Rent Gaslight (1940)

What a great film - Gaslight review by jd

I'd forgotten just what a great film this is. Suspense is created and held throughout and the camera work is sublime. Anton Walbrook is particularly strong. It feels like Hitchcock or Orson Welles in terms of production quality so I was surprised to see that the director did not do much else of note.

Stagey Thriller. - Gaslight review by Steve

Critics usually prefer this earlier adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's stage play to the MGM remake... and they are right! George Cukor's version has Hollywood stars and a larger budget, but the original is still a handsome production, with a deep period atmosphere. And its actors are well chosen. Anton Walbrook pulls off the trick of being repellent, without being unwatchable.

Walbrook schemes to drive his delicate, unstable wife (Diana Wynyard) into a mental hospital by creating an alternate and frightening reality which always undermines her expectations. Yes, by gaslighting her. Meanwhile, he seeks the rubies hidden in their house of shadows which eluded him years before when he murdered an old woman for them.

The action is mostly staged inside the home, but the studio exteriors evoke a pungent Edwardian London of fog and gas lamps, augmented by a rich orchestral score. The film subtly implies the insanity of the husband in how he uses religion to manipulate and frighten. The scene when he has the servants pray before breakfast is brilliantly freakish.

MGM insisted the negative and all copies be destroyed when they bought the rights. Obviously, they didn't succeed! While some themes have dated, it remains a powerful film about domestic abuse. Interesting how the maid is attracted to her employer's viciousness, without having the imagination to realise he might turn it on her. But primarily, it is a suspenseful thriller. 

And There's More - Gaslight review by CH

As others have said, a tremendous film. It is worth adding that the disc contains several extras, including films on which Dickinson worked about Spain and the Civil War. It is a shame that he did not make more films. There is a very good collection of essays about him edited by Philip Horne whose other great subject is... Henry James.