Rating: - A TERRIFIC BUT SOMETIMES DARK FILM
Based on Henry James "The Aspern Papers", Robert Cummings head for Italy in search of the greatest poetic love letters every written to the mysterious Julianna (Agnes Moorehead made up as a very old woman). This pseudo-mystery is filled with images of light and dark in the murky old villa where Moorehead lives with her emotionless staid niece Susan Hayward who transforms magically at night into the beautiful Julianna. Hayward is almost childlike in her unworldlyness in both roles. She is in fact a dual personality. And when she begins to loosen up with the help of Cummings, things start going all ... Read More
Rating: - The Lost Moment
This is a rare imaginative film, though not at all like the original story by Henry James. It is also a rare dramatic performance by Bob Cummings who is mostly known for his roles in romantic comedies. Agnes Moorehead is wonderful as the ancient, mysterious Juliana and Susan Hayward gives a great performance as the mentally unstable niece whose fantasies verge on madness.
I highly recommend this one.
Rating: - One of the few imaginative reworkings of Henry James.
Although Henry James' novella 'The Aspern Papers' - about an unscrupulous American publisher (here called Lewis Venable) who plans to elicit by any means the love letters from a famous poet to a now-wizened mistress, Juliana, living with her spinster niece, Tina - is superbly dramatic, full of neurotic suspense and atmosphere, one thing prevents it being adapted faithfully to the screen - the first-person narration. There is no visual shorthand for James' notoriously unreliable storytelling, its gaps, evasions, its play between subjective consciousness and authorial control.
Rating: - Off-beat, absorbing drama
3 1/2 stars. This haunting drama based on The Aspern Papers by Henry James casts a hypnotic spell on the viewer and keeps him (or her) completely entranced throughout its 89 minute running time. An intelligent script, fine photography and performances and astute direction are among this film's assets. Robert Cummings, often considered a lightweight performer, comes through here with a mature, thoughtful performance. The story of a publisher who comes to a strange house in Venice to retrieve the long lost love letters of a famous poet and runs into more than he bargained for is treated with ... Read More
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