I Confess (1953) - Hitch's great drama of a Father caught by the confessional vow

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A very dramatic rendering on a firetruck red background of a man seemingly assaulting a woman makes up most of this extremely text-heavy poster for Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess

In Quebec, Canada, the German Keller confesses to murder to a the young father Logan, who since himself becomes the main suspect in the case. And while Logan's life is ruined by this, he cannot break his confessional vow of silence.

 

I Confess is written by William Archibald (The Innocents (1961)) and George Tabori (No Exit (1962)), adapting the 1902 play Nos Deux Consciences by Paul Anthelme Bourde (La Fin de Veux Temps (1892)), and directed by English master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (The Pleasure Garden (1925)), whose 39th feature it was.

It is a very typical Hitchcock film about a wrongly accused man, who gets trapped in the judicial system. Thematically and religiously it is similar to Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956), of which nevertheless my preference probably goes to the latter film (due to its atmospheric New York setting and the score.)

The acting is formidable: Montgomery Clift (Wild River (1960)) across from the human scum in the guise of the German Keller, played by O.E. Hasse (Geliebter Lügner (1963, TV movie)). Anne Baxter (Columbo (1973, TV-series)) and Karl Malden (Nuts (1987)) also lend fine performances to the film. Technically also I Confess is a joy, as, among other finesses, it has some fine dreamy flashbacks.

 

Related posts:

Alfred Hitchcock: Frenzy (1972) - Hitchcock's great, morbid tie killer thriller 

The Birds (1963) - Hitchcock spearheads horror sub-genre and innovative special effects in great, odd film
Dial M for Murder (1954) - Hitchcock's 3D thriller is hindered by theatrics
The 39 Steps (1935) or, Murder and High Jinx!  

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 2 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain

[I Confess premiered 12 February (Quebec) and runs 95 minutes. Controversial elements from the play had to be eliminated before production. Shooting took place from August - October 1952 in California and Quebec. Hitch had great difficulty catering to Clift's method acting technique, which he saw as inability to take direction. The film suffered many bad reviews domestically, but Variety reported it among 1953's biggest hits in a 1954 article, listing a 2 mil. $ domestic gross. Hitchcock returned with Dial M for Murder (1954). Clift returned in Terminal Station (1953); Baxter in The Blue Gardenia (1953). I Confess is fresh at 81 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Confess?

The Heiress (1949) - De Havilland triumphs in sensational Wyler adaptation

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A moment of intense rapture is depicted on this elegant poster for William Wyler's The Heiress

An old maid in New York in the 1840s with a rich father is suddenly courted by a beautiful, younger man, and she is unwilling to share her father's skeptic feelings as to the man's true intentions ...

 

The Heiress is written by Augustus and Ruth Goetz (Carrie (1952), both), adapting their own same-titled play, which was an adaptation of Washington Square (1880) by Henry James (Confidence (1879)), and directed by German-born American master filmmaker, producer/director William Wyler (Lazy Lightning (1926)), whose 33rd feature it was.

Ideally adapted, elegantly photographed (by Leo Tover (From the Terrace (1960))) and scored with Aaron Copland's (The Red Pony (1949)) mighty compositions. The heavy patriarchy of its time is a part of the portrait, but the story reaches deeper than this. 

Olivia de Havilland (The Swarm (1978)) transforms her character credibly in a truly great performance. Montgomery Clift (A Place in the Sun (1951)) is also outstanding SPOILER as the alluring charlatan, and Ralph Richardson (Jesus of Nazareth (1977, miniseries)) is complete perfection as her coolly affectionate, guiding father.

 

Related posts:

William Wyler: How to Steal a Million (1966) - Wyler and stars win with Paris-set cinematic cream puff 

Top 10: Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Ben-Hur (1959) - Perhaps the greatest epic film of all time
The Big Country (1958) - A big western gift  

The Desperate Hours (1955) - Wyler's top-drawer true-crime home-invasion thriller 

Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Top 10: The best adventure films reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Roman Holiday (1953) - Wyler takes us to marvelous Rome on an unforgettable romantic adventure 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.6 mil. $

Box office: 2.3 mil. $ (North-American rentals only)

= Uncertain

[The Heiress premiered 6 October (New York) and runs 115 minutes. De Havilland brought the play to Wyler's attention after seeing it on Broadway. The Goetz couple were paid 250k $ for the play rights plus 10k $ a week for writing the screenplay. Clift was paid 100k $ for his performance. Shooting took place from June - September 1948 in Los Angeles, California. The film was considered a box office flop due to its 2.3 mil. $ domestic gross, - regrettably the foreign gross numbers have not been made public and without these the film's theatrical status cannot be declared. The film was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 4: Best Actess (De Havilland), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration - Black-and-White, Costume Design - Black-and-White and Score - Drama/Comedy. It lost Best Supporting Actor (Richardson) to Dean Jagger for Twelve O'Clock High, Cinematography - Black-and-White to Paul Vogel for Battleground, Director to Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives and Picture to All the King's Men. It also won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Wyler returned with Detective Story (1951). De Havilland returned in My Cousin Rachel (1952); Clift in The Big Lift (1950); and Richardson in Outcast of the Islands (1951). The Heiress is fresh at 100 % with an 8.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Heiress? 

Hello, Dolly! (1969) - Effervescent, grand musical entertainment from some of the greats

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A very late 1960s and supremely stylish poster for Gene Kelly's Hello, Dolly!

Dolly Levi is an effervescent widow who can afford just about anything. For her own future she targets the wealthy merchant of Yonkers, Mr. Vandergelder.

 

Hello, Dolly! is written and produced by Ernest Lehman (The Sound of Music (1965)), based on the same-titled 1964 Broadway play by Michael Stewart (Bring Back Birdie (1981)), which in turn was based on Thornton Wilder's (The Merchant of Yonkers (1938)) play The Matchmaker (1954). It is directed by Pennsylvanian master filmmaker Gene Kelly (On the Town (1949)), whose 9th feature it was.

Barbra Streisand (The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)) is radiant comically, musically and motion-wise (as well as erotically) as never before in the festive title role, and Walter Matthau (Charade (1963)) is formidably funny as the square Vandergelder. With tremendous guys as Vandergelder's underlings, his clerks (in particular the young Danny Lockin (Gypsy (1962)) is irresistible), as well as Joyce Ames (The Todd Killings (1971)) and Tommy Tune (The Boy Friend (1971)) as the in-love Ermengarde and Ambrose and flyingly fresh and keen dialog. Perhaps the length stretches a bit comfortably, but a musical lover can't but fall in love with this grand, beautifully photographed (by Harry Stradling Sr. (Island of Love (1963))) master class. The costumes, which has the elegant meeting the gaudy in a whirl of colors, and the dance acts, - along with a couple of the songs, - simply don't come more attractive or impressive.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 25.3 mil. $

Box office: 33.2 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain, likely even

[Hello, Dolly! was released 16 December (USA) and runs 146 minutes. Streisand was paid 750k $ for her performance; Matthau 500k $. Shooting took place from April - August 1968 in Pennsylvania, New York and in Los Angeles, California. The release was delayed due to a contractual issue that it would not be allowed release before the Broadway show of Hello, Dolly! ended. Fox eventually paid 1-2 mil. $ to secure a release before the contract had stated. The film opened #3, behind On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Easy Rider, in North America, where it grossed 33.2 mil. $, making it one of the year's 5 highest-grossing films domestically. The film reportedly earned Fox 26 mil. $ globally, - enough that it ranks here as 'even' or 'box office success' status, but reportedly still incurring a 10 mil. $ loss for the studio, likely due to big marketing and print expenses which are not calculated into the theatrical status of a film's performance here. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 3: For Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Sound and Musical Picture Score (Lennie Hayton (The Virginian (1963, TV-series)) and Lionel Newman (The Pleasure Seekers (1964)). It lost Best Cinematography to Conrad L. Hall for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Costumes to Anne of the Thousand Days, Editing to Z and Picture to Midnight Cowboy.  The film was also nominated for 3 BAFTAs and 5 Golden Globes, among other honors. Kelly returned with The Cheyenne Social Club (1970). Streisand returned in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970); Matthau in A New Leaf (1971); and Michael Crawford (Condorman (1981)) in The Games (1970). Hello, Dolly! is rotten at 45 % with a 6.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hello, Dolly!?

Hamlet (1948) - Olivier's overrated drama prince

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Laurence Olivier's name almost looms larger than the title on this old-fashioned, classical poster for Laurence Olivier's Hamlet

The prince of Denmark sees the ghost of his late father and is obsessed with the urge to find the one guilty of his murder in order to exact revenge.

 

Hamlet is written, produced and directed by English master filmmaker Laurence Olivier (Henry V (1944)), who also stars as the title character and whose 2nd film it was as a filmmaker. It is, of course, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's (Othello (1603)) same-titled 1599/1601 play.

Though widely celebrated, I find Olivier stiff and affected in Hamlet in a theatrical and dated version of the great play, which also has a problematic Gertrud, the queen and Hamlet's mother, as Eileen Herlie (Freud (1962)) was 11 years younger than Olivier. Though often criticized for its omissions, the film is still long, and I think overlong - and too wordy. 

Still, Olivier's Hamlet is without reservations a handsomely produced and pictorially well composed picture, (cinematography by Desmond Dickinson (Cairo (1963))). As a film, however, Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 version with Mel Gibson is far superior.

 

Related posts:

 

Laurence Olivier: Dracula (1979) - Badham's sensuous, exceptional adaptation (actor)

The Boys From Brazil (1978) or, The Last Nazi Command (co-star)

 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 527k £, approximately 662k $

Box office: 3.25 mil. $ (North American rentals alone); projected gross of 8-10 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a mega-hit (projected return between 12.08-15.1 times the cost)

[Hamlet premiered 6 May (London) and runs 155 minutes. Olivier was paid 50k £ for his work on the film. Shooting took place from April - November 1947 in England. The film's gross details are regrettably not found online; only small snippets such as that it reportedly made 779k £ in profits in the UK alone, which would mean that it was a tremendous hit there, and 3.25 mil. $ in North American rentals, which is also very impressive. The global final gross seems likely to have gone as high as 8-10 mil. $. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 4: Best Picture (the first non-American film to do so), Actor (Olivier), Art Direction-Set Decoration B/W and Costumes B/W. It lost Best Supporting Actress (Jean Simmons (The Dawning (1988))) to Claire Trevor for Key Largo, Director to John Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Score - Drama/Comedy (William Walton (As You Like It (1936))) to Brian Easdale for The Red Shoes. It also won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, 2 Golden Globes, a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Olivier returned with Richard III (1955) as a filmmaker and in The Magic Box (1951) as an actor. Hamlet is certified fresh at 95 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hamlet? 

Henry V (1989) - Conviction hits home in Branagh's Shakespearean debut

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Several men celebrate their king before a fiery inferno on this poster for Kenneth Branagh's Henry V

In the days of King Henry V, a disdainful letter is received from the king of France, and soon the grand European powers are at the cusp of war.

 

Henry V is written and directed by Irish master filmmaker, debuting Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996)), who also co-stars in it as the titular king. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1599 play by William Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595/96)).

Henry V is not among the bard's best in my book; the king is a sleek and pompous guy, and the story is so overly dense with words. Branagh nevertheless overcomes this with enthusiasm and magnetic conviction.

So despite there being no real wisdom to be gained from Henry V, which is a chronicle of war and hardly more, there are dashing scenes, - especially during and after the battle, - and belief in the film.

 

Related posts:

Kenneth Branagh: Belfast (2021) - Fond childhood memories become a fabulous film

Tenet (2020) - Nolan blows smoke up your ass (actor)

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - Branagh's star-studded Christie match is auspicious (director/co-star)

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie (actor)
My Week with Marilyn (2011) or, The Prince, the Showgirl and Me (actor)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) - Potter and Co. return for handsome if overlong first sequel (co-star)
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York (actor) 

 

 

Branagh gives a longer interview about the making of the film here

 

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 10.9 mil. $ (North America and the UK only); projected 15-20 mil. $ world gross

= Uncertain but likely a big flop or a flop (projected return of 1.66 - 2.22 times its cost)

[Henry V premiered 6 October (London) and runs 137 minutes. Shooting took place from October - December 1988 in England. The film opened #19 to a 64k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it grossed 10.1 mil. $. It reportedly made 652k £, approximately 812k $, in the UK, but numbers from its many other markets are regrettably not public online. A final gross in the area of 15-20 mil. $, (which is likely setting it high), would rank the film as either a 'big flop' or a 'flop' with a return of 1.66-2.22 times its cost. The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning 1, for Best Costumes. It lost Best Director to Oliver Stone for Born of the Fourth of July and Actor (also Branagh) to Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot. It also won 1/6 BAFTA nominations, won 2 European Film awards and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Branagh returned with Dead Again (1991) as a director and in Look Back in Anger (1989, TV movie) first as an actor, before also co-starring in Dead Again. Henry V is certified fresh at 100 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Henry V?

Hamlet (1990) - Stars shine in Zeffirelli's compelling adaptation

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A fine ensemble is lined up in stark, desaturated tones on this poster for Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet

Prince Hamlet of Denmark's father dies a mysterious death, and the prince's near madness in the castle in Elsinore, including his conferences with the ghost of his father, brings intrigues and murder to bear.

 

Hamlet is written by Christopher De Vore (The Elephant Man (1980)) and great Italian co-writer/director Franco Zeffirelli (Camping (1958)), adapting the same-titled 1603 play by William Shakespeare (Coriolanus (1605-08)).

Shakespeare's celebrated text gets room to shine in this excellent adaptation. Some minor flaws, - among them Helena Bonham Carter's (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)) over-acting of madness, - don't much damage the film's success, in large part thanks to the honest, human portrait of the title character by Mel Gibson (Air America (1990)), and Glenn Close's (The Stepford Wives (2004)) equally intense performance.

Ennio Morricone's (Good News (1979)) music is elegant and well played. Zeffirelli's is a sober, handsome Hamlet.

 

 

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 12.6 mil. £, approximately 16.89 mil. $

Box office: 20.7 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain - but probably a big flop (seemingly returned 1.32 times its cost)

[Hamlet was released 19 December (Toronto, Los Angeles, New York) and runs 134 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 1990 in Scotland, France and England. The film opened #18 to a 116k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 624 theaters (different weeks), grossing 20.7 mil. $. The-Numbers.com allege that the film had an international gross of just 1.7 mil. $, - which would be incredibly little, - but if true the film was a big flop. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, lost to Dick Tracy, and Costumes, lost to Cyrano de Bergerac. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, won 1/2 David di Donatello award nominations and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Zeffirelli returned with The King of Ads (1991, segment), Don Carlo (1992, TV movie) and theatrically with Sparrow (1993). Gibson returned in Lethal Weapon 3 (1992); Close in Sarah, Plain and Tall (1991, TV movie) and theatrically in Meeting Venus (1991). Hamlet is fresh at 76 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hamlet? 

Madea's Family Reunion (2006) - Perry returns endearing universe in enjoyable first sequel

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Tyler Perry's popular character amusingly replaced as Andy Warhol's iconic Marilyn Monroe art-piece on this poster for Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion

Madea gets a court ordered foster child, who is a rebellious teenage girl, at a time when she is also advising her grown-up nieces: One is falling on love with a solid, sweet bus driver, while the other is marrying her rich, tyrannical boyfriend through a longer period.

 

Madea's Family Reunion is written, co-produced and directed by Tyler Perry (Acrimony (2018)), who also plays title character Madea as well as two other characters. It is based on Perry's same-titled 2002 play, and the film is a follow-up to the first Madea movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005).

Blair Underwood (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2015-16)) is convincing as the cruel tyrant, and in fact the cast is good throughout here, with Perry back as the wise, hard-hitting Madea - and her low-brow brother. The bus scene is fantastically sweet and romantic - the film's best - and the plot surprises, when it sheds a bold light on incest.

Madea's Family Reunion still manages to be funny, entertaining and heart-warming, although it is also theatrical and becomes cloyingly God-fixated in the end around the inevitable wedding.

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 63.3 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 10.55 times its cost)

[Madea's Family Reunion was released 24 February (USA, Canada) and runs 109 minutes. Shooting took place around July 2005 in Georgia, including Atlanta. The film opened #1 to a 30 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and another in the top 5 (#5), grossing 63.2 mil. $ (99.8 % of the total gross). Perry returned with Why Did I Get Married? (2006, short), Madea Goes to Jail (2006, video) and theatrically with Daddy's Little Girls (2007); as a star he returned in Madea Goes to Jail. Madea's Family Reunion is rotten at 26 % with a 4.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Madea's Family Reunion?

The Father (2020) or, Disintegration

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Critical hype is the background to an intimate moment between the father-daughter pair on this poster for Florian Zeller's The Father

Anthony is an old man who was recently moved in with his daughter in an arrangement that doesn't really relieve either party, as he is going through the process of escalating dementia.

 

The Father is written by Christopher Hampton (The Quiet American (2002)) and debuting co-writer/director Florian Zeller (Empreintes (2010, TV documentary), adapting his own 2012 play La Père ('the father').

It is the latest in the 'star-actor-gets-Alzheimers/dementia' drama subgenre, and certainly an eloquent, - visually and narratively, - new work in this tradition. Narratively the novelty here is that Zeller has different actors portray the same characters, reflecting for us the confusion and inability to remember faces that a person with dementia experiences. This is an effective and highly unpleasant feature of The Father.

Anthony Hopkins (The Dawning (1988)) is on fire here in a tragic role that also lays bare how mood-swings and rudeness can be regular companions for the person with dementia, whose self is in a process of complete disintegration. Olivia Colman (The Lobster (2015)) is moving and dignified as his hurting, accommodating daughter.

Watching The Father is an awful ordeal. It is well-acted and well-made but a colossal downer, though probably rightfully so. Nevertheless I don't expect I will need to revisit this one in the future.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 13.4 mil. $ and counting

= Uncertain - at the moment ranks as a flop but could improve status

[The Father premiered 27 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. No less than 11 companies were involved with the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in London, England. The film's release was greatly inhibited by the China Virus pandemic. It opened #8 in 865 theaters to a 433k $ first weekend in North America, where it never attained a higher rank and grossed 2.1 mil. $. Currently North America was its 3rd biggest market, with Australia (2.3 mil. $) and France (2.2 mil. $) being the biggest and 2nd biggest. But the film is still only now rolling out in several markets: 15 June Columbia; 19 June China; 24 June Slovakia; 20 August Sweden; 26 August Germany and the Netherlands. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning 2: For Best Actor (Hopkins) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to Nomadland, Supporting Actress (Colman) to Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari, Editing to Sound of Metal and Production Design to Mank. It won 2/6 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 4 Golden Globes and several other honors. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #105 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between The Kid (1921) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). Zeller returns with The Son, another adaptation of a play of his. Hopkins returned in Elyse (2020); Colman in 6 TV and voicing projects and is set to return physically and theatrically in Mothering Sunday (2021). The Father is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Father?

Good (2008) - Mortensen stands out in under-appreciated Nazi drama

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+ Best German Movie of the Year

 

Viggo Mortensen sports a swastika on his black tie and looks dejectedly downwards on this praise-filled poster for Vicente Amorim's Good

Professor Halder, a literary man in 1930s Germany, learns to adapt himself to the new circumstances, when the Nazis assume power, and despite the protests of his Jewish friend he is appointed as an SS officer.

 

Good is written by John Wrathall (The Liability (2012)), based on the same-titled 1981 play by C.P. Taylor (And a Nightingale Sang (1977)), and directed by Vicente Amorim (The Middle of the Earth (2003)).

A heavy story comes to life here as an elegant film thanks to distinguished photography (by Andrew Dunn (Precious (2009))) and a characteristically outstanding performance from Viggo Mortensen (The Reflecting Skin (1990)) as Halder. This is a difficult character, whom we would otherwise be prone to reject swiftly as overly naive or as a fictitious construct, but here he stands out as a realistic, painful figure: A good, educated man, who simply doesn't have the imagination to realize what incredible atrocities his countrymen are actually in the midst of carrying out, and who therefore does what we humans are so apt at and simply adapts to the changing circumstances.

Good is a heavy and provocative film, - and it is very well-made.

 

Related post:

 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Top 10: Best German movies

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 1.5 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.1 times its cost)

[Good premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 96 minutes. Producer Miriam Segal had wished to adapt Taylor's play since seeing it in 1981. Mortensen had also seen and been impressed by the play in London in 1981. Shooting took place in Budapest, Hungary around May 2007. The film opened #68 to a 9k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked the following - and last - weekend at #66 in 8 theaters, grossing 27k $ (1.8 % of the total gross). The film's biggest 3 markets were Spain with 1.1 mil. $ (73.3 %), Brazil with 202k $ (13.5 %) and the UK with 89k $ (5.9 %). Amorim returned with Dirty Hearts (2011). Mortensen returned in The Road (2009); Jason Isaacs (Green Zone (2010)) in 2 TV-series and a short prior to his theatrical return in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). Good is rotten at 33 % with a 4.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Good?

Gaslight/Angel Street (1940) - Walbrook chills in Dickinson's masterpiece

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Romance and show business are (erroneously) indicated on this poster for Thorold Dickinson's Gaslight

When a young, newlywed woman buys a nice property in London with her tyrannical, manipulative husband, a local amateur sleuth recognizes him as the possible murderer of the house's former owner ...

 

Gaslight is written by A.R. Rawlinson (Flame of Africa (1954)) and Bridget Boland (He Found a Star (1941)), based on the play Gas Light (1938) by Patrick Hamilton (Rope (1929)), and directed by English master filmmaker Thorold Dickinson (The First Mrs. Fraser (1932)), whose 6th feature it was. The play and adaptations of it gave rise to the verb to 'gaslight' someone, referring to the practice of manipulating (usually) a close relation into doubting their memory and sanity.

This film is in every way a masterly creation; beautifully produced and shot (by Bernard Knowles (Spy for a Day (1940), affectingly scored (by Richard Addinsell (Under Capricorn (1949))) and acted with great accomplishment; both by Diana Wynyard (The Fugitive (1939)) and particularly by Anton Walbrook (Victoria the Great (1937)), who gives one of the all-time best portraits of a homicidal psychopath. - Genuinely frightening and unforgettable.

The fascinating and deeply thrilling, condensed story is tightly controlled plot-wise, and yet supporting characters and the portrait of 1870s London, - with its implicitly racist, imperial, patriarchal, class-delineated 'order', adds a tremendous amount of color. On top of these praises Gaslight's ending has a poetic beauty to it.

 

 

Watch a 3-minute excerpt from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Gaslight premiered 25 June (London) and runs 89 minutes. Shooting took place in England, including London. Little is recorded of the film's theatrical release during WWII. It was remade in Hollywood as Gaslight (1944) by George Cukor. MGM attempted to have the original film destroyed to further the renown of their own film, which luckily failed. Dickinson returned with Yesterday Is Over Your Shoulder (1940, short), Westward Ho! (1940, short) and theatrically with The Prime Minister (1941). Wynyard returned in A Voice in the Night (1941); Walbrook in Suicide Squadron (1941). 3,959 IMDb users have given Gaslight a 7.4/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Gaslight?