Review of Gaslight (1944) by Daniel W — 19 Jun 2009
It's the late 19th Century and singer Ingrid Bergman has found love in the debonair, sleepy-eyed, Frenchman, Charles Boyer. They get married, and he persuades her to move to an abandoned home in the middle of London. The house is full of spooky mood-lighting and also happens to be the same place her Aunt was mysteriously murdered in ten years earlier. Bad idea.
Gradually, secluded in the old house, poor Ingrid starts doing peculiar things that she doesn't remember doing. Is she really removing pictures from the wall, stealing pocket watches, seeing the gaslight dim whenever she's alone in the house, or is her husband methodically, deliberately, driving her insane.
George Cukor's moody set piece is an atmospheric story of paranoia that builds quite credibly. Though the cause of the strange things that happen to Bergman's character are rarely in doubt, how the story reveals itself is the real pleasant surprise.
GASLIGHT was the screen debut of Angela Lansbury, as the slatternly house maid, and features a solid performance from the always reliable Joseph Cotton, as a local Scotland Yard detective.
This review of Gaslight (1944) was written by Daniel W on 19 Jun 2009.
Gaslight has generally received very positive reviews.
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