Runtime: 84 minutes
Directed by: Thorold Dickinson
Starring: Anton Wahlbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton
From: British National
A movie to watch if you’re a fan of the 1944 Gaslight; I am a fan of both. I won’t do much comparing between the two except to mention some basics. As I stated a few years ago when reviewing the more famous MGM version, it’s incredible how “gaslighting” as entered the lexicon while probably even now, plenty are unaware of its origins. The 1940 British movie was the first to bring the play to the silver screen; despite MGM’s best efforts to destroy all copies of this so there’d be no comparisons to their 1944 picture, that task failed and this movie can easily be viewed… for me this was DVR’ed off a TCM showing way back last October.
Those familiar with the American movie will know that the lead girl moves into the house that her aunt was murdered in w/ her husband, only the husband is an evil bastard who for a diabolical reason is mentally abusing his wife for the purpose of driving him insane. There’s a former detective who starts investigating as he was part of the investigation into the aunt’s death. The 1940 movie was less glossy and grittier than the MGM version; it is also a half hour shorter. Which version you prefer is up to personal opinion.
I enjoy both for their different qualities—although there is the bias of me having seen this second. In any regard, the villain here (named Paul, played by Anton Wahlbrook) was a real vile SOB; besides his gaslighting, he openly dated one of his maids. As the film has nice atmosphere, solid direction from Thorold Dickinson and nice turns from Diana Wynyard as lead girl Bella & Frank Pettingell as B.G. Rough the former detective, that helped make this movie delightful. B.G. was quite amusing: he was quite different from Joseph Cotten in the ’44 version in appearance/demeanor. He was an average middle-aged chap in any fashion, including his charmingly braggart attitude; at one point he proclaims how great he was! That was after a big moment that cracked the case…
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