I haven't forgotten this movie even though haven't seen it in
almost 40 years. Tyrone Power plays a man unhappy with his own era in
human time while being almost obsessed with 18th century England.
Somehow, he knows that, due to a lightning bolt or something, he is
going to trade places with a man from the 18th century. And he is
delighted at the prospect of being transported to the era of charm,
grace, and sophistication and exchange wisdoms and witticisms with such
greats as Ben Johnson in a London coffee house. When the time switch
happens, he discovers that the times weren't what they were cracked up
to be. The streets are foul. The coffee shop conversationalists are
pompous and depressingly ignorant of certain fundamentals (to a 20th
century man) of science, geography, and even philosophical essentials
of the dignity of mankind. And instead of himself being received as a
man blessed with advance scientific knowledge, he is perceived to be
both an agent of Satan and insane. Meanwhile, of course, he meets the alter ego of the woman he knew in
the 20th century and a tender, haunting love story envelops the viewer.