Tyrone Power was at his best playing earnest idealists, so you totally buy him as a nuclear scientist who is convinced he’s come from the past and is meant to marry a girl in 1784. He manages to go back in time and finds out that in fact he’s more interested in the girl’s sister (Debra Paget) and that he has a little trouble with the grime, poverty and oppression of the time. He also meets The Duchess of Devon and Boswell, even giving them some quotes (eg “a woman like a gong should be struck regularly”).
It’s a bit convenient how he’s bundled off to the nut house but manages to get transported back in time again – but you have to handle the whole thing with a pinch of salt. And if you can, it has a romantic, touching charm – what would you do if you went back in time to 1784? The actor who plays Power’s friend sounded very familiar; I thought it was Michael Rennie, who was in the film – but actually it was Australia’s own Michael Pate.
At the end of the film Paget talks about how in her early Hollywood career she appeared in some support roles on Lux - and now she's a star. I don't know if you'd call her a "star"....
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