Gaslight

This 1940 film, directed by Thorold Dickinson, is the original version of a story (adapted from a play) that was remade a few years later with Ingrid Bergman. I haven't seen that Hollywood version, so can't tell whether it's better than the original. I can tell that the original has its moments, but suffers from the ravages of time.

The film, set in Victorian London, begins with a prologue, in which an old lady is strangled. Her house is ransacked. We don't see the intruder, only his hands. According to a newspaper story she has valuable rubies that are presumed stolen. Her house goes up for sale, but because of the notoriety is stands abandoned.

Years later a young couple move in. He's a suave continental type (Anton Walbrook) and she's a demure hothouse flower (Diana Wynyard) who has recently experienced some sort of nervous breakdown. It becomes apparent almost immediately that the husband is up to no good--he hides things and then accuses her of stealing them.

A local man, an ex-policeman (Frank Pettingill), recognizes Walbrook as a criminal, and thinks he's hidden his identity. He endeavors to get to the bottom of things before Walbrook can have Wynyard institutionalized.

Gaslight has some moments of quiet suspense, especially when the worm turns and Wynyward advances on her husband with a knife and you're not sure whether she's going to use it. It's also a brisk 84 minutes, so there's not much fat on it. But it's also well-larded with melodrama, and a bit much for modern sensibility. I'm sure it's true to the time--a husband certainly did have complete dominion over his wife, but at seems at some point she would have turned to him and told him to take a flying leap. Also, if one ex-cop could have recognized him and spoiled the plan, it seems to me Walbrook didn't think things out very clearly.

One cast member, who played Wynyward's sympathetic cousin, looked very familiar to me. Turns out it was Robert Newton, who is best known for playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island.