Kino Eye: The films that gave us "gaslighting"

The term “gaslighting” (manipulating someone psychologically into doubting the reality around them) comes from Gas Light, a stage play written by Patrick Hamilton and first performed in London in 1938.

Set in the Victorian era, the play depicts a schizophrenic who drives his wife insane when she seems likely to discover a murder he committed many years ago.

Gas Light was adapted for the British screen in 1940 (director: Thorold Dickinson), using the same title. In 1944 it was again adapted for the screen by Hollywood director George Cukor. and it is probably from that film that the verb “to gaslight” originates.

Contemporary critical opinion suggests that the British version was superior to Hollywood’s despite Hollywood’s leading role for Ingrid Bergman. It is rumoured that MGM attempted to buy the negative of the British film so they could destroy it.

Patrick Hamilton has been described by some as a Marxist. His best known work is the novel Hangover Square, which has an underlying anti-fascist critique and was adapted for the screen in 1945 in the USA. He also wrote Rope, directed in 1948 by Alfred Hitchcock. His writing was admired by, amongst others, Doris Lessing.