Film

Berkeley Square

Name: Berkeley Square
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Released: 1933
Cast: Leslie Howard, Heather Angel, Valerie Taylor, Irene Browne, Beryl Mercer

A 1933 fantasy romance where an American man mysteriously slips back to 18th-century London and falls for an ancestor's sister. Ethereal and melancholy, with the wistful quality of a dream you can't quite hold onto. It's for people who like their supernatural stories quiet, emotional, and steeped in the past.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy slow-burning time-slip stories where the period atmosphere and quiet melancholy matter as much as the romance, and you don't need special effects to feel the magic.

Skip it if you want brisk pacing or modern special effects; this is talky, stagey and tender, with its fantasy handled through conversation and mood rather than spectacle.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a short, unhurried evening of 84 minutes, where the pleasures come from dialogue, costume and gentle melancholy rather than plot momentum.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Picture of Dorian Gray1945

A Hollywood classic with supernatural stakes and genuine darkness. Hurd Hatfield's performance is hypnotic, and the film captures that same sense of beauty preserved outside time that haunts Berkeley Square.

But Melodramatic in places, and the moral weight can feel heavy-handed. Also, it's much more overtly Gothic than the gentler Berkeley Square.

Midnight1939

Wilder's screwball masterpiece about identity and belonging in another world. Like Berkeley Square, it's concerned with people caught between where they are and where they long to be, but it finds comedy there instead.

But Fast, clever dialogue might exhaust you if you're in the mood for contemplation. The tone is almost opposite: snappy instead of wistful.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir1947

Another romance haunted by time and loss. Rex Harrison's ghost and Gene Tierney's widow share that same tender ache—neither quite belongs to the world they're in, and they find solace in each other.

But More whimsical than Berkeley Square, and the ending is gentler. If you want existential dread instead of acceptance, you'll be let down.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Berkeley Square

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Night Circus

Both films treat the past or the magical as a space where love transcends the logic of the present world. Both are more concerned with mood and longing than with mechanics or explanation.

Burge's adaptation of Erin Morgenstern's novel: a love story between competitors across parallel worlds. It's visual where Berkeley Square is interior, but both are steeped in the same sense that love exists outside ordinary time and logic.

But Deliberately atmospheric and slow. Plot is secondary. If you need things to *happen*, you'll find it mannered and thin.

A Matter of Time1976

Visconti's late film about a woman meeting her grandmother's ghost across time, searching for connection and meaning. Sumptuous, sad, and deeply concerned with how the past shapes us.

But It's elliptical and slow. Many found it Visconti's weakest work. The narrative can feel like a dream in the worst way: frustrating and opaque.

Somewhere in Time1980

A man travels back through time to meet the woman he loves. It shares Berkeley Square's architecture of longing—the past as a place you might reach if you wish hard enough, love strong enough.

But Sentimental to the point of saccharine. The logic is soft and the pacing meandering. It requires you to meet it in its dream-state or you'll resist it.

The Time Traveler's Wife2009

A love story broken across time, where the lovers meet in the wrong order. Less supernatural-mysterious than Berkeley Square, but it carries the same ache of people separated by when they exist.

But Relies on emotional manipulation rather than earned sentiment. The time-travel mechanics are arbitrary. It can feel contrived if you're not already invested in the romance.

Blithe Spirit1945

A Coward adaptation where a man's dead wife haunts his new marriage. Elegant, witty, and concerned with how the past doesn't stay buried. Much more comedy than Berkeley Square, but similar DNA.

But The humour depends on a very specific sensibility. If you don't find British mid-century comedy charming, it'll feel precious and dated.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

A disaster film, yes, but really an ensemble piece about people caught in an impossible world, trying to reach the past—in this case, the normal world left behind. Berkeley Square and this share an existential isolation.

But It's loud and maximalist where Berkeley Square is quiet. Also, the thematic echo is the whole of it; the films aren't otherwise similar at all.

Brigadoon1954

A musical where an American finds a Scottish village that exists only one day every century. Like Berkeley Square, it asks: if you found magic, a place and person you love, would you stay or leave?

But The dancing is elaborate and the score is earnest. The women are largely decorative. If you can't surrender to mid-century Hollywood musicals, this will feel thin.

Stalker1979

Both films are about the pull of elsewhere—a place or time that promises meaning. Both treat that yearning as metaphysical, something cinema can evoke through atmosphere rather than plot.

Tarkovsky's science-fiction meditation on desire and faith. A man guides two others toward a room that grants wishes. Like Berkeley Square, it's about journeying toward something you cannot quite grasp, unsure whether what you find will save or destroy you.

But Nearly three hours of slow tracking shots and philosophical rambling. No plot in the traditional sense. It's the opposite of entertainment; it's an endurance test that demands surrender.

Hiroshima Mon Amour1959

Both films use the supernatural or temporal—time travel, memory, the past made present—to explore whether love can breach the distance between people. But where Berkeley Square is tender, this is scarred and desperate.

Resnais and Duras's radical film about two lovers trying to connect across memory and the scars of history. A Japanese woman and French man meet; their past selves haunt every moment. The cinema itself breaks time open.

But Fractured narrative. The dialogue is philosophical, sometimes opaque. Sex and destruction are intertwined. It's challenging, not consoling.