Cukor said that from Lansbury’s first day on the set it was obvious that she was a born actress. What a way to start a career-giving Bergman dirty looks and engaging in light-sexual banter with Boyer. If her Cockney accent doesn’t surprise you, then the saucy way she plays the flirtatious maid will. Personally, I would have liked to have seen him be a bit more menacing at the end of the film, because it would have added credibility to the idea that he’d strangled Paula’s aunt to death years before.Īnd then there’s an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury, playing the couple’s impertinent maid Nancy in her film debut. Instead, Boyer straddles the line between being a concerned husband and a ruthless manipulator. It took a lot of restraint not to play Gregory too darkly, as this would have hindered the suspense of the story. Once there she is tricked into believing that she has stolen Gregory’s watch and bursts into hysterical tears.īoyer plays his suave conniving part well, too. The best example of this is when Paula confidently decides she is going to the music recital. When a person starts to believe that they are losing their grip on reality they fluctuate between extremes. As someone who has watched first-hand as someone goes off the deep end, I have to say that Bergman’s fluctuations between rational and irrational behavior are spot on. Whatever poor Ingrid had to do to convince Selznick paid off, as she won her first Best Actress Academy Award for her searing performance. Selznick, to loan her out to MGM so that she could play the part of Paula. Who better to play a fresh, young bride driven to the brink of insanity than Bergman-with her angelic beauty and sweet temperament (mind you, this was pre-Rossellini)? Bergman was so enthralled by the Broadway play that she lobbied her Hollywood captor, David O. Personally, it doesn’t bother me because I like suspense films that aren’t so clear-cut that you can figure out the mystery in the first 20 minutes. I’m not sure this is exactly a good thing, because some people might get miffed when the clues aren’t as obvious the first time they watch. Is Paula really going insane, or is Gregory “gaslighting” her? Gaslight is one of those films that, when you see it for a second time, you pick up on all the clues that point to Gregory’s true intentions. What I most admire about the story is that you don’t know exactly what Gregory is up to until the last 20 minutes of the film. It is a dark tale of one man’s obsession with finding Paula’s aunt’s jewels at any cost. Balderston’s adapted screenplay tells the story of Paula Alquist Anton ( Ingrid Bergman), a young bride driven to believe she’s going insane by her manipulative, murderous husband Gregory ( Charles Boyer). Screenwriters John Van Durten, Walter Reisch, and John L. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, Gaslight is an excellent example of what a tight script, good acting, and superb art direction can do to create a truly memorable movie. Blessed by a spectacular cast of Hollywood heavyweights, Cukor, with the help of MGM’s suppression team, totally eclipsed the 1940 British film version of Patrick Hamilton’s play Gas Light, which was called Angel Street on Broadway. What man would choose jewels over Ingrid Bergman? Liberace does not count…ĭirector George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944) is a taut drama filled with suspense and anxiety.
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