GManfred Peter Standish inherits an old town house on Berkeley Square and becomes taken with its history, and particularly, with its inhabitants 150 years in the past. He feels a part of the house and likens himself to one of them. Then, one day he time travels back and becomes part of the household. "Berkeley Square" then becomes a cautionary tale to Be Careful What You Wish For, as he is ill at ease among them. He tries to fit in but they don't seem to like him.The great Leslie Howard labors mightily to give an even-handed performance, but the film can't seem to make up its mind - a drama, or a light comedy? It is too mean-spirited to be a comedy and too whimsical to be a straight drama. He goes from scene to scene which are peopled with uncomprehending or hostile figures - all except the sweet, perceptive Helen (Heather Angel), youngest daughter of the household, with whom he falls in love. Despite its flaws, it is absorbing and holds your interest throughout as you try to predict the unpredictable outcome. Director Lloyd makes the change from the 20th century to the 18th imaginative and artful, but seemed unsure what genre film he should make. The final product is worth seeing and deciding for yourself.

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.

gkeith_1 Richard wills himself back in time, and spends time with Elise, falling in love with her. He later gets pulled away from her and returns to his future. Even later, they meet in Eternity - - together forever. Peter suddenly arrives back in time, and spends time with Helen, falling in love with her. He goes back to his future. He visits her moldering grave from times past. He wants to be with her in Eternity -- together forever. Richard had the penny to bring him back to the future, and Peter had the Ankh as a similar instrument. Richard had the pocket watch as the time loop instrument, also, that eerily appeared in his future and in his past. When Peter saw his future Ankh in the hands of his 18th Century girlfriend, I thought, "Peter is now going to creepily be pulled back to the future like Richard did in Somewhere In Time." Peter went back, and looked despondent just like Richard did in Somewhere in Time. Early in the Berkeley Square film, I began seeing scenes that totally creeped me out, because I instantly thought of Somewhere in Time and that its author Richard Matheson must have copied a lot from 1933's Berkeley Square. Just add into Somewhere in Time the real-life actress Maude Adams fictionalized as Elise McKenna, and you have a (maybe plagiarized) film and novel (Bid Time Return) that Matheson supposedly dreamed up after he accidentally saw an old photograph of Maude Adams in Piper's Theatre from the Old American West. (Matheson was a quite prolific writer, including Twilight Zone.). Somewhere in Time was not really the true story of Maude Adams, and it seemed to have quite a few of the elements from Berkeley Square. Both Elise and Helen figured that their boyfriends were from the future. Elise in the novel thought so, and even in that film she was interested in time travel. Helen saw the future through Peter's eyes, and a frightening future that it was. I thought that the Berkeley Square future montage of wars, fighting and killing, airplanes, trains, flappers, gangsters, etc., was quite clever, scary and had fantastic special effects. I enjoyed seeing Irene Browne (The Red Shoes) and Beryl Mercer (The Little Minister and The Little Princess) in Berkeley Square. My wish is that Berkeley Square could have been in color. In that comparison, Somewhere in Time wins by a landslide. Other connections and observations: Now, about that other time travel film, The Time Machine. H.G. Wells finds Weena in another dimension, and of course she cannot go back with him, either. In The Blue Bird, Shirley Temple visits her long-deceased grandparents. Finally, not time travel, but the film, The Little Princess (again played by Shirley), has wonderful Beryl Mercer portraying Queen Victoria during the Boer War. 10/10

blanche-2 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.