Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Brilliant and touching

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Apparently the other reviewers really liked this movie and I am happy they liked it. As for me, perhaps I am too picky, but the movie seemed like a good idea that was indifferently executed. It's a shame, too, as I love Tyrone Power films and there was a lot to like about the film--but also a lot that frustrated me as well.The film begins with Power playing a scientist from MIT. While he should have been quite happy about his life, he is rather distant from everyone. When a co-worker (Michael Rennie) talks to him about this, Power confides that he is happy alone AND he plans on leaving--for another time!!! How, he doesn't know, but through reading a diary and looking at an 18th century painting that looks exactly like him, Tyrone is sure he's about to take this amazing journey back in time. Rennie, naturally, thinks he's a nutter! However, very suddenly and with no real scientific explanation, lightning strikes and Power is transported back to 1784.Now you would THINK that a man who was educated at MIT would be able to somehow muddle through the 18th century. Sadly, however, he seems a bit dim and only succeeds in convincing those of the past that he's either crazy or in league with Satan! He just doesn't do a credible job of fitting in and again and again freaks people out because he knows the future. The only one who doesn't behave afraid of him is lovely Ann Blyth. But, by the end of the movie, Power is once again transported magically to the present time and he and Blyth are parted...of sorts.It was a neat idea having him fall in love and this could have been handled better--such as her returning to the present with him. Additionally, as his character seemed awfully dumb (being unable to come close to fitting in) and there was no explanation for any of this hocus-pocus, I was just left more confused--feeling like a lot of important details STILL should have been worked out before the movie was completed.An earnest effort that just doesn't quite hit the mark for me.

I'd been looking forward to this one, in view of its time-travel/reincarnation theme (released as part of a 10-movie set of minor Tyrone Power vehicles, I had opted to acquire it through ulterior sources – though I may still get my hands on some of the other titles). Still, I was surprised by how well this implausible yet fascinating theme is handled here – surely making for one of the star's most underrated (and unusual) efforts.Made in Britain, the film was based on John L. Balderston's romantic fantasy play "Berkeley Square" (the literate adaptation here is by Ranald MacDougall) – already brought to the screen in 1933 under that name (while the original title of this one is actually THE HOUSE IN THE SQUARE); the first version is virtually impossible to see nowadays, though it did land Leslie Howard an Oscar nomination – the ultimate irony, given that the transcendental narrative essentially bestows its protagonist with immortality, is that an untimely demise was in store for the leading man of both cinematic renditions! Anyway, Power is an American scientist working in England (the initial radiation experiment is intriguing but superfluous and misleading under the circumstances) who lives in a house belonging to an ancestor of his and who conveniently looked just like him. Finding the latter's diary, he learns that he had been persecuted for his strange beliefs and practices and was eventually locked up in an insane asylum – he becomes convinced that, by some quirk of nature, the two had actually exchanged places and, soon enough, he's hit by a bolt of lightning and wakes up in 1784! He meets the family of his forebear including the latter's future wife (Beatrice Campbell); thanks to letters which had been preserved and that he had read, Power's initially able to comfortably fill his shoes – however, he then meets and falls for Ann Blyth, Campbell's sister and of whom he was unaware! Soon, the hero begins to commit other gaffes by which he demonstrates to be perceptive of things that hadn't yet occurred or, at least, weren't common knowledge (from the gift of a shawl for Campbell which Blyth hadn't even unpacked, the secret and subsequently famous portrait of a Duchess – played by Kathleen Byron – by the painter Gainsborough, delivering the lady's own obituary at a ball, not to mention 'feeding' Dr. Johnson with some of his own celebrated epigrams[!], etc). This doesn't sit at all well with either Campbell (who's unwilling to keep up her engagement to Power, not least because of his constant attentions for her sister) or the vindictive Raymond Huntley (Blyth's much older suitor). The hero, finding himself increasingly out-of-touch with the times, retires to a basement in a poor quarter of town to 'recreate' future inventions such as the light bulb and the model of a steam-ship; when these are discovered, they're branded the handiwork of a sorcerer by eminent scientist Felix Aylmer – the place is destroyed there and then, while Power is on his way to perpetual confinement in Bedlam! Other notable cast members are Dennis Price (playing an amiable rake, as was his fashion during this time – the relentless and rather effeminate pursuit of etiquette by the aristocrats, in fact, is just about the sole blemish on the picture) and Michael Rennie (as Power's pragmatic scientist associate in the modern-day sequences). Incidentally, the film utilizes moody black-and-white cinematography for these bookends – while soft but attractive color is employed throughout the central 'fantasy' section; both are courtesy of Georges Perinal, a top French cameraman resident in Britain for over thirty years. Similarly, Power effectively tackles both facets of his character: the film, ultimately, can be read as both a morality play (the hero's decision to tempt Fate which, as often happens, subsequently threatens to unbalance the order of the things) and a celebration of that well-worn Surrealist concept – l' amour fou – in his relationship with a radiant Blyth (herself playing a dual role, the second as Rennie's sister who had cared for the Power's even more bewildered ancestor in his unseen tenure in the 20th century).Given my appreciation for THE HOUSE IN THE SQUARE (the title I'm partial to myself), I'm all the more interested now in one day catching the original version. Finally, this was one of British director Baker (a future horror regular)'s brief four-movie brush with Hollywood – I'd already watched DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952; which I also own) and INFERNO (1953), but not the minor noir NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP (1952).

I've searched nearly forty years for this film and was pleased to see it had finally been released on DVD. Having seen it as a child, I was desperately hoping that I would still like it as I did so many years ago. I was not disappointed. It's a great film, very well written, and beautifully restored. I loved it from beginning to end. I rented the film from Netflix and it includes another Tyrone Power film on the other side. "The Luck of the Irish," has been restored to the green color they used in the theatricle release. I'll probably watch that one too. I will definitely buy this DVD for my own library.Well worth the wait.

This was one of the best 'love story' movies that I remember when I was a teen. I haven't seen this movie also in about 40 plus years. I hope somewhere that a copy was saved and released as a DVD. I think it was one of Tyrone Powers great love stories and the cast was excellent to match. I have wanted to see this movie so many times and looked in so many places to try and find a way to either see it again or obtain some sort of copy. I'd like to think that before I drop dead I would like to be able to see this movie one last time. I hope again that it hasn't been lost forever. The movie has already been described by others at IMDb. I wish more movies were made like this one and we had more actors like the ones in this movie. I remember seeing it on a black and white TV and being brought to tears after watching it on the Late show in NYC. One thing I remember about this movie was the strong love between Ann Blyth and Tyrone Power and how one could actually die of heart break.