Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Almost lost forever, this is a cinematic treasure, December 20, 2007
After seeing Anton Walbrook in "49th Parallel" (1941), "The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp" (1943), "Red Shoes" (1948), I am definitely a Walbrook fan. His acting is skilled and magical. This amazing talent was clearly borne out in the 1940 British version of "Gaslight", which I believe to be vastly superior to the slick, Hollywood remake in 1944 with Boyer and Bergman. Overall, Walbrook's performance is just more psychologically correct as the consummate narcissistic, evil killer, who brings his wife, played by Diana Wynyard, repeatedly up, then down with surprising dramatic intensity, in his relentless plan to drive her mad. In the Hollywood remake, I can never quite believe that Bergman's overdone beauty is even physically suited to the role of a victimized, Victorian female, in fact, she seems like she could knock Boyer out, at any time. Not surprisingly, the British version clearly portrays the Victorian social of dominance of men, and in particular, husbands who could have their spouses involuntarily committed to an asylum, simply by summoning a doctor. The painful reality of female status and vulnerability in Victorian England was also sensationally portrayed in the plots of novels like "Jane Eyre" by Bronte, "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins, "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, (all of which I highly recommend). Someday, I hope the 1940 British version of "Gaslight" with Walbrook will be restored or remastered to the best optical and sound quality possible. It simply deserves to be enjoyed, appreciated and treasured, despite MGM's best efforts to have it suppressed, forever. At $4.99 it's a steal!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mind-Banging Your Spouse For Fun And Profit!, October 11, 2008
A shadowy, gaslight London row house in which the brutal slaying of an old woman once took place... A beautiful young wife whose very sanity seems to be in question... A debonair husband whose concern for his emotionally unstable bride seemingly moves him to isolate her from the world... A portrait of evil, greed, ruthless ambition... All this in the version of Gaslight you were never meant to see! Yes, in order to have a monopoly on the flashier, star-filled version of Gaslight it was releasing in 1944, MGM attempted to purchase all existing film of this quietly superior 1940 motion picture and destroy them. Thankfully MGM failed and we have this excellent classic today. Telling the tale of a Victorian murderer's sadistic efforts to convince his frail spouse that she is going insane, Gaslight sets the standard for psychological thriller. Even its very name is shorthand for someone attempting to wreck someone's mind and undermine his or her self-confidence, as in, "Gee, she totally Gaslighted me about that whole pregnancy thing." Yep, well, anyway, Gaslight is a suspense story par excellence, and in my view this is the best telling of it that's ever been done.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellcent movie, March 3, 2008
This movie is excellcent and very worthwhile having in my collection, being the orginal it is far better than the remake. The pictire quality was very good for such an old movie, It holds up really well for how old it even though I enjoy watching the remake of haslight and Ihgrid Bergman's preformance is fantastic I enjoy both verisions of the movie.
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