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Gaslight [1944]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

In 1944, Ingrid Bergman took home a Best Actress Oscar for her work as the neurotic, persecuted wife in Gaslight, a thundering melodrama based on the play by Patrick Hamilton. At the heart of the piece is a splendidly cruel scenario as a husband (Charles Boyer) subtly drives his wife out of her mind in a house suffocating with Victorian clutter. But MGM production gloss and George Cukor's broad strokes direction make this a less affecting, suspenseful effort than the 1939 British film version with Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard. Bergman has a succession of big, impressive mad scenes that show off her acting muscles--and is given the full Hollywood glamour lighting and costuming to highlight her personal beauty--while Boyer comes alive as he salivates over the missing jewels. The best work comes from a teenage Angela Lansbury (in her screen debut) as an impudent, sexy-sinister maidservant, undermining her mistress at every turn and pouting to perfection.

On the DVD: Gaslight on disc includes a trailer, a newsreel snippet of Bergman getting her Oscar and a nice featurette with Pia Lindstrom (Bergman's daughter) and Lansbury talking about the film. --Kim Newman


Great suspense thriller.
Review date: 2008-08-25 Rating: 10 out of 10


Ingrid Bergman stars in this great suspense movie about an unsolved murder and some missing jewels.

Paula (Bergman) returns to the house where her aunt was murdered whilst she was upstairs as a child years before. Now married to Gregory (Charles Boyer) she appears to be being slowly driven out of her mind by her handsome, but ruthless husband. Full of suspense with an award-winning performance from Bergman.

Also stars; Barbara Everest, Dame May Whitty and Angela Lansbury.

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Reviews


NO SIGN OF WALBROOK/WYNYARD AFTER 2004.
Review date: 2007-09-14 Rating: 4 out of 10

Be very careful.
If you are buying the dvd of GASLIGHT, and want it (as I did) for the far superior original BRITISH version (Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, dir.Thorold Dickinson) you will not find it. I was under the impression, after reading several reviews, that it was included here, BUT for some reason, it has been removed from this issue (dated 2004) no matter how many times you turn the disc over in hope ... so start searching for a 2nd-hand one that's older, and has both versions.
The number of lurid stories about how MGM did its best to suppress the original can now be borne out yet again - whoever markets the 2004 release of this dvd has done their job well. Why ? The two films are interesting to compare, are very different, and they are both by directors deserving of the title 'great'.
Cynics might suggest that someone is afraid that the British version is too good.
Can we please have the 1940 Dickinson/Walbrook/Wynyard GASLIGHT back again as soon as possible - preferably on its own, and marketed as one of the classic British movies! Food for thought - for any distributor worth their salt.


No original version
Review date: 2007-05-20 Rating: 4 out of 10

I bought this after reading the reviews that said that the original version is also on there but it isn't. I saw the original years ago and could not believe that anybody could have made such a fantastic, slick psychological drama so many years ago in the UK. I was sorely disappointed to discover that they now seem to ship the disc without the original. The remake is good because it's a good story but it has never had me on the edge of my seat as Thorold Dickinson's version ever did.

In fact, the horrible cover up by MGM when they made an 'original' film called Gaslight is also a devious story. I'm just glad the original still exists after that.

Ideal Rainy Day Film
Review date: 2004-03-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

I first saw this film as a child and have been waiting for a DVD release for ages. This DVD also has the original 1940 version on the other side of the disc. Excelent!

Atmosphere is all
Review date: 2004-02-15 Rating: 8 out of 10

Cukor's atmospheric thriller from 1944 certainly laid out the groundwork for Hitchcock's later 'Notorious', and the chance to see 'Gaslight' again is not one I wanted to miss. This digitally cleaned-up version looks wonderful, with all the grey subtleties of the cinematography in place. Ingrid Bergman is shockingly beautiful as the girl who returns to the haunted house of her childhood with her mysterious new French husband, played with chilling ambivalence by Charles Boyer, a study in psychological marital cruelty. And let us not forget 17 year old Angela Lansbury in her debut role as the snotty cockney maid, she was great. The British original of 'Gaslight' is included on this generous DVD, but I believe that it takes extreme dedication to actually watch it through. I did, but only just. It is very heavy-moving and stodgy.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Dame May Whitty
Charles Boyer
Angela Lansbury
Ingrid Bergman
Joseph Cotten

Creators:
Charles Boyer (Primary Contributor)
Ingrid Bergman (Primary Contributor)
Joseph Ruttenberg (Cinematographer)
Ralph E. Winters (Editor)
Arthur Hornblow Jr. (Producer)
John L. Balderston (Writer)
John Van Druten (Writer)
Patrick Hamilton (Writer)
Walter Reisch (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900651486
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL,
Release date: 2004-02-16
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1944-05-11
Language: English (Original Language)

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