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Gaslight Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 28 Reviews)
Excellent double-pack
There are two movies and three strong reasons to love this dvd. The disk contains two versions of GASLIGHT, based on Patrick Hamilton's stage play. The first, from 1940, is director Thorold Dickinson's English version starring Diana Wynyard as the retiring young wife and Anton Walbrook as the husband who is trying to drive her insane. The second is the famous one, directed in Hollywood by George Cukor in 1944, starring Ingrid Bergman (she won an Oscar for this one) and Charles Boyer.
I watched the 1940's version first and, somewhat to my surprise, enjoyed it very much. Walbrook's character in the first movie is the epitome of effete villainy, a hiss-able cad whose cruelty made me squirm. Boyer's husband, on the other hand, is a charming rogue with a cold, calculating, concealed and congealed heart. They both get the job done, but Boyer does so in a more believable manner. In the first movie Diana Wynyard's character is extremely shy and retiring, almost to the point where you wonder how she ever managed to make it to adulthood. Ingrid Bergman is given a character more assertive, even though still under her husband's control.
If you can't tell by now, the third reason I love this dvd is the chance it gives to see the evolution of a screenplay by comparing the two movies. That we're given the opportunity to make the comparison is ironic - reports have it that the studio tried to destroy all copies of the '40 GASLIGHT when they released Cukor's version. They shouldn't have worried. Although the `40 version is good, Cukor's is a classic. Wynyard is good is her showcase role while Bergman is transcendent.
Just saw this film
and I really enjoyed it! "Gaslight" is a suspense thriller with a Hitchcock eeriness to it - I was hooked. I felt as though I was being driven out of my own mind just watching Charles Boyer cunningly captivate Ingrid Bergman and manipulate her thoughts and emotions. I was burning with fury as he was so agrivatingly sly, and so subtle. Meanwhile, Bergman was perfect at playing the downslide from independence to vulnerable destruction. What was great about it was the two were believable as husband and wife - there was a sexual tone and moments of redemption on Boyer's part that complicated my sympathies. It's films like this that make you question your own sanity just a little as you realize how blurred the line is between what you think you know and don't know at all...
Angela Lansbury was also a real surprise, playing a brilliantly cheerful maid who manages to brighten this otherwise chilling drama. Excellent entertainment, my mother and I were hooked. If you like Hitchcock-style thrillers, this one is for you!
"Because I Am Mad, I Hate You! And Because I Am Mad, I Am Rejoicing In My Heart, Without A Shred Of Pity!"
If you like old movies (and especially if you like Ingrid Bergman), then you'll have no choice but to fall in love with 1944's version of "Gaslight" (directed by George Cukor). This is good old-time filmmaking at its very best.
Ingrid Bergman is magnificent as "Paula Alquist Anton", who recently married the suave and sophisticated "Gregory Anton" (played by Charles Boyer, who was never better, and never more sinister and underhanded than we find him here).
Little did Paula know when she married the dashing Mr. Anton -- who is 16 years her senior (based on the ages of the actors portraying these characters; Bergman was 28 when she made the film; Boyer was 44) -- that Gregory had a conniving little scheme up his devious sleeve the whole time; a scheme to slowly but surely drive the new Mrs. Anton out of her mind. It's a story that's been done before in the cinema, to be certain; but "Gaslight" sends this plotline to a different (and better) plateau. It plays out very nicely and effectively in this film. And you gotta love Ingrid in the final act when she confronts her plotting husband. She's just great here, in a terrific finale to the picture.
Bergman and Boyer are both just right for their parts here; and I doubt if Miss Bergman ever looked better through the probing camera's eye than she does in her many close-ups in "Gaslight". She is simply ravishing on screen in this motion picture. The supporting cast is ideal as well, including the always-first-rate Joseph Cotten, plus Dame May Whitty in a humorous role as a neighborhood busybody, and Angela Lansbury in her very first movie role (she turned 18 while the film was being made).
"Gaslight" did quite well in the "Oscar" department too -- earning several Academy Award nominations, including two winning nods (Miss Bergman won her first Oscar trophy for "Best Actress" and the film also took the award for "Best Art Direction"). Boyer and the teenaged Lansbury also received nominations (for "Best Actor" and "Best Supporting Actress", respectively). Lansbury plays "Nancy", a sassy and frisky house servant of the Antons; and she is delightful in the part too.
Set in London, England, in the 1870s, "Gaslight" oozes Victorian-era atmosphere, as well as the misty and foggy dampness of London. The set design and costumes, to my eyes, are authentic-looking in all respects. It's filmed in black-and-white, enhancing the movie's oft-times dark and shadowy surroundings all the more.
The film transfer to this Warner Brothers' DVD looks excellent. Very clean and clear, with a pleasing Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono soundtrack as well. Video is in the intended Full-Frame ratio, as it was originally seen in theaters beginning on May 4, 1944.
And for those fans who can't get enough "Gaslight", WB has even included the entire 1940 U.K. version of the movie on Side B of this dual-sided DVD. So, this disc is literally a "Gaslight Double-Feature". The '40 version (also a B&W film) stars Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard in the two leads. I'm partial to the U.S. adaption of the film done four years later; but the 1940 variant has many die-hard supporters as well. A tip of the cap to Warner's DVD division for seeing fit to place both versions of the movie on the very same Digital Disc.
And WB didn't stop there either -- in addition to the second full-length movie on Side B of the disc, some other nice extra features are presented here too. .... There's a 13.5-minute featurette entitled "Reflections On Gaslight", hosted by Ingrid Bergman's daughter. Angela Lansbury is also on hand to provide a few personal insights about her first-ever experience on a movie set. A nice little featurette, with several behind-the-camera "Gaslight" tidbits being revealed.
Other DVD bonus items include an Academy Awards Newsreel (1:31 in length), where we get to see three Oscars being awarded for 1944 excellence, with awards being handed out to Ingrid Bergman, Bing Crosby, and 8-year-old Margaret O'Brien. Very good video quality on this short extra, too. ... And there's also the Theatrical Trailer for the 1944 edition of "Gaslight" (1:53).
More DVD data ..... The Main Menus are not animated, but do feature underlying theme music from the film. ... Three Subtitle options available (English, Spanish, and French). ... A secondary audio track available for the 1944 version (French Mono). ... Chapter Stops: 33 for the 1944 film; 25 chapter breaks for the 1940 version. ... Snap Case (cardboard) packaging. ... DVD Release Date by Warner Home Video: February 3rd, 2004.
"Gaslight" Trivia Notes -- The 1944 edition of "Gaslight" is also known as "Murder In Thornton Square", which was the title used for the film in the United Kingdom. ... The earlier '40 "Gaslight" also had an alternate title (two of them in fact) -- "Angel Street" and "A Strange Case Of Murder".
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1944's "Gaslight" works very nicely as a thriller, a suspense drama, a love story, and a murder mystery. No matter which specific category you want to slide the movie into, there's one label that can be placed above all others when categorizing it (the one that makes this motion picture a sheer joy to watch time and time again) -- "Classic". With this cast of actors, how could it be anything else? So turn down the (gas)lights in the living room, and then turn on "Gaslight" on DVD.
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