Gas light (1940)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Gas light |
| Original title | Gaslight |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Thorold Dickinson |
| script |
AR Rawlinson Bridget Boland based on Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton |
| production | John Corfield for British National, London |
| music | Richard Addinsell |
| camera | Bernard Knowles |
| cut | Sidney Cole |
| occupation | |
| |
Gaslicht is a British thriller and crime film from 1940. Directed by Thorold Dickinson , Adolf Wohlbrück (in exile: Anton Walbrook ) and Diana Wynyard play the leading roles.
action
It's been twenty years since old Mrs. Barlow was murdered in her home at 12 Pimlico Square in London. The murderer then searched her home for her most precious possession: twelve rubies. After this act of violence, the property was empty, but now the perpetrator has returned in the guise of the supposedly decent citizen Paul Mallen. At his side: his young wife Bella. She doesn't feel comfortable in this dark building, she is not very well. Lately Bella Mallen has suffered more and more from forgetfulness as she seems to be constantly moving objects. In addition, she is plagued by a steadily increasing nervousness. Bella can't figure it out, but her hypothermic husband seems to be taking care of her. Without her knowing it, Paul is behind all the strange happenings and tries to drive Bella successively into madness. With an air of innocence, he bluntly tells her that he thinks she is going to lose her mind.
Paul moved it back to Pimlico Square for one reason only: he finally wants to find the rubies that must still be hidden there somewhere. One day Malen's darker goings-on threatens to be threatened by the observant ex-police officer G. B. Rough. He was involved in the unsuccessful investigation of the previous murder case, remembers it very well and thinks that Paul Mallen is very similar to Mrs. Barlow's nephew Louis, who was believed to be lost. Rough decides to get to the bottom of the case and from then on watches Paul Mallen closely.
Much of his behavior seems strange to him: why, for example, does Paul Mallen go to the neighboring apartment at number 14 night after night? A gas light flickers every evening from the windows of the uppermost rooms of No. 12, which have not been accessible for a long time. It's Paul, still looking for Mrs. Barlow's gems. Night after night he climbs from No. 14 to the upper floor of No. 12. Every time Paul Mallen searches through the rooms with his gas light, the light in the Mallen apartment below is also darkened. When Bella Mallen asks her husband about the light obscuration and also tells of noises that she hears over and over again, he persuades her again that she must be wrong and that she is obviously suffering from increasing delusions. Gradually, Paul Malen's master plan seems to be working out and Bella has doubts about her sanity. Rough, on the other hand, is not so easily fooled and finds out about Mallen aka nephew Louis. He can even rely on Bella's collaboration, who thus takes revenge on Paul in a subtle way. He is eventually convicted of a bigamist and arrested for murder.
Production notes
The film is based on a 1938 play called Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton .
The world premiere of Gaslicht took place on June 25, 1940 in London. In the USA, the screening of the film was deliberately delayed because a gas-light version was also planned there, but it was not shot until 1943 ( Das Haus der Lady Alquist ) and was released in cinemas the following year. The producing MGM even tried to destroy the negative of the British original from 1940. The British gas light film was therefore only released in theaters there in 1952 and was sold under the title Angel Street . Gaslight was first shown in Germany in 1990 (on television).
Katie Johnson - known as an old lady from Ladykillers - can be seen as Alice's servant in a minor supporting role .
The film was shot at Denham Studios and Warwick Way in London 's Pimlico district .
After his role as the British queen-husband Prince Albert in two splendid films about Queen Victoria (1937 and 1938), Wohlbrück remained true to the Victorian era in this film too. Here, however, he was allowed to play a veritable villain for the first time.
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide says: “What this version lacks in budget compared to MGM remake, it more than makes up for an electrifying atmosphere. Delicious performances, and a succinctly conveyed sense of madness and evil lurking beneath the surface of the ordinary. "
Halliwell's film wrote: "Modest but absolutely effective film version of a superb piece of suspense theater".
The Lexicon of International Films wrote: "A psychological thriller set in Victorian London that creates a comfortably threatening atmosphere primarily through effective camera work."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 478. Translation: “What this version lacks in money compared to the MGM remake, it more than makes up for with an electrifying atmosphere. Wonderful performance and a stringently conveyed sense of madness and villainy that lurks behind the surface of the ordinary. "
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 391. Translation: "Modest but extremely effective film version of an excellent piece of suspense theater."
- ^ Gaslight in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on December 31, 2013.
Web links
- Gaslight in the Internet Movie Database (English)