Review of Gaslight (1944) by Ryan H — 21 May 2010

Perfect. Gaslight plays a Hitchcockian thriller in the way that it's shot and the way it's told, but Cukor still has his own touches to the film. Ingrid Bergman is captivating as Paula Alquist, a woman who witnessed the murder of her aunt and moves back into the house in which she was killed, but is now living with a new husband.

The first time we meet Gregory Anton we love him. He makes Paula feel safe. He makes her forget about everything in her past. But when he suggests to move to London we get a sneaky suspicion about him, and rightfully we should.

The rest of the movie he works on trying to convince Paula that she's going out of her mind. But why? Why take all the time and effort to torture this poor woman? We can even guess this from an hour into the film, but there is always a question of motive the reason.

Even without the motive I would have been completely entertained. This is very film noir-like, but it's not completely a film noir. More of just a thriller. Joseph Cotten's character is a detective who wants to re-open the case of Paula Alquist's aunt's murder, which leads him to question is Paula really going mad? All the actors in this film are excellent.

I even felt disturbed by Angela Lansbury's character. I still wonder to this day, were Elizabeth and Nancy in on the scheme with Gregory? I hope I get the chance to watch the 1940s version to compare the two.