Gaslight (1944 film)
| Gaslight | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | George Cukor |
| Produced by | Arthur Hornblow Jr. |
| Screenplay by |
John Van Druten Walter Reisch John L. Balderston |
| Based on |
Gas Light 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton |
| Starring |
Charles Boyer Ingrid Bergman Joseph Cotten Dame May Whitty Angela Lansbury |
| Music by | Bronisław Kaper |
| Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| Edited by | Ralph E. Winters |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,068,000 |
| Box office | $4,613,000 |
Gaslight is an American 1944 mystery-thriller film, adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light, about a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor & Best Screenplay, it won the Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Production Design.
The 1944 version was the second version to be filmed, following the British film Gaslight, directed by Thorold Dickinson and released in 1940. This 1944 version was directed by George Cukor and starred Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in an Oscar Nominated screen debut (Supporting Actress). Gaslight had a larger scale and budget than the earlier film, and lends a different feel to the material. To avoid confusion with the first film, this version was originally given the title The Murder in Thornton Square in the UK. This film features numerous deviations from the original stage play, though the central drama of a husband trying to drive his wife insane in order to distract her from his criminal activities, remains.
World-famous opera singer Alice Alquist has just been murdered. The perpetrator bolted, without the jewels he sought, after being interrupted by a child—Paula (Terry Moore)—Alice's niece, who was raised by her aunt following Paula's own mother's death years earlier.
Paula is sent to Italy so that she can train to be an opera star with the same teacher who once trained Alice. Paula studies with him for years, all the while trying to forget that terrible night at Number 9 Thornton Square in London.
Now an adult, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) meets Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer), and, in the course of a two-week-long whirlwind romance, falls in love with him and they quickly marry. Paula ends her long tutelage to marry him, and is persuaded by Gregory to leave the society and friends she knows in order to return to London, where she has no acquaintance, in order to live in the long-vacant London townhouse her aunt bequeathed her and, to help calm her anxieties, suggests they store all of Alice's furnishings in the attic. Before they do, Paula discovers a letter addressed to her aunt by a man named Sergius Bauer, dated only two days before the murder, tucked away in a music book. Gregory's reaction is swift and violent; however, he quickly composes himself, explaining his outburst as one of frustration at the bad memories his bride is experiencing.
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