The Lost Moment (1947)

In a long flashback a New York publisher is in Venice pursuing the lost love letters of an early19thcentury poet Jeffrey Ashton who disappeared mysteriously Using a false name Lewis Venable rents a room from Juliana Bordereau once Jeffrey Ashtons lover now an aged recluse Running the household is Julianas severe niece Tina who mistrusts Venable from the first moment He realizes all is not right when late one night he finds Tina her hair unpinned and wild at the piano She calls him Jeffrey and throws herself at him The family priest warns Venable to tread carefully around her fantasies but he wants the letters at any cost even Tinas sanity