Gaslight (1940)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1940
Running Times: 84m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Thorold Dickinson

CREW

PRODUCTION
Production Company: British National Films Ltd
Producer: John Corfield
Associate Producer: Richard Vernon

SCRIPT
Script: A.R. Rawlinson, Bridget Boland
Play: Patrick Hamilton

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: George Pollock

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Bernard Knowles
Camera Operator: Cyril Knowles

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Sidney Cole

MUSIC
Music: Richard Addinsell
Musical Director: Muir Mathieson

SOUND
Sound Recordist: A.J. Brunker
Sound System: Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Settings: Duncan Sutherland

CAST

Anton Walbrook (Paul Mallen)
Diana Wynyard (Bella Mallen)
Frank Pettingell (B.G. Rough)
Cathleen Cordell (Nancy)
Robert Newton (Vincent Ullswater)
Minnie Rayner (Elizabeth)
Jimmy Hanley (Cobb)
Marie Wright (Alice Barlow)
Aubrey Dexter (house agent)
Mary Hinton (Lady Winterbourne)
Angus Morrison (pianist)
Jack Barty (chairman of music hall)
The Darmora Ballet (dancers)

PLOT SUMMARY

Bella Mallen is a Victorian wife who slowly comes to suspect that her husband Paul is trying to drive her mad in order to get at her inheritance. And she also comes to suspect that he might have the man who murdered a woman in their home twenty years before...

AVAILABILITY

UK
Theatrical Distributors: British National Films Ltd

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Commercial Pictures
DVD Distributors: Warner Home Video (65148)

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

UK
Rating: PG

TIMELINE

1940
August
31: UK – theatrical release

1952
November
10: USA – theatrical release

2004
February
3: USA - DVD release (Warner Home Video (65148))

POSTER TAGS

A melodrama of a strange love!

TIMELINE

1978
July
27: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1983
August
28: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1987
November
11: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1990
June
24: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1998
August
31: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Angel Street – US title
Gaslicht - West German title
Gasljus – Swedish title
Luz de gas – Spanish title
A Strange Case of Murder

LINKS

SEE ALSO
Angel Street (1946)
Gas Light (1939)
Gaslicht (1977)
Gaslight (1944)
Gaslight (1947)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

American Cinematographer vol.76 no.12 (December 1995) pp.91-95 (USA)
illustrated synopsis, article

Cine-Technician vol.10 no.46 / 47 (January / April 1944) p.1 (UK)
letter

Documentary News Letter vol.1 no.7 (July 1940) p.9 (UK)
review

Film Comment vol.12 no.3 (May / June 1976) pp.23-25 (USA)
review

Film Heritage vol.8 no.4 (Summer 1973) pp.19-25 (USA)
review

Kinematograph Weekly no.1728 (30 May 1940) (UK)
review

The Listener vol.107 no.2763 (3 June 1982) p.33 (UK)
review

Motion Picture Herald vol.139 no.11 (15 June 1940) (USA)
review

Motion Picture Herald vol.189 no.7 (15 November 1952) p.1607  (USA)
review

Today's Cinema vol.54 no.4421 (29 May 1940) (UK)
review

KEYWORDS

insanity, maids, musicians, obsession, paranoia, pianists, play into film, psychological torture, rubies, strangulation

Last Updated: 12 November, 2009