Reply to Topic
Gaslight is another film I nominated in another HOF...it didn't win which was a TRAVESTY and ABSURD....but yeah this is a personal favorite of mine.
The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown
→ in Movie Reviews
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
I watched Gaslight years ago and it's a quality film but it's been a while. Haven't seed Dead Reckoning but I reckon that I should since it's got Bogie and looks pretty good.
__________________
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
X
Favorite Movies
I like Gaslight quite a bit, but it didn't make my ballot. I haven't seen Dead Reckoning yet.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
#95 Dead Reckoning (1946)
Director: John Cromwell
Production: Columbia Pictures
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott, Morris Carnovsky
Director: John Cromwell
Production: Columbia Pictures
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott, Morris Carnovsky
23 Points, 4 List
'A soldier runs away rather than receive the Medal of Honor, so his buddy gets permission to investigate, and love and death soon follow.'
It didn't elbow into my top 25, but I'd put it in the top 50.
X
Favorite Movies
IMO Gaslight is a picture to be seen once. It's a landmark film-- a psychological thriller. I don't quite see how it qualifies as noir, but oftentimes noir is in the eyes of the beholder.
The plotting-to-drive-the-spouse-crazy trope may have been started by Gaslight, and there have been many imitators. It certainly had a heavyweight cast, with Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and Joseph Cotten-- not to mention Angela Lansbury. But in my view the attempt to drive Paula nuts got ever so slightly long in the tooth. My guess is that Bergman wanted the maximum amount of emoting time...
The plotting-to-drive-the-spouse-crazy trope may have been started by Gaslight, and there have been many imitators. It certainly had a heavyweight cast, with Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and Joseph Cotten-- not to mention Angela Lansbury. But in my view the attempt to drive Paula nuts got ever so slightly long in the tooth. My guess is that Bergman wanted the maximum amount of emoting time...
X
Favorite Movies
Gaslight is one of my favorite films. Ingrid Bergman is such a treasure and Boyer always has a kind implicit threat about him. But I don't think of it as noir. There's no mean streets of a modern city. I think of it as a psychological thriller, but I need that grittiness.
As for Dead Reckoning, I have no idea whether I have seen it or not. I mean how many noirs did Bogie and Liz Scott each do? He's in at least three of my picks and Liz is in one and none of them are Dead Reckoning.
As for Dead Reckoning, I have no idea whether I have seen it or not. I mean how many noirs did Bogie and Liz Scott each do? He's in at least three of my picks and Liz is in one and none of them are Dead Reckoning.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Following my usual following up for today's reveals
I'll post excerpts of my past reviews, that way they aren't that long....I hope.
Gashlight (1944)
Gaslight was nominated for seven Academy Awards including:
Best Picture, Best Actor (Charles Boyer), Best Supporting Actress (Angela Lansbury), Best Screenplay, Best B&W Cinematography.
And Won two: Best Actress (Ingrid Bergman) & Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, B&W.
It launched the career of Angela Lansbury and further made Ingrid Bergman a household name. Indeed both actresses act up a storm here and that's the strong point of the film.
Gaslight is consider one of the great films, but was it really all it's cracked up to be? While it's a good film with strong performances by the actors, the script which was padded out to 2 doesn't have enough meat in it to sustain the suspense. To make matters worse, the audience knows who 'done it' almost immediately. We know poor Ingrid isn't really crazy, and we know it's her manipulating husband played by Charles Boyer who's the culprit...and that takes the suspense out of it.
Now the film could be still amazing if it was a deep character study, but it's not...Or the film could have had a couple subplots going, that could have added extra dimensions, but it doesn't.
The film does hint that the young maid played Angela Lansbury, might be having an affair with the husband, or at least it seemed that way, but that issue is never explored. So instead we have two hours of Ingrid being slowly driven mad by her husband and that got tedious for me. The film would have been better at 90 minutes.
I'll post excerpts of my past reviews, that way they aren't that long....I hope.Gashlight (1944)
Best Picture, Best Actor (Charles Boyer), Best Supporting Actress (Angela Lansbury), Best Screenplay, Best B&W Cinematography.
And Won two: Best Actress (Ingrid Bergman) & Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, B&W.
It launched the career of Angela Lansbury and further made Ingrid Bergman a household name. Indeed both actresses act up a storm here and that's the strong point of the film.
Gaslight is consider one of the great films, but was it really all it's cracked up to be? While it's a good film with strong performances by the actors, the script which was padded out to 2 doesn't have enough meat in it to sustain the suspense. To make matters worse, the audience knows who 'done it' almost immediately. We know poor Ingrid isn't really crazy, and we know it's her manipulating husband played by Charles Boyer who's the culprit...and that takes the suspense out of it.
Now the film could be still amazing if it was a deep character study, but it's not...Or the film could have had a couple subplots going, that could have added extra dimensions, but it doesn't.
The film does hint that the young maid played Angela Lansbury, might be having an affair with the husband, or at least it seemed that way, but that issue is never explored. So instead we have two hours of Ingrid being slowly driven mad by her husband and that got tedious for me. The film would have been better at 90 minutes.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Dead Reckoning (1947)
A decent noir. but for me it was middle of the road as far as noirs go. With Bogart and Lizabeth Scott I guess I expected more. Both leads are good actually and make the film worth a watch. I've become quite the fan of Miss Scott...but the script and direction is close to a 'phone in the performance' level, not bad but not tops. Dead Reckoning reminded a bit of one of Bogart's best The Maltese Falcon with Lizabeth Scott's character either being a love interest or a murderer. You'll have to watch to find out which it was.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
How about the 1940 version? You don't really hear about it. Just reading apparently MGM tried to have it destroyed. Classy.
X
Favorite Movies
In the 19th HoF Gaslight came in 4th behind: #3 Cinema Paradiso, #2 The Godfather, #1 Pulp Fiction. Even the number 1 noir in this countdown wouldn't have probably been able to beat Pulp Fiction and The Godfather. There's nothing absurd about coming in 4th behind some of the great films of cinema. Your film Gaslight tied with Bergman's The Virgin Spring, that's a pretty good showing I'd say.
Yes but Gaslight is better because I nominated it....
what are you new here
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
How about the 1940 version? You don't really hear about it. Just reading apparently MGM tried to have it destroyed. Classy.
Gaslight
I watched the British 1940 version and really enjoyed it. It is completely melodramatic and good performances all round. It's enjoyably suspenseful, if very of its time. Best appreciated for what it is- typical melodrama.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
I've seen Gaslight (and also the 1940 version) and I respected it but didn't love it. I didn't think of it when trying to compile a list, but it only would've brought me to five movies so I still wouldn't have been able to vote.
Here's what I wrote about it for the 19th HOF (in which I mistakenly watched the 1940 version before realizing it was the wrong one):
Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944)
Imdb
Date Watched: 06/01/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 19th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Siddon
Rewatch: No.
Well, I've got some mixed feelings on this one. I realize that my task in this Hall of Fame is to compare this film to the other nine nominations but after my little mix-up it is of course impossible not to compare this film to the 1940 version.
First I'll talk about its strengths. I thought the performances were much stronger here. They felt a little more natural than in the earlier film and I had an easier time buying into the charm of Charles Boyer's "Gregory Anton" than in Anton Walbrooks's "Paul Mallon." I also felt more strongly for Ingrid Bergman's "Paula" than for Diana Wynyard's "Bella." (I see what you did there with the names, writers.) Paula seemed far less frail in the beginning than Bella and so her husband's efforts to break down her mind felt more tragic. I also think it was smart to change it from the husband being the nephew of the previous owner to the wife being the niece and heir to the house, rather than a random victim with money enough to allow the husband to buy the house.
Now to its big weakness: the length and pacing. I felt less engaged with this film than with the earlier version and paused it a few times to take some breaks. I'll allow that part of my struggle with it was the familiarity with the basic plot, having just watched the other version the previous day, but mostly it was the unnecessary padding of the story. There was no need for us to actually see the romance between Gregory and Paula and those scenes only made the opening drag and make a story that took 84 minutes to tell in 1940, plod on for nearly 2 hours. I was also rather irritated with Miss Thwaites - the utterly pointless and annoying nosy neighbor character whose scenes also padded out the film.
Overall still a very good story and a strong film, though I can't say for certain which version I liked better.
-
Here's what I wrote about it for the 19th HOF (in which I mistakenly watched the 1940 version before realizing it was the wrong one):
Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944)
Imdb
Date Watched: 06/01/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 19th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Siddon
Rewatch: No.
Well, I've got some mixed feelings on this one. I realize that my task in this Hall of Fame is to compare this film to the other nine nominations but after my little mix-up it is of course impossible not to compare this film to the 1940 version.
First I'll talk about its strengths. I thought the performances were much stronger here. They felt a little more natural than in the earlier film and I had an easier time buying into the charm of Charles Boyer's "Gregory Anton" than in Anton Walbrooks's "Paul Mallon." I also felt more strongly for Ingrid Bergman's "Paula" than for Diana Wynyard's "Bella." (I see what you did there with the names, writers.) Paula seemed far less frail in the beginning than Bella and so her husband's efforts to break down her mind felt more tragic. I also think it was smart to change it from the husband being the nephew of the previous owner to the wife being the niece and heir to the house, rather than a random victim with money enough to allow the husband to buy the house.
Now to its big weakness: the length and pacing. I felt less engaged with this film than with the earlier version and paused it a few times to take some breaks. I'll allow that part of my struggle with it was the familiarity with the basic plot, having just watched the other version the previous day, but mostly it was the unnecessary padding of the story. There was no need for us to actually see the romance between Gregory and Paula and those scenes only made the opening drag and make a story that took 84 minutes to tell in 1940, plod on for nearly 2 hours. I was also rather irritated with Miss Thwaites - the utterly pointless and annoying nosy neighbor character whose scenes also padded out the film.
Overall still a very good story and a strong film, though I can't say for certain which version I liked better.
-
__________________
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Of the 1 pointers I've only seen The Crimson Kimono and They Drive By Night. Some of these other ones look pretty promising though.
#95 Dead Reckoning (1946) - A major shock for me - there's been a film revealed that I've actually seen! I'd been wanting to watch Dead Reckoning for years, and the approach of this countdown stirred me to do so. I thought Humphrey Bogart looked a little old to be playing the paratrooper pal of what looks like a much younger guy, but Lizabeth Scott is all kinds of acceptable to me. She was great in this. Then there's the misogyny - I guess it's possible a lot of it's tongue-in-cheek, but it's still pretty brazen in places. I know noir has that element to it, but it just seemed meaner and more malicious in this film. The rest is very standard - a murder rap, and a conga-line of suspects including Humphrey Bogart's buddy, who joined up when he was fingered for the crime. This was just squeezed off my ballot, despite me not having seen a whole heap of early film noir - pretty much a stock standard example of the genre.
I've heard of Gaslight, but don't know much about it. I really like Joseph Cotten, so it looks like one I'd probably enjoy.
Seen : 1/6
Heard of : 1/6
Never heard of : 4/6
I've heard of Gaslight, but don't know much about it. I really like Joseph Cotten, so it looks like one I'd probably enjoy.
Seen : 1/6
Heard of : 1/6
Never heard of : 4/6
__________________
Remember - everything has an ending except hope, and sausages - they have two.
We miss you Takoma
We miss you Takoma
Latest Review : Le Circle Rouge (1970)
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Underwatched I's say. I've not seen it and a search of MoFo only yielded one person who had wrote about it. The liked it too.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
no votes. only one i've seen is gaslight, which i liked.
__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0
I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
X
Favorite Movies
Seen both of these a good few times and not surprised to see either make the countdown.
I like Gaslight and don't have much to add to what's already been said. High quality studio production with great period sets and costumes, though I agree it's closer to psychological thriller than noir and is very close along the lines of something Hitchcock would have directed. The Hitchcock-Bergman collaborations unsurprisingly began immediately after this, and her well deserved Academy Award from this was almost obligatory at this stage given her success in Hollywood at the time. Could have been done better in some regards as has been mentioned above but still holding up as a classic of the '40s. Incidentally, the other Boyer-Bergman film Arch of Triumph (1948) is lesser known and a lot more noirish in my opinion.
Dead Reckoning loses me a bit due to the script in what's otherwise a solid film noir. I just find it sometimes overly indulgent with the noir heavy tones in the dialogue, too much saturation and a bit out of place at times. Otherwise Bogart and Scott are in fine form, so is the production - the lighting and cinematography. The quiet self-narration from Bogart also adds a nice touch. Decent example of the genre.
I like Gaslight and don't have much to add to what's already been said. High quality studio production with great period sets and costumes, though I agree it's closer to psychological thriller than noir and is very close along the lines of something Hitchcock would have directed. The Hitchcock-Bergman collaborations unsurprisingly began immediately after this, and her well deserved Academy Award from this was almost obligatory at this stage given her success in Hollywood at the time. Could have been done better in some regards as has been mentioned above but still holding up as a classic of the '40s. Incidentally, the other Boyer-Bergman film Arch of Triumph (1948) is lesser known and a lot more noirish in my opinion.
Dead Reckoning loses me a bit due to the script in what's otherwise a solid film noir. I just find it sometimes overly indulgent with the noir heavy tones in the dialogue, too much saturation and a bit out of place at times. Otherwise Bogart and Scott are in fine form, so is the production - the lighting and cinematography. The quiet self-narration from Bogart also adds a nice touch. Decent example of the genre.
I've seen Gaslight and liked it quite a bit. The star power was what drew me, especially Ingrid Bergman, but I was blown away by a nice-looking and young Angela Lansbury. It did drag on for a bit but it really didn't interfere with my enjoyment.
Dead Reckoing is one I still haven't seen. Love Bogie. Love Lizabeth Scott. I've got at least one of her Noirs on my list but not this one. So far, zip on the ballot.
Dead Reckoing is one I still haven't seen. Love Bogie. Love Lizabeth Scott. I've got at least one of her Noirs on my list but not this one. So far, zip on the ballot.
__________________
"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."
"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."
X
Favorite Movies
X
