I am being simple in my description, but it is the action and interaction of the characters that make the movie, not really the storyline.
John 'Smithy' Smith (Ronald Colman), not his real name, wakes up in an asylum with no memory of who he is. One day, the door is left open, and he wanders out or escapes. A dancer, Paula Ridgeway (Greer Garson), spots him and eventually takes him in like a lost puppy. They eventually set up a house in a cottage in the country and had a son.
He is going to a new job in Liverpool. Then it happens; he is hit by a truck and now has no memory of the three lost years as the happy and caring Smithy. He realizes he is Charles Rainier, the heir of an industry and a substantial-sized house. He also has a niece, Kitty Chilcet (Susan Peters), who is not related, who is growing up fast with matrimony on her mind.
Will he marry Kitty?
Will he (or we) ever see Paula again?
Is Smithy dead?
The same actors are found in other Hilton stories, such as Ronald Colman in “Lost Horizon” (1937) and Greer Garson in “Mrs. Miniver” (1942). Greer was up for the Best Actor Oscar for this movie. However, she got it for “Mrs. Miniver,” and the rules say that you can only have one award per year.
Susan Peters (Kitty) was on the way up in the movies when she had an accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. She died 10 years later at the age of 31.
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