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Gaslight

Gaslight

  • Status: Released
  • 31-08-1940
  • Runtime: 84 min
  • Score: 7.101
  • Vote count: 99

Twenty years removed from Alice Barlow's murder by a thief looking for her jewels, newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move into the very house where the crime was committed. Retired detective B.G. Rough, who worked on the Barlow case, is still in the area and grows suspicious of Paul, who he feels bears a striking resemblance to one of Barlow's relatives. Rough must find the truth before the killer can strike again and reclaim his bounty.

Anton Walbrook

Paul Mallen (as Anton Wahlbrook)

Diana Wynyard

Bella Mallen

Frank Pettingell

B.G. Rough

Cathleen Cordell

Nancy the Parlour Maid

Robert Newton

Ullswater

Jimmy Hanley

Cobb

Minnie Rayner

Elizabeth

Marie Wright

Alice Barlow

Aubrey Dexter

House Agent

Mary Hinton

Lady Winterbourne

Angus Morrison

Pianist

Jack Barty

Chairman of Music Hall

Alfred Atkins

Bit Role

Edwin Ellis

Bit Role

Kathleen Harrison

Bit Role

Katie Johnson

Alice Barlow's Maid

Molly Raynor

Bit Role

Pat Ronald

Bit Role

Johnnie Schofield

John (Man Working On Carriage At Stables)

CinemaSerf

I always feel that this version has been overshadowed by it's much higher profile 1944 iteration, but is actually every bit as good. A newly married couple move into their home on a Victorian Square and soon afterwards "Bella" (Diana Wynyard) starts to become absent minded, starts to misplace things, forget things. Her initially supportive husband "Paul" (Anton Walbrook) starts to lose patience with her and when she starts to imagine footsteps and flickering gas lamps he threatens to have her certified... Except, what's really going on? Is she what she seems - and, is he? The timely arrival of "Rough" (Frank Pettingell) starts to cause us all to question as he discovers that the husband may have a hidden, much more sinister, past! Thorold Dickinson does well with the pace of this tautly directly adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play; the performances - especially a menacing Walbrook - are tight and convincing and Richard Addinsell has created a score that perfectly matches the pace as the mystery heads to it's denouement.