Post by hi224 on Jan 23, 2018 3:32:31 GMT
I give it a Yey (or Yea). I reviewed it on the Classic Film Board weekly thread from the old boards. Here's what I said:
Berkeley Square / Frank Lloyd (1933). In “Berkeley Square” Leslie Howard in transported back in time from his own year of 1933 to 1784. He accomplishes this by an alignment of circumstances and wishful thinking (much like the feat was done years later in “Somewhere In Time” (1980)). There, he meets his ancestors, gets in trouble for blurting out things that haven’t happened yet, using strange words and terms that are not understood in the 18th century (“see you later”), and manages to upset the chronology of the past. This film, based on a Broadway play that Howard had made a great success in, is a bit unusual for movies before the ‘60s. The concept of Time Travel in science fiction was not new. H.G. Wells had published his famous novel “The Time Machine” in 1895 (coining the term “time machine”), but until the 1960s, time travel was a rare subject for movies. “Berkeley Square” was remade is several forms before 1960 including a feature film “The House In The Square” (1951). Sometimes the subject is flirted with as in René Clair’s “It Happened Tomorrow” when Dick Powell gets the power to see the next day’s newspaper, but Powell never travels himself and there is a hint of the supernatural. I can’t think of many good examples. The movie is a delight, almost a comedy, but ultimately sad. Recommended.