When missionary widow Ann Todd fell for handsome con man Ray Milland on the ship home from Jamaica, she never expected to find herself involved in art theft, blackmail, murder and miscarriage of justice. And that’s only the half of it, dearie. Suggested (really?) by some turn-of-the-last century events in London, the film has something of the spirit of GASLIGHT to it as Milland romances Todd into moral quicksand even as he's two-timing her with a tart, all while pushing her to renew an old friendship with neurotic Geraldine Fitzgerald, now rich & fleece-able, unhappily married to a control freak husband. Smart & sadistic, the husband may be on to them, but he also may not last the night due to a heart condition. Maybe his death could be helped along. That still leaves private investigator Leo G. Carroll stalking about. But what can he prove? After a straightforward first act, multi-tangents all start playing out at once in narrative counterpoint, and the script is soon in over its head. Easy to imagine how this U.K.-based production, made thru the Hal Wallis Unit @ Paramount, could have benefitted with closer Hollywood supervision. Legendary producer Wallis, normally a stickler in script construction, here letting the ball drop just a bit. Or perhaps there’s just too much plot for the running time. Lewis Allen’s stock megging is fine as far as it goes, but so much more could have been done in atmosphere & suspense. But very strongly cast in its Hollywood leads (all with U.K. backgrounds) and in London supporting players, even if Ann Todd always comes across as Joan Fontaine’s understudy.
DOUBLE-BILL: You can see what’s missing here by comparing the British version of GASLIGHT (retitled ANGEL STREET/’40) with the superior Hollywood remake of 1944. (M-G-M suppressed the earlier film which has led many critics to let its underdog status cloud their judgement of the two films.)
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