A publisher insinuates himself into the mouldering mansion of the centenarian lover of a renowned but long-dead poet to find his lost love letters.A publisher insinuates himself into the mouldering mansion of the centenarian lover of a renowned but long-dead poet to find his lost love letters.A publisher insinuates himself into the mouldering mansion of the centenarian lover of a renowned but long-dead poet to find his lost love letters.
- Restaurant Patron
- (uncredited)
- Alberto - Proprietor
- (uncredited)
- Restaurant Patron
- (uncredited)
- Fruit Vendor
- (uncredited)
- Young Man
- (uncredited)
- Restaurant Patron
- (uncredited)
- Waiter
- (uncredited)
- Waiter
- (uncredited)
- Singer
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaHenry James based the story on an anecdote he had heard when he was in Florence, Italy, in 1879. Claire Clairmont, the half-sister of Percy Bysshe Shelley's wife Mary Shelley and the mother of Lord Byron's daughter Allegra, was still alive and related how an unscrupulous Shelley devotee had posed as a lodger in order to find any unpublished papers. After the aged Claire died, her niece offered the papers to him, but at a price.
- GoofsWhen Lewis rescues Juliana from the fire, Juliana's stunt double can be seen grabbing onto Lewis and helping him carry 'her' out.
- Quotes
Lewis Venable: In that fearfully incredible moment I knew I had plunged off a precipice into the past. That here was Juliana beyond belief, beautiful, alluring, alive. How strange this was, this Tina, who walked dead among the living and living among the dead, filling me with a nameless fear! I had a sudden impulse to turn and leave, and then I remembered the letters.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Myra Breckinridge (1970)
- SoundtracksFenesta che lucive
(uncredited)
Music by William Cottrau (or Vincenzo Bellini)
Sung by Enrico Caruso
In love scene between Lewis and Tina
Cummings plays Lewis Venable, a New York publisher visiting Venice with the goal of getting his hands on the love letters of a poet from the 19th Century, Jeffrey Ashton. The passionate letters were betwen Ashton and Juliana Bordereau.
Venable, under an assumed name, rents a room in the Bordereau house, a kind of grand guignol, dark place. Juliana (Moorhead) by this time is 105 years old and a recluse. She is being cared for by a niece, Tina, a woman who never smiles and is very strict. She obviously does not want Venable in the house. However, the family needs the money.
One night he hears music from somewhere in the house. Walking through the garden, he finally traces it to the embodiment of the young Juliana, a graceful woman with beautiful red hair falling around her shoulders, and she is wearing a beautiful gown It's Tina, who somehow steps into the past and becomes Juliana when she enters the room. To her, he is Jeffrey.
The family priest (Cianelli) warns Venable to ne careful rather than distroy Tina's loose hold on reality. But Venable wants those letters; he wants to know where they're hidden, and he plans on taking them.
I really enjoyed this. Robert Cummings is a lightweight and wrong for this - I would have loved to have seen Tyrone Power do it - but Susan Hayward was excellent in a dual role, and very beautiful.
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- Also known as
- The Lost Moment
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- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1