Classic Psychological Thrillers; Gaslight (1944)

Director George Cukor's classic psychological thriller Gaslight (1944) (first made in Britain in 1939 with Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynward) is a superb, definitive psychological suspense thriller from 'woman's director' George Cukor. [Previous Cukor films that were similar as period dramas included Little Women (1933), David Copperfield (1935), and Camille (1936. The lavish and glossy MGM film, with authentic Victorian-era production design, was a remake of a taut and subtle film made four or five years earlier in Great Britain. This earlier version, starring a very sinister Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard, was directed by Thorold Dickinson and released in the US as both Gaslight and Angel Street (1940). When MGM decided to remake the film, it bought the rights to Dickinson's version and withdrew it from circulation (and reportedly - and unsuccessfully attempted to destroy prints of the film) - causing resentment among British film-makers. The film was advertised as "the strange story of an international criminal's love for a great beauty," and "the strange drama of a captive sweetheart." The film's plot, faithfully adapted by its screenwriters, was about a diabolical, Victorian criminal husband (Charles Boyer playing against type) who systematically and methodically attempts to torment, menace, and drive his bedeviled, fragile wife (Ingrid Bergman) mad. Its title was derived from the frequent dimming and flickering of the gaslights. The phrase "to gaslight" someone (to deliberately drive someone insane by psychologically manipulating their environment and tricking someone into believing that they are insane),was derived from the  film.