many women because Leslie Howard was a heart throb for many of them. My mother loved this film and could watch it over and over. She was so disappointed when late in her life it disappeared from the old movies shown on TV.It is currently not commercially available, but a number of vendors have poor quality CDs or tapes for sale. All of these were probably made from a VHS tape from a TV showing. The tape was deteriorated and possibly copied several times so there is a lot of instability and wiggling of the image. The original broadcast used extreme compression of the video and sound. As a result the noise level rises to become very loud until dialog causes the gain to be cut. As a result the dialog is sometimes very indistinct. The music which was originally soft also rises to match the level of the dialog. Once this is restored by hand, the film is fairly listenable. The complaint of another reviewer about the music being too loud may stem from watching a copy with similarly compressed sound. In addition the broadcast severely cropped the film and did not stabilize the jitter.This is a film that deserves restoration from the existing prints, but when and if this happens is unknown. Until then buying one of the existing CDs may be the only way to view this fine film.