Gaslight (1944)

Darkly Entertaining
This lovely black and white film with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten and if you'll notice a very young Angela Lansbury as their maid.
It's suspenseful,exciting and filmed gorgeously.
The tittle comes from the mysterious gas lights which keep dimming and lighting and mentally threaten Ingrid Bergman's character of a newlywed believing she's ready for a nervous breakdown.
Very entertaining and doesn't lose it's magic after all these years.

Ultimate Psychological Thriller Rests In Its Subtlety
George Cukor takes "Gaslight" from the stage to the screen. This film is done so well, that one would immediately guess that Alfred Hitchcock directed it.

What makes this film work so well (and something that very few of today's directors understand) is the subtlety in which Charles Boyer (Anton) makes his wife feel that she is losing her mind. Unfortunately, many of today's films rest in the violence and gore. I have found that films are more suspenseful when they don't show you everything. Hitchcock was a master of this, and Cukor shows the same restraint here. Don't believe me? Check out "Psycho" again and see how much is not shown on the screen, but allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks with his/her own imagination. This is a far more effective style of film-making.

The film immediately starts off with aftermath of a murder in London, in which Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is being sent away after the tragic events that end with the death of her aunt. The film then jumps some ten years into the future with Paula living in Italy where she meets her future husband, Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). Things appear to be well between them. But is Anton's true agenda and how is it linked with events of the past? I won't divulge any details about that here for those who have not seen the film.

Ingrid Bergman (perhaps one of the greatest actresses in film history) took home her first Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in this film. It's not hard to understand why. She takes Paula from a sweet and happy young woman to someone who doesn't trust her own mental faculties anymore. This sounds like an easy job for an actress, but it isn't. She has to make the viewer begin to question things as well, and she does. The ending allows her the tremendous payoff that we've been waiting for ever since the film began, and we revel in her ultimate triumph along with her character.

Charles Boyer is fantastic as the sinister Anton. He also creates a complex character who, at first, appears sympathetic toward his young wife to someone who is quickly losing patience with her. But, is there something else at work? Charles Boyer can give a hard gaze that would make anybody begin quaking in their shoes.

Finally, one of my favorite character actors (Joseph Cotton) plays a young assistant at Scotland Yard who was a great admirer of Paula's aunt (who was a great singer in her day). He feels that something is not entirely right with Paula and her husband. Paula is all but shunned away from the public. Anton feels that he can't allow her illness to be given public light. The young assistant decides to find out for himself, and perhaps help Paula in the process.

I've been a huge Ingrid Bergman fan for years, and this was one of the first films of hers that I came across. I loved it immediately, and quickly decided that this was the best psychological thriller that I'd ever seen. It works on so many levels that still work today.

Keep an eye out for a very young Angela Lansbury as a saucy maid. She looks so young!

If you're looking for great suspenseful fun weaves a tapestry through the long lost art of subtley without the violence and gore, then you are in for a true treat! Gaslight more than fits the bill!

C'Mon Baby,Light My Fire
One of the old black and white classics,never seen by most.Boyer plays an all but forgotten jewel thief who marries Bergman to gain access to the house in which she lived as a child. In the process of jewel hunting, Boyer deliberately tries to drive his bride insane; he loves only hidden wealth. Enter Cotten to help save the day,and Bergman's life.Look for Angela Lansbury, age 17, in her first movie,doing all her shots barefooted because of Boyer's 5ft.5in. stature. "He was such a dear, but Charles was just so short", Lansbury recalls.Watch also how quickly Lansbury ages; she was only in her mid thirties in 1962, when she played Laurence Harvey's mother in "The Manchurian Candidate". Meanwhile, if superior acting is your forte, see "Gaslight".