Warner Archive: Gaslight (1944) on Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

And I saw her twice on stage on B'way. Lucky me!

My bet is that you saw Ingrid Bergman in the 1975 production of "The Constant Wife". Would I be correct?

 

[bujaki]

My bet is that you saw Ingrid Bergman in the 1975 production of "The Constant Wife". Would I be correct?

Yes, that and Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Both on the evenings of 24 April of 1972 and 1975: my 22nd and 25th birthdays. She always thought of me on my birthday.

 

[PMF]

For fans of cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg this release of "Gaslight" is significant.
For those not familiar, Mr. Ruttenberg shares a record of 4 Oscar wins with DP Leon Shamroy.
Oddly, though, there are far more of Mr. Shamroy's works available on BD than that of Mr. Ruttenberg.
To my mind, it's time to even up the score and only WAC can do it.

The Ruttenberg Oscar Score Card: 4 wins out of 10 nominations.
2 of the winners - "Mrs. Miniver" and "Gigi" - are available on BD.
1 of the nominations - "Gaslight" - is up at bat and a hopeful sign of more WAC runs to come.

Here are the remaining Joseph Ruttenberg wins and nominations awaiting a BD release:

The Great Waltz (1938) - WIN
Waterloo Bridge (1940) - Nomination
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) - Nomination
Madame Curie (1943) - Nomination
Julius Caesar (1951) - Nomination
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) - WIN
BUtterfield 8 (1960) - Nomination

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Butterfield 8 (1960) - Nomination

I'd buy just about all of the titles you mentioned, but have been keeping my fingers crossed for BUtterfield 8. It would be nice to have both of Elizabeth's Oscar winning roles on Blu-ray.

 

[battlebeast]

I'm in for BUtterfield 8, Julius Caesar and Madame Curie. I'd love Warners to release their Best Picture winners, too: Ziegfeld, Emile Zola, and Broadway Melody. Although the latter may be in need of a full restoration.

 

[PMF]

I'm in for BUtterfield 8, [...]

[...]It would be nice to have both of Elizabeth's Oscar winning roles on Blu-ray.

O Canada, what is it with your affinities towards Elizabeth Taylor?
Okay, BUtterfield 8 for me, too; after all, I'm part Canadian, as well.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

O Canada, what is it with your affinities towards Elizabeth Taylor?
Okay, BUtterfield 8 for me, too; after all, I'm part Canadian, as well.

We just have great taste.

 

[battlebeast]

O Canada, what is it with your affinities towards Elizabeth Taylor?
Okay, BUtterfield 8 for me, too; after all, I'm part Canadian, as well.

I collect Best Actress winners, among others. And we DO have great taste!

 

[Nick*Z]

Again, we'll have to differ, Dick. I like the 1940 version quite a bit but I still find the 1944 version superior. Mostly because of Ingrid Bergman's superb performance which was justifiably honored with an Oscar. Diana Wynard in the 1940 version is fine but she doesn't plumb the psychological depths of Bergman's unraveling wife. Plus Angela Lansbury's saucy maid has it all over her 1940 counterpart Catherine Cordell. Plus the 1944 version is dripping with atmosphere and a true sense of dread which the 1940 lacks.

Ditto on everything you said, Thomas. Yes, I always found it extremely odd that the 40 version lacked that fog-laden atmosphere, considering it was made in England where pea-soup fogs were well known. MGM's production design on the 44 remake is head and shoulders above here, and Bergman and Lansbury make this an exhilarating thriller. I also adore Barbara Everest as the 'hard of hearing' cook, Elizabeth. After Boyer deliberate goads Bergman into one of her many frantic breakdowns, he turns to Everest's Liz and says with a distinct note of tinny disdain, "You see how it is, Elizabeth" to which she coolly admits with double entendre, "Yes sir, I see 'exactly' how it is!" Great moment! Bone-chilling performances.

 

[McCrutchy]

And Warner’s doesn’t see sales from any site other than their own, so THATS the
Place to mass buy it.

Was this ever concretely established? I mean, I bought many copies of the first Popeye Blu-ray from WB Shop, but on a week to week basis I usually WAC titles from Best Buy, since they are usually pretty good about getting them to me on release date--case in point, I was late ordering the two Shaft sequels (as in 5:00 p.m. last Friday) and they are coming from UPS tomorrow.

I am beyond thrilled to have Gaslight coming and would be more than happy to purchase many copies from WB Shop again (along with my copies of most everything else for June), but on balance I'd prefer to order from Best Buy, unless sales at WB Shop really do "count for more" than sales elsewhere.

 

[battlebeast]

Was this ever concretely established? I mean, I bought many copies of the first Popeye Blu-ray from WB Shop, but on a week to week basis I usually WAC titles from Best Buy, since they are usually pretty good about getting them to me on release date--case in point, I was late ordering the two Shaft sequels (as in 5:00 p.m. last Friday) and they are coming from UPS tomorrow.

I am beyond thrilled to have Gaslight coming and would be more than happy to purchase many copies from WB Shop again (along with my copies of most everything else for June), but on balance I'd prefer to order from Best Buy, unless sales at WB Shop really do "count for more" than sales elsewhere.

WAC doesn't see the sales figures from Best Buy... only from it's own website. And that would be the best place to mass buy from.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That doesn’t quite make sense... WAC is still manufacturing the discs and sending them to distributors for retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. These distributors will return unsold inventory to WAC, or will order more copies if their inventory sells out. WAC might not find out instantly how many copies Amazon sold on a specific date, but they’ll of course find out in the shorter term how the title is selling and in the longer term how many units in total have sold.

 

[battlebeast]

That doesn’t quite make sense... WAC is still manufacturing the discs and sending them to distributors for retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. These distributors will return unsold inventory to WAC, or will order more copies if their inventory sells out. WAC might not find out instantly how many copies Amazon sold on a specific date, but they’ll of course find out in the shorter term how the title is selling and in the longer term how many units in total have sold.

Several years ago the fandom of GARGOYLES was to mass buy copies of season 2 vol. 1 from a single source as it was easier for Disney to see the sales results.

The same should hold true for WAC.

 

[warnerbro]

They're offering the far superior British version on the same disc, but it is only in SD! They need to rethink this very quickly.

 

[gjn123]

They're offering the far superior British version on the same disc, but it is only in SD! They need to rethink this very quickly.

Like many others on this forum, I do not think that the 1940 British version is superior in any way. Anton Walbrook is better that Charles Boyer? No way. I don't even recall the name of the actor who played the police inspector but I always remember Joseph Cotten's charming performance in the MGM version. Ditto with the non-entity who played the maid vs. the incredibly assured Angela Lansbury (her first film!). As for Ingrid Bergman and Diana Wynyard - again no comparison. A parochial English leading lady vs. one of the all-time great film stars (and film actresses).

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Since Warners won't ship overseas, we have no choice but seek out other sources. Otherwise, I'd love to buy direct and grab some savings.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Looks like a June 25th release date for this Blu-ray.

 

[Randy_M]

Day one purchase for me...I love both versions (maybe a little more partial to the 1940)

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The price link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I watched the 1940 version again last night ... for me, it is the stronger of the two. But I enjoy both and I couldn't pass by anything featuring the luminous beauty of Ingrid Bergman!