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

Colour:

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:

The book from which Ingrid Bergman reads aloud is "Villette" by Charlotte Brontë.

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:

Gregory Anton: For the last time, what do you want of me?
Brian Cameron: The jewels - and justice. How does it feel, Bauer, to have planned and killed and tortured for something and then to know it's been for nothing?
Gregory Anton: For nothing?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bordello of Blood (1996)

Soundtrack:

Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23

'A' treatment in all departments

In 'Gaslight' aka: 'The murder in Thorton Square' George Cukor, producer Arthur Hornblow Jr and writers John Van Druten, Walter Reisch and John Balderston demonstrated what could be done with good treatment to a film idea, given the 'A' treatment in all departments.

Partrick Hamilton's play about an ostensibly loving husband driving his wife to insanity came across with renewed force after its British filming (with Diana Wynyard and Anton Walbrook). Now it had Ingrid Bergman conveying mental torture brilliant enough to win the Oscar of 1944, and Charles Boyer extending his usual great-lover range to take on an extra duty of sadistic villainy.

A find among London's evacuee children in Hollywood was a 17 year old to make a striking debut, Angela Landsbury, it was hard to believe she had never acted before!