Years and years ago, when I was a small child, I saw a black and white mystery
film that really scared me.  I would like to know the name of it so I
can buy it and view it again.  Here's what I remember of it:

I think the story revolves around a very very old woman who lives in a large
house.  This character scared me...during most of the movie, the
viewer could only see a gnarled old hand.  A man and a woman were the
main characters of this film, besides the old woman.  I think, at one
point, the old woman speaks in a crackly old voice.  The portrayal of
the old woman, is what scared me the most.  I went with an adult to
see this movie, I don't know how old I was, but probably about 3 or 4
years old.  I don't know if I saw it when it first came out, or
whether I saw it in a movie house that played old classics.

Just a guess as to whom the actors were:  Agnes Moorehead as the old woman.
Robert Cummings as the man and I can't remember who played the woman.

I think the couple have a portrait of someone...maybe the old woman,
when she was a young woman.  This couple are trying to solve some kind
of mystery connected with the old woman.  At one point, the couple are
moving through the old woman's house, which is on fire.  This terrible
fire rages through the house, and I think that by the time the couple
find the old woman, she is dead and on the floor...or maybe they don't
find her, but the house goes up in flames, so she dies in the fire.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 16 May 2005 10:45 PDT

I believe you're remembering Agnes Moorehead's last movie, "Dear Dead
Delilah," which was released in 1974. Robert Cummings was not in this
film, but Dennis Patrick, who somewhat resembled Robert Cummings, had
a featured role.

This is Dennis Patrick, in case a photo will spark a memory:

http://www.tvtome.com/images/people/14/5/63-9388.jpg

Here are a couple of plot descriptions of "Dear Dead Delilah":

"The matriarch of a family living in an old Southern mansion finds
that a killer is loose in the house, searching for a $50,000 fortune
rumored to be hidden there, and murdering anyone getting in the way."

http://imdb.com/title/tt0068456/

"Agnes Moorehead (Endora from Bewitched) in her last role before dying
plays Delilah Charles who lives on an old plantation that her papa
left to her when he passed away. He is buried in the old mausoleum on
the property. Poor Delilah is surrounded by her dysfunctional siblings
Michael Ansara (ex-husband of Barbara Eden)who plays Morgan. He shows
up when he hears that Delilah is near death. He brings along a daffy
girlfriend named Buffy. Dennis Patrick and Anne Meacham play the other
two sibs. Will Geer (Grandpa Walton) makes an appearance as a cousin
and family attorney. One by one each sib is hacked to death in an
attempt to gain the inheritance. The main suspect is the new caregiver
Luddy who axed her own mother to death many years before and spent
most of her adult years in an institution."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/6300147819/104-4419635-9975153?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Does this sound like your movie?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 16 May 2005 11:33 PDT

One more bit of information that might help. You mention a portrait.
In "Dear Dead Delilah," the character played by Agnes Moorehead has
conversations with a painting of her deceased husband.

---

Clarification of Question by joyhana2005-ga on 16 May 2005 15:20 PDT

Luckily, you gave me enough details, so that I can rule out the movie you're
describing.
First of all, in 1974, movies were in color.  The one I am trying to find was
definitely black&white.
There was no axing or hacking of anyone, in the film I am talking about.
I don't really remember what the couple was searching for in that very large
house in which the very elderly woman lives.  I think the portrait was
of the old woman, when she was younger.  I also, think that the old
woman had a true love, that somehow she lost [don't remember how] and
kept in her heart all her life.
This film might not be scary at all to an adult.  It's just that I saw
it when so young, that I recall many scenes relating to the old woman,
that really scared me.  Her wrinkled up hand...her crackling
voice.....and the eery music
running through the whole film.
Thanks for sending that photo of the actor you were thinking of.  That
is definitely, not the man in the film.  Although, I'm not sure that
it's Robert
Cummings, that's my guess.  I wish I could remember the female actor. 
Also, I am only guessing that the old women is played by Agnes
Moorehead.  There were very few direct camera angles of the old
woman's face....one maybe two...all other shots of the old woman are
only of her wrinkled [claw-like]hand.  I can
almost hear her frightening rasping voice.
This writing is freeing up more of my memory: I think the old woman
becomes attached to the man in the film, although the young couple
seemed [to me]to be in love.
I think the old woman, mistakes the man for her, long-ago young man sweetheart
that she lost [don't remember how] and I think the old woman wants to
break up the young couple, so that she can have the man for herself.

She might even have tried to poison the young man, or some nefarious
plot to keep him for herself.  In the end, I believe the young woman
saves the young man and together they escape from the old woman's huge
house [many winding staircases].  I believe the old woman knocks over
a candle, which starts a fire and she dies in the fire.

I can still almost hear the eery strains of music running though this film.

Hope some of these recollections, help you find out which film this is.
This is definitely an old classic like the film, "Rebecca."
The minute you're able to narrow down a few titles, I may be able to
identify the right one.  And then, I'll run right out and buy the
film.  I've tried for many years to find this film.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 16 May 2005 15:42 PDT

Agnes Moorehead played a 110-year-old woman in "The Lost Moment,"
which costarred Robert Cummings.

Please take a look at the photos on this page and let me know if this
might be your movie:

http://www.themakeupgallery.info/age/1940s/lm.htm

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 22 May 2005 09:42 PDT

I am more and more certain that your movie is "The Lost Moment."

According to the Internet Movie Database, this is the only film which
co-starred Agnes Moorehead and Robert Cummings.

Miss Moorehead played a very old woman, and the appearance of her
hands was featured. Special makeup (see link above) gave her hands a
gnarled, twisted look.

I have not seen this film since the '50s, but as I recall, there is a
fire at the end when the old lady burns some love letters from her
youth.

You can read some viewers' remarks about the movie at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6300208664/104-4419635-9975153?v=glance

Please let me know if this is the one!

Whew! I'm glad we got this one in the bag, since I am a huge Agnes
Moorehead fan. I saw her in a one-woman show, "That Fabulous Redhead,"
in the sixties, and was able to have a half-hour's conversation with
her afterward. That brief encounter gave me the impression that I was
in the presence of one of the keenest minds of our times. If this
woman hadn't gone into show business, I'll bet she could have had a
marvelous career in academia or the sciences.

Here's a bit more about "The Lost Moment":

"An odd, dark drama based on James's The Aspern Papers. Publisher
Cummings ventures to Venice in order to review a cache of letters left
by a poet who mysteriously vanished. He encounters a 105-year-old
woman (Moorehead), who was the recipient of the letters, and her
beautiful niece, Hayward. Hayward suffers from delusions that she is
her aunt and that Cummings is the missing poet. When the letters are
stolen, secrets are revealed."

AMC TV: The Lost Moment
http://www.amctv.com/show/detail?CID=2018-1-EST

"The Lost Moment
 Year made: 1947
 Country: United States 
 Duration: 89 mins.
 Print: Black & white
 Genre: Thrillers 

A remarkably effective adaptation of Henry James' The Aspern Papers,
closer to the shivery ambience of The Innocents than to the
oh-so-discreet charm of Daisy Miller or The Europeans. An opportunist
publisher (Cummings) lodges incognito in the Venetian house of a
long-dead poet's lover, hoping to find the literary treasure trove of
letters hidden there, and gradually comes under the spells of the past
incarnate - the 105-year-old former loved one (Moorehead) and her
schizophrenic niece (Hayward). The ghostly web of shifting identities
and sexual tensions is superbly spun, making one regret that Martin
Gabel subsequently confined himself to an acting career."

TimeOut: The Lost Moment
http://www.timeout.com/film/80736.html

"It is said that Henry James' The Aspern Papers were inspired by the
romance between Lord Byron and his mistress Claire Claremont, who in
her dotage jealously guarded the poems written by Byron in her honor.
In the film version of James' novel, The Lost Moment, the Clairemont
character, renamed Juliana, is a blind, 105-year-old recluse, played
with an abundance of age makeup by Agnes Moorehead (whose amazing
cosmetic makeover was the subject of several magazine articles back in
1947). The plot of the film concentrates on the efforts by a publisher
named Lewis (Robert Cummings) to obtain the 'lost' poems written by a
legendary literary figure to the centenarian Juliana. The old lady is
fiercely protected by her near-psychotic niece Tina (Susan Hayward),
who nonetheless agrees to help Lewis get his hands on the precious
documents. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the Venetian
mansion where Juliana resides harbors a horrible secret, one that
bodes ill for the troubled Tina and everyone with whom she comes in
contact."

New York Times: The Lost Moment
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=30157

"This little film is bursting with atmosphere, brooding, wistful,
corrupt, overflowing with decay, betrayal and regret. A studio better
known for its westerns and horror movies is here responsible for a
major gem of delicacy and suggestion.

What makes all this remarkable is that the screenplay is a classic
example of Hollywood's idiotic dumbing-down of a major work of
fiction, Henry James's novella 'The Aspern Papers' (based in turn on
the life of Lord Byron). To compare James's brief story with the film
is so sad it's almost painful, yet the movie survives and succeeds
through sensitive style and sturdy professionalism.

The studio sets are evocative of a time before Venice became an
international theme park, and the director's experience in radio drama
provides a more finely-judged soundtrack than was the norm."

Internet Movie Database: The Lost Moment
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039583/usercomments

If you are interested in the literary origins of the film, you'll find
the complete text of "The Aspern Papers" here:

Bibliomania: The Aspern Papers
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/28/59/

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "the lost moment" "agnes moorehead"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22the+lost+moment%22+%22agnes+moorehead%22

Very best regards,
pinkfreud

Just bumping the question in case someone else has any suggestions.

YES YES YES !
Sorry, I didn't respond more quickly.  I had jury duty this past week and this
set my day work, way back and I had to catch up with it.

You are correct about The Lost Moment and your skillful detective work
has enabled me to order that film through Amazon.  When it arrives,
you can be sure that I will be watching it, immediately, to see what
it was that scared me so much, as a very young child.

Many many thanks for your usual excellent research.
I have learned to go to this particular Google search system now, when
I can't find an answer.

Now, direct me with a link, so that I can add a tip and also, so I can
give your excellence the top 5 star rating.

Joyhana

Thank you very much for the five stars and the generous tip!

~pinkfreud