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Gaslight

Gaslight (1944)

May. 04,1944
|
7.8
|
NR
| Drama Thriller Crime Mystery

A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.

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Dynamixor
1944/05/04

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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Siflutter
1944/05/05

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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Arianna Moses
1944/05/06

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

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Billy Ollie
1944/05/07

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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ElMaruecan82
1944/05/08

They say a film is as good as the villain, but sometimes, the villain might be too good for the film's own good. I don't think I've been as distraught and upset by a villain as I was by the manipulative expert Gregory Anton in George Cukor's "Gaslight", the most famous and best adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play. Indeed, enduring the psychological torture he applied to his love-seeking wife Paula, played by an emotionally versatile Ingrid Bergman, was such an infuriating experience that I left almost one decade between the first and the second viewing, and I literally tiptoed to the DVD to force myself to refresh my memory. After the first fifteen minutes, just when I thought I could stand it, I realized that any horror movie would have been more supportable... or am I overreacting?I think there must have been some strong reaction toward that novelty of a plot where a person drove another one insane through mental manipulation to the point that "gas light" became part of common language... that's how impactful it was. Not many movies deal with that particular device, but this is how "Gaslight" was revolutionary and sophisticated in a twisted way, suiting the emerging noir genre. The "gas light" effect referring to the dimming of the light that made Paula believe she was going crazy isn't effective on a narrative level because it's driven by a fact but rather by the seeds of doubt it sows on her mind. We know for a fact that a woman is being manipulated but only suspicion can heal her from her husband's cruel dominance.But she can't suspect him because she loves him in a way that echoes Stockholm Syndrome and he's a Machiavellian gourmet who knows exactly the amount of cruelty and suavity to apply.Charles Boyer's with all these cunning eyes, that mouth always wary about not letting a word slip, and his faux-affable "French lover" manners, elevate his characters to summits of vileness and gaining extra altitude by a symmetric effect with Ingrid Bergman who brings an extraordinary level of pathos while maintaining a strange aura of dignity. This is a woman whose heart and mind are slowly shred to pieces but she's resigned to believe any word of her beloved husband because she can envision anything except such capability of vileness. Why would the gaslight dim every night? Why would she hear noises the servant doesn't notice and why would Gregory be wrong if the second maid wasn't so arrogant and defiant? Even Angela Lansbury in her screen debut is perfect in the role of Nancy, the street smart and slightly slutty maid whose deadpan and snarky attitude is more affecting than any hint of false empathy or true detachment. This is a free-spirited woman yet manipulated by the way Gregory exploits every element of the environment and every possible situation. So what we have is a conspiracy perfectly oiled where Cukor makes us witness the action while making us as powerless as Paula. We're like passive observers bound and gagged and undergoing the villain's sadism. In a way, if we consider anger as a brief madness, we're also being "gaslighted" by Cukor.The mark of great films is to elicit strong responses; and watching "Gaslight" a second time reminded me of something I meant as a compliment after my initial viewing, I thought it was the most Hitchcockian non-Hitchcock film... and the presence of Dame May Whitty or Joseph Cotten play like interesting nods to "The Lady Vanishes" and "Shadow of a Doubt". In"Vanishes", the main protagonist was toyed with her own certitudes and lured into doubting her own sanity and "Shadow" is about a villain who's a close parent. "Gaslight" makes these two plot points converge beautifully but there is another Hitchcock classic it bears a kinship with: "Suspicion". And I think I can now be more explicit about what bothered me with "Suspicion" and that makes "Gaslight" a superior movie. In "Suspicion", the husband's guilt was the central theme but worked as a double edged word, if he was guilty, then he left too many hints to be a believable villain, if he wasn't, it was anticlimactic. In "Gaslight", we know the villain from the start and we know he's good at hiding his vileness (the essence of 'gaslighting') and the frustration doesn't come from the act but the lack of suspicion, the point is the psychological struggle within a woman whose passion blinds her mind and endangers it, a woman who trades her self-esteem for the sake of the most harmful person she could ever meet. "Gaslight" foreshadowed, no pun intended, the way film noir would dominate post-war cinema, at a time where many people were blinded by patriotism and driven to real madness by leaders who had contempt for them. "Gaslight" is also a marvel of film noir in its use of the nightmarish fog of London Victorian streets used as the perfect camouflage for a Jekyll/Hyde villain, and where d the walls of respectability of an ordinary house, hid the claustrophobic nightmare of a woman lost among so many useless items and trophies, being the most precious one of all... or the most disposable.Boyer, Lansbury were all Oscar-nominated, but it was Bergman who won thee first of the three Oscars and deservedly so. In what could have been a one-note performance she explores every possible shade of fragility, doubt and panic, disbelief and resignation, whiplash moods orchestrated by her evil husband until her shining moment at the end, perhaps one of the most satisfying rants, where the whole scheme of Gregory backfires in the most delightful way.But I still wonder why he wasn't listed in AFI's Top 50 villains, the film made the "thrills" list but who made the thrills?

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elvircorhodzic
1944/05/09

GASLIGHT characterized by a great atmosphere, set design and costumes. The film is a good combination of classic paranoid drama and detective stories. Restless atmosphere brings some very exciting and disturbing sequences. The fragile and distraught women versus dominant and wicked husband are the right combination for a good melodrama.Despite the gloomy atmosphere, it is exciting to see how the two main protagonists go crazy in their own ways. One character (Boyer) is full of hypnotic malice and impatience, while another character (Bergman) drowning in pain, weakness and lack of self-confidence. Maybe for my taste too dramatically and inconsistent, but I share conclusion that their performance is good.The strongest argument of this film is the concept of confinement. The level of horror, frustration, claustrophobia, fear, confusion is quite low. The story is confusing and undeveloped. The peak is more or less expected. Confrontation at the end is pretty good.

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TheLittleSongbird
1944/05/10

As a fan of classic film 'Gaslight' is not quite one of my favourites, but it has a great cast who give almost uniformly fine performances and although the story has been done to death and is somewhat "dated" (a criticism this reviewer dislikes on the most part) much is done to make it gripping (especially the atmosphere) and the film has much to offer.The only real issue this reviewer found with 'Gaslight' was Joseph Cotten. It is not an awful performance, he is often sympathetic and charismatic and not as wooden as he sometimes could be. But he is very unconvincing as a Scotland Yard police officer, too young, too American and sometimes stiff, so he does seem out of place sometimes as a character that should have been introduced earlier and perhaps been in the film more.However, 'Gaslight' is a beautifully made film, the lighting just adds so much to the atmosphere and the tone of the film, the cinematography is haunting and luminous and the Victorian setting is so striking in its elegance and evocative atmosphere. Other excellent assets are George Cukor's intelligent direction, Bonislau Kaper's nail-biting, orchestrally lush and melodically rich music score (great use of classical music too) and a cracking script, which sizzles with subtle tension with the odd spot of wry humour that is surprisingly well balanced with everything else. Despite being a melodrama, 'Gaslight's' script avoids being too hammy or over-dramatic.'Gaslight's' story is not going to work for all tastes now and one can see the reservations. The criticisms that it is contrived, "dated" and that it has been done to death are valid and understandable. This said, this reviewer found herself absolutely riveted throughout the whole duration of 'Gaslight', even if the earlier film version is tighter structurally and a little less obvious (which were not problems at all to me, because the story on the whole is really well executed). The slow-folding tension and suspense was very effective, making the overwhelming intensity of the ending as this tension and suspense crescendos all the more powerful. Equally powerful was the whole dynamic between Bergman and Boyer, the intensity in the last half of the film genuinely frightening.Cotten aside, the acting is uniformly great. While Barbara Stanwyk in 'Double Idemnity' was my Best Actress pick for that year, Ingrid Bergman was still a more than worthy win in one of her best performances, she radiates on screen and performs her character's vulnerability with raw edge and poignancy. Have yet to see a better performance from Charles Boyer than the one he gives here in 'Gaslight', he is handsome and suave to begin with and then later on the more sadistic edge he brings is absolutely chilling. Dame May Witty brings a delightful dottiness and wryness, and Angela Lansbury is deliciously auspicious in a very early role.Overall, superbly menacing and very highly recommended. 9/10 Bethany Cox

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grantss
1944/05/11

Lacks mystery and intrigue - quite predictable.A young woman, Paula Alquist (played by Ingrid Bergman) leaves her home in England for Italy, for singing lessons. There she meets and falls in love with a pianist, Gregory Anton (played by Charles Boyer). They marry and move back to London, to live in the house Paula's aunt was murdered in, 10 years earlier. However, Gregory's intentions toward Paula aren't entirely romantic, or benevolent...For a movie with such sinister plots involved, this movie is quite predictable. You can see all the links and plans involving Gregory in the first 40 minutes or so. And some of his plans are just plain lame (the watch at the concert...). Good performances from Bergman and Boyer plus Joseph Cotten and Dame May Witty. 18-year old Angela Lansbury made her debut in this movie and puts in a solid performance. The minor performances can be quite laughable though - the risk of filming an English setting in the US (and you can thank WW2 for that). Best example of this is the scene with a cop whose accent frequently veers violently between English Cockney and southern-US in mid-sentence! Unintentionally funny.Ultimately a mediocre story, with some solid performances from the leads. Had heaps of potential, but much of this was squandered.

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