Popular Culture Review Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1999 | Page 37

The Aspern Papers and The Lost Moment
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In a 1984 essay for Britain’s Radio Times, Philip Jenkinson praises Gabel for the way
he and Mohr photographed Moorehead’s “gnarled, skeletal hand grasping the arm of a
high-backed chair,” making The Lost Moment a “cult movie” for film students (17).
Because the film’s Juliana is remarkably close to the tale’s, Edel conflates the two
when he imagines hearing the film Juliana say, “You publishing scoundrel!” (23). The
film’s publisher, of course, is a lover, not a scoundrel.
Martin Gabel is best known for his acting in Mercury Theater plays of the 1930s (in
cluding Ten Million Ghosts, Julius Caesar, and Danton s Death)', for his marriage to
Arlene Francis of What’s My Line?', for his Tony Award for best supporting actor in
Broadway’s Big Fish, Little Fish (1961); and for his supporting role as Sidney Strutt in
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mamie (1964). He died May 22, 1986.
Michael Same’s film Myra Breckinridge (\910), based on Gore Vidal’s novel, features
a brief reference to The Lost Moment: Rex Reed’s character, Myra, plays a movie
trivia game with a question about what year the film was released.
For a checklist of pre-1981 television and radio adaptations o f The Aspern Papers, see
Anthony J. Mazzella, “A Selected Henry James Artsography,” Henry James Review
3 (Fall 1981): 44-58. Since the publication o f Mazzella’s checklist. The Aspern Pa
pers has been adapted to the opera by Dominick Argento (1988, Dallas Civic Opera
Company); it was aired on PBS’s “Great Performances” program. Eduardo de Gregorio
directed a modernized film adaptation o f James’s tale that is set in Portugal: Aspern
(1983). In an interview published in BFI’s Monthly Film Bulletin #593 (1983), de
Gregorio discusses his interest in Henry James, but, curiously, he does not mention
The Lost Moment. In 1998 Jonathon Holloway wrote, directed, and toured Britain
with yet another play adaptation of The Aspern Papers, which was performed by the
Red Shift Theatre Company. In an interview with Sue Wilson of the Scotsman (18
June 1998: 19), Holloway explains how film techniques influenced his stage direction,
but, like de Gregorio, Holloway does not mention The Lost Moment.

Works Cited
Bernstein, Matthew. Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1994.
Bodeen, DeWitt. “Henry James into Film.” Films in Review 1977: 163-170.
Crowther, Bosley. ""The Lost Moment?" New York Times 22 \^ov. 1947: 10.
Darrach, Brad. ""The Lost Moment?" Time 50 (8 Dec. 1947): 103-104.
Edel, Leon. “Why the Dramatic Arts Embrace Henry James.” New York Times 4 March
1984: 2: 1,23.
“Experiment with James. " Newsweek 5 Jan. 1948: 69.
Hartung, Philip T. “Escaping the New Look.” Commonweal 19 Dec. 1947: 256.
Higham, Charles. Films in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer, 1968.
Higham, Charles. “Henry James in the Cinema.” Film Journal April 1963: 95-97.
James, Henry. The Aspern Papers and Other Stories. New York Edition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1983.