Best movie of this year hands down!

one of my absolute favorites!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

New York publisher Lewis Venable (Robert Cummings) travels to Venice to acquire the lost love letters of poet Jeffrey Ashton. He rents a room from Ashton's former lover elderly Juliana Bordereau (Agnes Moorehead) and her niece Tina (Susan Hayward). They need money. One night, he finds the normally hard Tina with her hair loose and playing the piano. She seems to think that she's Juliana in love with Ashton. She doesn't remember the next morning. Juliana reveals that Tina sometimes loses herself believing Juliana as the hated maid Rosa.Robert Cummings is rather stiff and he is exceeded by Susan Hayward's stoneface acting. When her character changes, she becomes the embodiment of melodramatic romantic acting. This kind of acting make it impossible to develop chemistry for the two leads. There is some atmospherics but there is little tension. Everybody is so mannered.

What is it with this film? If you love cinema, you have to love every movie of the 40s?The acting? poor, very poor. Neither Cummings, nor Hayward are ANY good. And the great Agnes Moorehead, apart from her voice, what acting is there? You hardly ever see her, and never really see her eyes at all.The score? rather conventional, uninspired, haunted-house-kind-of-thing.The story and dialogue? I found the story rather boring and there was never anything that really caught my interest. All very predictable and - again - conventional.The cinematography/production design? is the best thing about this movie. Pretty nice and atmospheric, well done.So thanks to Hal Mohr and Alexander Golitzen this movie is not a total waste of time.

Actor Martin Gabel's first (and only) directorial effort is rich with atmosphere and Gothic artiness. Based loosely on the Henry James novel, "The Aspern Papers," the film follows the efforts of an ambitious publisher, Lewis Venable (Robert Cummings) to locate the lost love letters of an 18th century poet named Jeffrey Ashton. He believes the letters to be in the possession of Ashton's aged former lover, Juliana Bordereau(Agnes Moorehead).Under the pretense of being a writer in search of inspiration, he manages to rent a room in the ghostly Bordereau home in Venice, much to the dislike of a mysterious young woman (Susan Hayward) who is said to be Juliana's niece, Tina. Things become complicated when, one night, he is drawn by strange music to the opposite side of the house. There, he finds Tina at the piano. She believes she is Juliana and that Lewis is her lover, Jeffrey Ashton, taking the film in a somewhat otherworldly direction.Those who make a habit of reading between the lines may suggest that Cummings' protagonist has opened an esoteric door to the past as he enters the room, finding what is perhaps a young Juliana in a dream-like state.It's easy to say that Susan Hayward is excellent in this film, if for no other reason than the fact that her beauty is astounding. In addition, the camera angles and lighting pay immense flattery. Though, in fairness, her performance is more than adequate and the stark contrast between the character's two personalities is quite real.Also worth a mention is Agnes Moorehead's eerie portrayal of the century-old lady of the house who never sleeps, and Daniele Amfitheatrof's moody, yet seemly musical score."The Lost Moment" deserves more than just a look.

This turned up on tv and, having recently seen another James adaptation, The Innocents, I thought I'd take a look. This is quite a sweet little film, despite its sinister content and ghostly images of Venice. Cummings, Hayward and Moorehead are all excellent. "Venice" looks as good as the real thing, and the film has that watchable quality which sits with the very best of the 40s. One I'll certainly go back to.