Gaslight (1940)

The psychological term gasligthing which describes a form of psychological abuse in which the victim is gradually manipulated into doubting his or her own reality, originated from the 1938 play Gaslight by the author Patrick Hamilton, who is also known for his 1929 play Rope which Alfred Hitchcock made into a movie in 1948. Gaslight was turned into a celebrated film by MGM in 1944 staring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotton, and an 18 year old Angela Lansbury. That film I have found to be extremely difficult to find, and while I still intend to see it I decided to view an earlier British production from 1940 in its steed. This earlier film production of Gaslight was directed by Thorold Dickinson and stars Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard and Frank Pettingell, and its production values are decidedly less then what MGM could offer at the same period.

The story begins in London in 1865 when an elderly woman is murdered and her townhouse ransacked. The ensuing scandal results in the house remaining vacant for 20 years, until it is subdivided and a couple from Devonshire, the Mallen's move in. Paul Mallen is played by Anton Walbrook, an actor I am used to seeing play very admirable people in Powell/Pressberger films. Here Anton is a near-do-well, Paul Mallen is a foreigner who married his wife for money and is steadily manipulating her to think she is going insane, his exact reasons for doing this are reveled in the course of the film. Bella Mallen is very much a timid and emotionally receding woman of her time and class, actress Diana Wynyard certainly captures this, however she is not that interesting and lacks the charisma or star power that this part needed, something that Ingrid Bergman no doubt brought to her better known take on the role.

The central mystery is fine if not that interesting, but it is the way Paul causes Bella to doubt her own sanity which is why the story is remembered. Paul hides things from Bella and leads her to believe that she has moved the objects and forgotten that she did so. There is also of course a trick with a gaslight that aids in Bella doubting her own sanity, but how that works is a tad involved and plot centric so I won't go into detail. Frank Pettingell plays B.G. Rough, a former detective who had worked on the original murder case in the Mallen residence, and who is immediately suspicious of Paul when he first sees him. Cathleen Cordell plays the Angela Lansbury role, Nancy the maid. The beginning and end of this movie were good, I felt the middle dragged too much and I had a hard time holding interest, I look forward to see the superior version some day. **1/2