Gaslight (1940 and 1944) | Movie classics

Originally posted on Movie Classics.

This posting is my contribution to The Great Villain Blogathon. Please take a look at the other postings, which cover an amazing range of films.

There’s something peculiarly chilling about a villain stalking you in your own house – especially when it’s the person who is supposed to be your soulmate. A number of films made in the era of noir explored the plight of wives psychologically tortured by their husbands (Rebecca, Suspicion, The Two Mrs Carrolls). The two versions of Gaslight are among the best.

Here are my thoughts on the two films – and the two  villains of the piece, played by Anton Walbrook and Charles Boyer, with Diana Wynyard and Ingrid Bergman as their terrified wives. Both versions have great lead performances and it’s fascinating to compare them. In particular, Boyer and Walbrook are very different. To my mind the earlier film, directed by Thorold Dickinson, holds its mood better and is more truly frightening than the George Cukor remake, but both are powerful dramas in their own right.

Although there are many changes, in each case the main story is the same, focusing on a wife trapped within a Gothic house amid the darkness of…

via Gaslight (1940 and 1944) | Movie classics.