Gaslicht (1940)

Gaslicht: Directed by Thorold Dickinson. With Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell. Twenty years after the murder of Alice Barlow, her house is finally occupied again. However, the husband from the couple who have moved in has a secret which he will do anything to keep hidden.

“From what Iu0026#39;ve been reading weu0026#39;re fortunate to have this film at all much less showing for rent on Amazon. Not unlike what Paramount did with Frank Caprau0026#39;s Broadway Bill when that studio made Riding High, MGM destroyed this original British made version of Gaslight that came out four years before MGM remade it with Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten, that classic that won Ingrid Bergman her first Oscar. Fortunately MGM was not thorough and we can enjoy Diana Wynyard and Anton Walbrook in this original film version of the play Angel Street.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt might have been nice to have a version of that surviving as well. On stage Vincent Price played the suave husband who is trying to get his wife to question her sanity, he co-starred with Judith Evelyn in the Patrick Hamilton play that ran 1295 performances on Broadway from 1941 to 1944. I can see Price easily doing this part.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOf course it would be without the continental suavity of both Charles Boyer and here, Anton Walbrook. Walbrook is one both cold and cool and cruel customer as he tries to drive Wynyard out of her mind. Sheu0026#39;s at a loss to explain his change toward her. In point of fact sheu0026#39;s accidentally discovered a clue to his real identity and heu0026#39;s had history with her family before. She doesnu0026#39;t know what sheu0026#39;s discovered which makes her all the more frightened. Wynyard is every bit as good as Bergman in the remake.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe major change that MGM made was in the policemanu0026#39;s role. In fact there is some reason to speculate that Scotland Yard man Joseph Cotten may end up with Bergman in the MGM version. Here the dogged detective is British character actor Frank Pettengill whou0026#39;s strictly business. He recognizes Walbrook, but canu0026#39;t prove anything without positive identification.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGaslight remains firmly fixed in the Victorian era it is set. Today what involved an elaborate scheme of deception by Pettengill could be remedied easily with fax and telephotos to Australia where Walbrook presumably was staying for many years.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis version of Gaslight is every bit the equal of the finely mounted MGM version and since it is closer to what author Hamilton had in mind, many consider it superior. Itu0026#39;s pretty darn good any way you slice it.”