Expert: Mel - 10/7/2004

Question
Hi Mel, thanks for making yourself available for this question. I've been waiting for years to see this movie again. And, now that I want to get ahold of it online, I find I have not remembered the title of it correctly. For some reason I thought Hume Cronyn or Jessica Tandy was in it, but in researching, I can find NO movies with either of them who's synopsis even remotely recalls the one I'm looking for. I have my memories mixed up, here.


Now that I'm reading the book by Carson McCullers, I thought I'd find the movie version -- but I was mistaken about the movie title.

The film I want is NOT titled "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and the story is not the same.

I'm looking for a black and white film from times gone by.  It takes place in England.  I remember 2 of the scenes -- one scene takes place in a restaurant or bar or social club and they have a woman available there to tell fortunes or do astrology.  This might be just a barroom, I don't remember, but the place is fairly well appointed, not shoddy.  I think the "psychic" woman is there for 2 reasons.  First, it lends a little celestial glamour to the establishment.  Also, I think there is a change in fate and destiny and this plot development happens shortly after one of the main characters ventures into this nightclub (I think it's the woman who tries going there alone one night, just for something to do).

The other scene is when the 2 main characters (in the film a romance between them is developing) begin to have an argument.  They are walking down the street, possibly in the evening.  A policeman comes into the frame, and hearing that they are having a disagreement he says something near to this :

"If you two are going to do that you can go home to do it"

Also, there might be a line about the heart being a desperate organ or some such line.  I believe this line was part of the overall theme and used during the end of the movie and that, because of its similarity to the Carson McCuller title, I remembered the whole movie as being named "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter."

I remember seeing it on TV years ago.  Who knows, maybe it was a double feature, and I am totally wrong, lol.

Any clues on this romance film in English with a silvery (black & white film) mystic in a pub ?

Thanks a lot if you could ask around with your friends, too.

I don't mind waiting for the reply, I'll still give you a good 10 on rating the timeliness of the response.

Jerry Snyder in Pennsylvania

Answer
Hello Jerry,

This is a difficult one and I don't think I have the correct answer for you.

My first thought was "Flesh Fantasy" (1943), which consisted of three stories concerned with fate and destiny within the one film. In the second story, Edward G. Robinson has his future spelled out for him by a fortune teller in London. Unfortunately, the fortune teller was a man and not a woman.

http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/Rick/liz_ff.htm


Another thought was "There Is Another Sun" (1951). This was an English production and featured Hermione Baddeley as a fortune teller.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044120/combined


Sorry I can't be of more help. If any other titles come to mind, I will get back to you.

Cheers......Mel.