Gaslight 1944 streaming8/27/2023 The film features numerous deviations from the original stage play, though the central drama remains that of a husband trying to drive his wife insane in order to distract her from his criminal activities. To avoid confusion with the first film, Cukor's version was originally titled The Murder in Thornton Square in the UK. Ī remake of the 1940 British film of the same name directed by Thorold Dickinson, Cukor's version had a larger scale and budget than the earlier film, and lends a different feel to the material. Balderston from Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light (1938), it follows a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is descending into insanity. Adapted by John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, and John L. It may not be a match for budget and star power with the '44 version but I think it stands well enough on its own.Gaslight is a 1944 American psychological thriller film directed by George Cukor, and starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Angela Lansbury in her film debut. It moves quite crisply and doesn't spend time with a lot of overt psychological meanderings. The film wastes no time getting into things. Diana Wynyard does a fine job as the wife. He does do a nice short turn at the piano which he genuinely plays. I did find it a bit confusing as to the reason why he was giving his wife such grief as what he is after, though hers, came from his family. Hardly a wall is not subjected to a covering of them.Īnton Walbrook is properly menacing as the film progresses. It gives as much a feeling of claustrophobia as it does wealth. The set design is quite good too as the house is just covered in and with STUFF. The final tracking shot that ends at a street lamp is especially good. He moves the camera quite a bit and always very smoothly. What do the rest of you think? Any other recommendations about other Thorold Dickinson films?įInally saw the 1940 "Gaslight." As stated there is much to be said for Dickinson's direction. To me, the Cukor Gaslight has a very MGM feel, with the considerable benefits that gloss, glamor, and good taste can bring, with George Cukor's more than capable but perhaps slightly anonymous direction. The possibility of romance between Diana Wynyard and Robert Newton is present in the Dickinson film, but the feeling at the end is more grim, the escape narrower. Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury have more star power than their talented counterparts, and Joseph Cotten's role has been built up for the Cukor film, which makes for a more romantic resolution. This is most ingenious and satisfying.Īs for the actors, I like both Walbrook and Boyer. As the left half of the door closes on the wife going upstairs, we can see through the open half the maid coming up the stairs, eager to make her play for the master. Another excellent moment occurs when the husband has sent his wife out of the double-doored drawing room up the stairs to her room. I'd never seen any of his films, although The Queen of Spades, with Anton Walbrook and Edith Evans, is now on the watch-for list.ĭickinson begins with a brief account of the earlier crime which occurred in the house, and this is so economical and stylish that I liked the film already. Because I've seen the more famous MGM version a couple of times, though not recently, it seems like the way Gaslight is supposed to be, but there's much to be said for the earlier film, especially the direction of Thorold Dickinson. Thank you, TCM, for scheduling the original Gaslight (1940), directed by Thorold Dickinson, with Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard in the roles later played by Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in the version directed by George Cukor (1944).
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