Gaslight

Gaslight (1940) (1940)

  • 100% of critics liked it
    (6 reviews)

  • 73% of users liked it
    (571 ratings)

The 1940 British production of Gaslight was the first of two cinematic adaptations of Patrick Hamilton's play. Oozing faux continental charm, Anton Walbrook inveigles his way into the confidence of the young mistress (Diana Wynyard) of a large Victorian mansion. Walbrook is searching for the… More

Unrated,
Directed By
Written By
Patrick Hamilton, A.R. Rawlinson
Genres
Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics
In Theaters
Jun 25, 1940 Wide
WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES

Critic Reviews

  • Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

    The first, British version of Patrick Hamilton's popular play, is extremely well acted by Diana Wynyard and Anton Walbrook, but Cukor's MGM version, with Osar-winning Ingrid Bergman, is superior.

  • Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks

    So much goes right in this film version, all without sparking a corresponding bump in my enthusiasm, that it's all the more obvious that I find some foundations of this text perennially problematic.

  • John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

    The British got to the play first, and theirs is the leaner, tauter script, if not the better movie.

  • John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

    The husband is played by Anton Walbrook, who is far more sinister and emotionless than Charles Boyer would be in the later version.

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Universal D


    A townhouse in 19th Century London with a past: there was a woman murdered there years ago and the murderer never caught. The new couple there should be happy, but the young wife ... troubled. Hears things, sees things, its too bad really. With women as the target audience… More

  • jay n


    Not bad version of classic story but missing the mystique and chemistry of the Ingrid Bergman/Charles Boyer take of the same story. Part of the problem is that Walbrook is too obviously cruel and twisted right from the start instead of the more subtle approach taken by Boyer. Also… More

  • Jonathan H


    MGM famously tried to destroy this film's negatives so it wouldn't compete with its own 1944 remake starring Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury. Good thing they didn't, because we wouldn't have the great fortunate of watching the darker side of Anton Walbrook. His… More

  • Drew S


    Nothing special. Fucking Netflix sent this version to me instead of the Ingrid Bergman version. It makes for a marginally compelling tale of deception and murder, but Bella's husband is so over-the-top evil that they should have made his mustache a little longer so he could twist… More

  • Randy T


    Anton Walbrook seems far more sinister than Charles Boyer did in the later Hollywood release. Thank goodness this version survived in spite of MGM's repeated attempts to destroy it.

Read all 6 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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