Gaslight (1944)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Patrick Hamilton (play)
John Van Druten (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 May 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Strange drama of a captive sweetheart!

Plot:

Paula's aunt Alice Alquist, a famous entertainer, is murdered in her home. Paula, who lives with her aunt finds the body...

Plot Keywords:

Scotland Yard | Italy | Nervous Breakdown | Letter | Driven Mad

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Charles Boyer	...	Gregory Anton
Ingrid Bergman	...	Paula Alquist
Joseph Cotten	...	Brian Cameron
Dame May Whitty	...	Miss Bessie Thwaites
Angela Lansbury	...	Nancy Oliver
Barbara Everest	...	Elizabeth Tompkins
Emil Rameau	...	Maestro Mario Guardi
Edmund Breon	...	Gen. Huddleston
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Mr. Muffin
Tom Stevenson	...	Williams
Heather Thatcher	...	Lady Dalroy
Lawrence Grossmith	...	Lord Dalroy
Jakob Gimpel	...	Pianist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gary Gray	...	Boy in Park with Nanny
Terry Moore	...	Paula Alquist - Age 14 (as Judy Ford)

Also Known As:

Murder in Thornton Square (UK)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #9800)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Angela Lansbury was only 17 when she made this, her film debut. She had been working at Bullocks Department Store in Los Angeles and when she told her boss that she was leaving, he offered to match the pay at her new job. Expecting it to be in the region of her Bullocks salary of the equivalent of $27 a week, he was somewhat taken aback when she told him she would be earning $500 a week.

Goofs:

Continuity: The mark left on the wallpaper by the missing picture is portrait shaped. When Paula Anton finds the picture it is clearly a landscape.

Quotes:

Paula Alquist Anton: Yes, that's it.
[throws the knife away]
Paula Alquist Anton: I am mad. I'm always losing things and hiding things and I can never find them, I don't know where I've put them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: Illustrated Steele (#3.19)" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23

A Well-Crafted, Well-Acted Thriller

This American-made version of the English thriller "Gaslight" is well-crafted and well-acted, with many moments of good suspense and tension.

Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer work very well in the two leads, and they get considerable help from the rest of the cast and the production.

The character of the fragile, self-doubting Paula is an ideal role for Bergman, who conveys Paula's anxious uncertainty while keeping her sympathetic and even engaging. Boyer likewise comes across very believably as her calculating husband, and the two leads make their characters into a strong foundation for the tense story.

Joseph Cotten does not really seem as if he could be a Scotland Yard detective, but in a more general way, he succeeds pretty well as a sympathetic policeman who wants to help personally while striving to get at the facts of the matter. A very young Angela Lansbury gives her character some pointed moments, and she becomes a useful part of creating the right atmosphere.

The story does, of course, have some less plausible elements, but it is written carefully enough that the seams rarely show. In fact, it seems to have been constructed rather carefully, so as to provide subtle hints that can be made use of later on. It all makes for a satisfying drama that also provides a pretty good showcase for its stars.