![]() Jonathan Benet and is briefly reminded of something in his past, but, as always, the memory passes before he can capture it. One day, while dining with Kitty in a London restaurant, Charles hears the voice of Melbridge psychiatrist Dr. He has been loyally served for two years by his private secretary, Margaret Hanson, whom Charles does not recognize as Paula. By 1932, Charles has become known as "the industrial prince of England" for vastly increasing his family's fortunes, but is haunted by the missing past that is tied to a latchkey he found in his vest pocket after the accident. He also meets Kitty, the teenaged daughter of his sister's new husband. Although confused, Charles returns home, where he finds that his father has died and his siblings are anticipating their inheritance. When he comes to, he has no memory of the past three years and recalls only his life as aristocrat Charles Rainier. After checking into his hotel, Smithy walks toward the Mercury office but is hit by a car and knocked unconscious. Because Paula is still recovering from a difficult birth, he reluctantly travels alone, planning to return the following night. A few days later, Smithy receives a telegram from the Mercury asking him to come to Liverpoool to discuss a permanent position on the paper. After their marriage they move into a small cottage, and in November 1920, Paula gives birth to a baby boy. When he sells his first article to the Liverpool Mercury, Smithy tells Paula that he loves her and proposes. They stay at a local inn, and soon she gets a job as a typist, while a thriving Smithy begins to write. When an asylum caretaker reveals that they are still looking for a missing inmate, though, Paula runs away with Smithy and takes him to a small town in Devon. Smithy thrives under Paula's care and she obtains a job for him with her troupe. Because "Smithy," as Paula calls him, has come down with the influenza, she and her friend, barkeep "Biffer," take him in and nurse him back to health. Paula invites him to her show and gently draws him out. In a tobacconist's shop, Smith's hesitating speech alerts the owner that he is from the asylum, but a kindly entertainer, known as Paula Ridgeway, whispers that he should leave, then takes him to a local pub. ![]() Random Harvest was his favorite movie.On, "Smith," an amnesiac, shell-shocked officer, who has lived in a county asylum in Melbridge, England for many months, wanders into town for the first time, attracted by the sounds of celebration at the end of World War I. Who could sleep through “Random Harvest?” He was a completely permissive parent, and this was a golden time for me to spend with a charismatic father who seemed more like a fun and affectionate visiting celebrity. My father would come home from boffing a stewardess or a brittle divorcee and would turn on the Late Show and I’d be wide awake. Twin beds were moved into my parent’s room and that’s where I slept. I had to give up my bedroom and since my father was at work all day, and out all night (he cut quite a swath through “Parents Without Partners”). There was a period after my mother died, when we had a live-in housekeeper. ![]() He was one of those resolutely heterosexual men who had somewhat recherché tastes. Part of my fondness for this movie is that I remember watching it as a child with my father, who loved romantic tearjerkers. Shortly afterwards, she was in a hunting accident and became paralyzed below the waist. There’s an achingly sensitive performance by a young actress, Susan Peters, who was nominated for an Oscar for this movie. On his first trip away from her, he’s hit by a taxi and suddenly has total recall of his previous life… but no longer remembers Greer! I don’t want to give away any more, but it’s so romantic and heartbreaking. He escapes from an insane asylum and begins a new life with a lovely music hall performer played by Greer Garson. Colman is a British aristocrat who suffers from amnesia after being wounded in WWI. This movie is based on a novel by James Hilton and the plot just keeps going. I’ve always imagined her playing Shaw’s “Candida.” She has a marvelous, expansive womanliness that is redolent of the great actresses of the early Twentieth Century. I suppose Greer Garson is something of an acquired taste. I have a great fondness for both of them. “Ronald Colman and Greer Garson had two of the most beautiful speaking voices in the movies. How have we nearly sped through February? We’re back with the next installment in our Top Ten Tearjerkers series, this time with a particularly poignant pick: 1942’s Random Harvest.
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