Themes: Star-Crossed Lovers, Experiments Gone Awry, Time Travel
Main Cast: Leslie Howard, Heather Angel, Valerie Taylor, Irene Browne, Beryl Mercer, Alan Mowbray
Release Year: 1933
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 87 minutes
Plot
Adapted from John Balderston's successful stage fantasy (itself based on a story by Henry James), Berkeley Square is the story of a modern-day London scientist (Leslie Howard), who is romantically fascinated by the 18th century. A freak accident propels Howard back to 1784, where he assumes the identity of one of his own ancestors. Howard falls in love with his distant cousin Helen (Heather Angel), while his other relatives regard the time-traveller as a "sorcerer" due to his disturbing knowledge of future events. Gradually, Howard is disillusioned by the squalor and bigotry of the 18th century. He bids farewell to Helen, explaining that he will actually be born years after her death but that they will be reunited "in God's time". Returning to the present, Howard discovers that Helen died young without ever marrying. He renounces his own fiancee and determines to live out his life as a bachelor, to be united with his true love in death. Long considered a lost film, Berkeley Square was rediscovered in the mid 1970s. The film had already been remade in 1951 as the Tyrone Power vehicle I'll Never Forget You. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The film was remade in 1951. The remake, entitled The House in the Square, but shown in the U.S. as I'll Never Forget You, starred Tyrone Power and Ann Blyth. It used a similar technique as The Wizard of Oz, by presenting the opening and closing sequences in black-and-white, and the rest of the film in color.
To Redeem a Value •10,000 Dollars •The Gentleman from Indiana •Jane •The Reform Candidate •The Tongues of Men •The Call of the Cumberlands •Madame la Presidente •The Code of Marcia Gray •David Garrick •The Making of Maddalena •An International Marriage •The Stronger Love •The Intrigue •Sins of Her Parent •The World and the Woman (with Eugene Moore) •The Kingdom of Love •The Price of Silence •A Tale of Two Cities •American Methods •When a Man Sees Red •Les Misérables •The Heart of a Lion •The Blindness of Divorce •True Blue •Riders of the Purple Sage •His Extra Bit •The Rainbow Trail •For Freedom •The Man Hunter •Pitfalls of a Big City •The World and Its Woman •The Loves of Letty
1920s
The Woman in Room 13 •The Silver Horde •Madame X •The Great Lover •A Tale of Two Worlds •Roads of Destiny •A Voice in the Dark •The Invisible Power •The Grim Comedian •The Man from Lost River •The Eternal Flame •The Sin Flood •Oliver Twist •The Voice from the Minaret •Within the Law •Ashes of Vengeance •Black Oxen •The Sea Hawk •The Silent Watcher •Her Husband's Secret •Winds of Chance •The Splendid Road •The Wise Guy •The Eagle of the Sea •Children of Divorce •Adoration •Weary River •The Divine Lady •Drag •Dark Streets •Young Nowheres
