Gaslight

Released by: BFI
Released on: November 18, 2013
Director: Thorold Dickinson
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton
Year: 1940

The Movie:

An elderly British spinster is murdered at 12 Pimlico Square by a mysterious figure, who then ransacks the townhouse in search of something valuable. Twenty years later, a young married couple, Paul and Bella Mallen, rent the place. Bella has a history of mental breakdowns, and when she begins to misplace things, her husband convinces her that she's due for a stay at the funny farm. It doesn't help that she hears things going bump in the night in the closed-off room upstairs and sees her sitting room's gaslight dim for no apparent reason. But as seemingly unconnected as all of these things are, they suggest a pattern to B.G. Rough, a retired police detective still investigating the previous tenant's murder. It quickly becomes clear to the retiree that Paul has a reason for driving his unsuspecting and unbelievably naí¯ve wife insane, and Rough believes he knows what that reason is—and how to stop the sociopath.

Gaslight is nothing less than a barnstormer in the grand tradition of Tod Slaughter, but with a decent budget and world class director Thorold Dickinson (The High Command, Secret People) to steer it. Based on the play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton, which had been a success on the British stage in 1938 before skipping the pond to Broadway, it immediately caught the eye of major Hollywood studio MGM. After the studio purchased the film rights, it sought to destroy all prints of the original film as well as the negative. And it would have succeeded, had not director Dickinson retained a print for his personal collection. Thankfully, that print was later donated to the British Film Institute's National Archives.

That this original production of Gaslight is so often lauded over the slicker, tighter American adaptation is something of a head scratcher. It can't be denied that the performances, particularly from Walbrook and Wynyard, are excellent. Walbrook is suitably menacing while Wynyard is suitably gullible and childlike. Dickinson's direction is also sharp, wringing menace from scenes that could have easily fallen into unintended humor. Yet, the film has more than its share of problems, all of them located squarely in the script, which adheres a little too closely to Hamilton's written word. The subplot involving the somewhat buffoonish retired detective comes across as silly, while Bella's insistence on supporting her husband out of some outdated notion of moral conduct—even after learning that he's legally married to someone else, is a murderer, and is trying to drive her insane—is simply too outlandish to believe (unless one accepts that Bella has an I.Q. several degrees south of Honey Boo-Boo's). A bit of intentional dark humor might have saved the proceedings, but as it is, the dire, somber, brooding approach only serves to drag the whole affair down. While it's an interesting diversion, it isn't a patch on the director's later horror classic, The Queen of Spades (1949).

Video/Audio/Extras:

Gaslight comes to Region B Blu-ray courtesy of the BFI with an AVC 1080p encode. The resolution is striking, given that the transfer was struck from the only known print, a fine grain positive. Tweed waistcoats and patterned dresses reveal the most detail, and the film's grain is evident without being overpowering. There is a minimal amount of print damage here and there, but nothing too distracting. If there's any complaint on a visual level, it's that black levels are a bit weak, with deep darks never looking dark enough. Still, that's a small complaint in an otherwise beautiful presentation. The BD is certainly superior to Warner's Region 1 DVD, which had been included as an extra on the 2004 release of the 1944 version. Warner's version looks nice, with stronger black levels, but suffers a greater amount of dirt and debris and considerably less detail. Public domain copies (such as the one included in St. Clair Vision's The Mystery Collection DVD set) are even worse, thanks mostly to compression noise as a result of being packed with other films on a single disc. (BFI's BD release comes with a DVD as well, but it was not included with the screener and therefore is not reviewed here.)

The LCPM audio on the BD is of similar quality to that of Warner's DVD release, which is to say that it's outstanding given the film's history. There is none of the hiss often associated with films of this vintage; dialogue is clear and crisp, and the score is robust. English subtitles are included.

Extras are a Dickinson lover's dream: five shorts shot or written by the director. These include Spanish ABC (1938), Behind the Spanish Lines (1938), Westward Ho! (1940), Miss Grant Goes to the Door (1940), and Yesterday Is Over Your Shoulder (1940). Both Spanish ABC and Behind the Spanish Lines (each one approximately 20 minutes long) are propaganda films dealing with aspects of the Spanish Civil War, a favorite topic among British liberals at the time. The former deals with the education of Spanish children by the Republican government, the latter with the war's effect on Spanish citizens. Both shorts are separated into three chapters. The next three shorts are all productions from the Ministry of Information. Westward Ho! (9 minutes) is an attempt to educate the public about the evacuation of children to the countryside in the event of a domestic attack by Axis powers. Miss Grant Goes to the Door (8 minutes), for whom Dickinson provided the story, concerns two women, fearing German invasion, who are forced to confront the war head-on. It stars a young(ish) Martita Hunt, who went on to find fame as the selfish, degraded countess who procures fresh victims for her vampire son in Hammer's classic The Brides of Dracula (1960). Finally, Yesterday Is Over Your Shoulder (9 minutes) is a lighthearted attempt to convince people to join in the war effort. It was both written and produced by Dickinson. On an audio-visual level, the first two documentaries fare the worst, with lots of scratches, fading, and a basic lack of detail. The latter three shorts are considerably sharper, with only minor print damage consisting mostly of speckling and occasional scratches. While these extras won't be everyone's cup of tea (and will probably not appeal to the average viewer of Gothic romance), they are nonetheless preserved for posterity's sake, thanks to the diligent work of the British Film Institute.

The Final Word:

Gaslight is not a great film, but it is an interesting one, particularly for fans of MGM's 1944 remake who want to see what MGM was so afraid of! The performances and direction are solid, but the script takes itself a little too seriously despite some inherent silliness. BFI's BD presentation, however, is the best the film has ever looked and offers some nice extras for people interested in tracing Thorold Dickinson's cinematic career.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!