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Berkeley Square

  • 1933
  • Passed
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1K
YOUR RATING
Leslie Howard and Heather Angel in Berkeley Square (1933)
FantasyRomance

A young American man comes to believe that he can will himself back to London in the time of the American Revolution and meet his ancestors, who lived in the house he has just inherited.A young American man comes to believe that he can will himself back to London in the time of the American Revolution and meet his ancestors, who lived in the house he has just inherited.A young American man comes to believe that he can will himself back to London in the time of the American Revolution and meet his ancestors, who lived in the house he has just inherited.

  • Director
    • Frank Lloyd
  • Writers
    • John L. Balderston
    • Sonya Levien
    • Henry James
  • Stars
    • Leslie Howard
    • Heather Angel
    • Valerie Taylor
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Frank Lloyd
    • Writers
      • John L. Balderston
      • Sonya Levien
      • Henry James
    • Stars
      • Leslie Howard
      • Heather Angel
      • Valerie Taylor
    • 33User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 4 wins & 2 nominations total

    Photos4

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    Top cast16

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    Leslie Howard
    Leslie Howard
    • Peter Standish
    Heather Angel
    Heather Angel
    • Helen Pettigrew
    Valerie Taylor
    Valerie Taylor
    • Kate Pettigrew
    Irene Browne
    Irene Browne
    • Lady Ann Pettigrew
    Beryl Mercer
    Beryl Mercer
    • Mrs. Barwick
    Colin Keith-Johnston
    Colin Keith-Johnston
    • Tom Pettigrew
    Alan Mowbray
    Alan Mowbray
    • Major Clinton
    Juliette Compton
    Juliette Compton
    • Duchess of Devonshire
    Betty Lawford
    Betty Lawford
    • Marjorie Trant
    Ferdinand Gottschalk
    Ferdinand Gottschalk
    • Mr. Throstle
    Samuel S. Hinds
    Samuel S. Hinds
    • The American Ambassador
    • (as Samuel Hinds)
    Olaf Hytten
    Olaf Hytten
    • Sir Joshua Reynolds
    David Torrence
    David Torrence
    • Lord Stanley
    Lionel Belmore
    Lionel Belmore
    • Innkeeper
    • (uncredited)
    Tom Ricketts
    Tom Ricketts
    • Town Crier
    • (uncredited)
    Hylda Tyson
    • Maid
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Frank Lloyd
    • Writers
      • John L. Balderston
      • Sonya Levien
      • Henry James
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews33

    6.51K
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    Featured reviews

    drednm

    A Past to Look Forward To

    Leslie Howard received his first Oscar nomination in this lovely film adaptation of the play he starred in in London and on Broadway. He plays a current-day (1933) American man who yearns for the peace and quiet and beauty of the 18th century after he discovers some old papers and diaries in his ancestral house. He wishes so hard he is actually transported to 1784.

    Right off the bat, he gets into trouble fitting into the rhythm and manners of 18th Century London ... and into the lives of his ancestors. The mother (Irene Browne) is trying to marry off two daughters (Heather Angel, Valerie Taylor) to men with money, one of whom is Howard's ancestor whose body he is now inhabiting.

    Knowing that he must not change history, he walks a tightrope. He is not attracted to the woman his ancestor marries, but he is attracted to her sister. But history dictates he must not marry her. He also keeps dropping words and phrases that make no sense in 1784, and he scares people by when he blurts out bits of information about things that have not yet happened.

    As he digs himself into a bigger hole every day, he realizes that the woman he really loves (Angel) seems to shares his discontent for the age in which she is trapped. She longs for the future! Yet in one horrific moment, she sees the future world in his eyes and it scares her. For his part, he finally has to admit that the 18th Century is utterly horrible and that it actually stinks! People don't bathe; the streets are full of horse manure.

    Leslie Howard is superb as the man torn between the past and his own time. He and Heather Angel make for a terrifically doomed couple, and the scene when he returns (in 1933) from her grave and read the epitaph carved into her headstone is quite moving.

    Co-stars include Juliette Compton as an arch and wily duchess, Alan Mowbray as Clinton, Ferdinand Gottschalk as the aged suitor, Betty Lawford as the current-day girlfriend, Beryl Mercer as the housekeeper, and Samuel S. Hinds as Adams.
    7l_rawjalaurence

    Creaky Yet Strangely Haunting Version of a Theatrical Classic

    BERKELEY SQUARE was a success d'estime of the late Twenties and early Thirties. Based on a short story - THE SENSE OF THE PAST - by Henry James, it tells the story of how Peter Standish (Leslie Howard) travels back in time from the contemporary world into the late eighteenth century, and discovers to his cost that life isn't quite as idyllic as the history books might suggest. John L. Balderston's script isn't without its sentimental moments, but generally takes a hard-nosed look at the ways in which individuals remain as self-centered in the past as they might have been over a century ago. Leslie Howard, who created the past of Standish on the Broadway stage, here recreates his part; he doesn't have to do much other than to look bewildered, which he achieves very competently. Valerie Taylor makes an ideal romantic interest. Director Frank Lloyd was one of Twentieth Century-Fox's most competent contract directors; his version of Noel Coward's CAVALCADE (1933), based on another theatrical hit, is particularly memorable. In BERKELEY SQUARE he creates a brisk narrative, containing a memorable series of transitions between past and present. Definitely worth a look if a copy of the film can be found.
    7AlsExGal

    a sublime pre-code that holds up remarkably well

    Leslie Howard plays an American who takes possession of a bequeathed estate in London's Berkeley Square quarter. While at the house, Howard magically connects to the past, and makes the stunning discovery that time happens all at once. (A topic explored by Christopher Nolan in 2014's Interstellar).

    A thunder storm serves as the device that transports Howard from 1933 back to 1784, and in the same Berkeley Square house he would one day inherit. Posing as the recently-arrived American cousin his hosts were expecting, Howard frightens those in his presence by the ability to predict the future, and by his odd phrases. They think he's the devil. But Heather Angel's character, the sister of the woman Howard was slated to marry, sees the truth.

    Berkeley Square has a lovely staginess to it, and the air of a drawing room comedy of manners, with sumptuous period costumes. (The film is based on a play by the same name). Howard and Angel capture the loneliness and despair of lovers trapped in different worlds. Historical figures like the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Georgina the Duchess of Devonshire make appearances.

    There's a scene in which Angel stares into Howard's eyes, and sees the future: the great Industrial Revolution, with automobiles, trains, airplanes, electricity, tall buildings. She also sees war and destruction. And rather than being in awe of the modern world, she's horrified that God would condemn mankind to such a monstrous future. It's quite prescient. If someone back in 1933 could have had a peak into the future they, like Heather Angel's character, would probably look past the digital gadgets and be horrified, too.
    Grady-8

    Great enthusiasm for a 66-year old film.

    "Berkeley Square" is similar in theme to Jack Finney's "Time and Again." A present day American is transported back to the home of his ancestors in London, during the American Revolution. He knows, of course, what will hap- pen and even falls in love with one of his female ancestors. An old film but a terrific one, with Leslie Howard and Heather Angel.
    8blanche-2

    beautiful film

    Leslie Howard stars in "Berkeley Square," also starring Heather Angel.

    Howard plays Peter Standish, who is fascinated by all the material he finds in his house from his 18th century ancestors, 146 years earlier. He believes that if he wants to, he can go back to that time. This film is the predecessor to many time travel films, including Somewhere in Time.

    His ancestor, also Peter Standish, visited his house from America on a particular date. Peter changes places with him on that date in the present.

    At first, all is well; then he starts slipping and speaking of things in the future to the extent that people begin to believe he is possessed b the devil. The only person who senses the real Peter is Helen Pettigrew (Heather Angel) a Standish cousin. He and Helen fall in love, and she is able to see the future through his eyes -- war, weapons of destruction, neon lights, cars - it all terrifies her. This is the best sequence in the film.

    Helen cannot go into the future with him -- and doesn't want to, given what she's seen -- and he's a pariah, and will make her one, if he stays.

    This is a charming film badly in need of restoration. Leslie Howard is perfect as Peter -- handsome, ethereal, and well-suited to the period aspects. Heather Angel, whom I've just gotten to know in the Bulldog Drummond series, is delightful, petite and pretty with a soothing voice and a fragility that lends itself well to the role.

    Berkeley Square was remade in 1951 as "I'll Never Forget You," starring Tyrone Power, which has a less sober ending - before it was released on DVD, it was in the TCM website's top ten of most requested films to be released as a DVD. There's something appealing about time travel - otherwise, there wouldn't be so many films about it. But there's also something appealing and modern about the premise of Berkeley Square - that all time runs parallel and is all happening at once. Quantum physics would agree that this is so.

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    Related interests

    Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    Fantasy
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      S.T. Joshi points to this film as an inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's novel "The Shadow Out of Time": "Lovecraft saw this film four times in late 1933; its portrayal of a man of the 20th century who somehow merges his personality with that of his 18th-century ancestor was clearly something that fired Lovecraft's imagination, since he had written a story on this very theme himself--the then unpublished "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" (1927)." Lovecraft called the film "the most weirdly perfect embodiment of my own moods and pseudo-memories that I have ever seen--for all my life I have felt as if I might wake up out of this dream of an idiotic Victorian age and insane jazz age into the sane reality of 1760 or 1770 or 1780." Lovecraft noted some conceptual problems in this film's depiction of time travel, and felt that he had "eliminated these flaws in his masterful novella of mind-exchange over time."
    • Goofs
      The word Okay (OK) was not used in the 18th century.
    • Quotes

      Tom Pettigrew: [to his sister, after being caught kissing the maid] You all look alike in the dark.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Don't Bet on Blondes (1935)
    • Soundtracks
      Early One Morning
      (uncredited)

      English folk song

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    FAQ16

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • September 15, 1933 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • La plaza de Berkeley
    • Production company
      • Fox Film Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 28m(88 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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