Gaslight (1944)
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89% of critics liked it
(18 reviews) -
89% of users liked it
(7,887 ratings)
Ingrid Bergman won her first of three Oscars for this suspense thriller, crafted with surprising tautness by normally genteel "women's picture" director George Cukor. Bergman stars as Paula Alquist, a late 19th century English singer studying music in Italy. However, Paula abandons her… More Ingrid Bergman won her first of three Oscars for this suspense thriller, crafted with surprising tautness by normally genteel "women's picture" director George Cukor. Bergman stars as Paula Alquist, a late 19th century English singer studying music in Italy. However, Paula abandons her studies because she's fallen in love with dapper, handsome Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The couple marries and returns to the U.K. and a home inherited by Paula from her aunt, herself a famous singer, who was mysteriously murdered in the house ten years before. Once they have moved in, Gregory, who is in reality a jewel thief and the murderer of Paula's aunt, launches a campaign of terror designed to drive his new bride insane. Though Paula is certain that she sees the house's gaslights dim every evening and that there are strange noises coming from the attic, Gregory convinces Paula that she's imagining things. Gregory's efforts to make Paula unstable are aided by an impertinent maid, Nancy (teenager Angela Lansbury in her feature film debut). Meanwhile, a Scotland Yard inspector, Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotten), becomes suspicious of Gregory and sympathetic to Paula's plight. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Directed By
- George Cukor, Thorold Dickinson
- Written By
- Patrick Hamilton, John Van Druten, A.R. Rawlinson, Walter Reisch, John L. Balderston
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics
- In Theaters
- May 11, 1944 Limited
- Studio
- MGM
Critic Reviews
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Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm
Overwrought to contemporary eyes, perhaps, but still troubling and, in its own way, powerful.
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Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Brilliant classic of mind-game suspense.
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Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers
Classic drama-horror with put upon Bergman and suavely evil Boyer.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Soaked in paranoia, Cukor's superb pyschological thriller is a period film noir, just like Hitchcock's The Lodger and Hanover Square, both set in the Edwardian age.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A terrific atmospheric thriller.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Charles Boyer
as Gregory Anton
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Ingrid Bergman
as Paula Alquist
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Joseph Cotten
as Brian Cameron
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Dame May Whitty
as Miss Thwaites
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Angela Lansbury
as Nancy Oliver
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Terry Moore
as Paula age 14
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Barbara Everest
as Elizabeth Tompkins
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Emil Rameau
as Maestro Guardi
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Edmund Breon
as Gen. Huddleston
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Halliwell Hobbes
as Mr. Mufflin
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Tom Stevenson
as Williams
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Heather Thatcher
as Lady Dalroy
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Lawrence Grossmith
as Lord Dalroy
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Jacob Gimpel
as Pianist
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Wilson Benge
as Bit part
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Leila Bennett
as Edna Hooper
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Arthur Blake
as Butler
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Lillian Bronson
as Lady
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Leonard Carey
as Guide
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Alec Craig
as Turnkey
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Al Ferguson
as Bit part
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Helen Flint
as Franchette
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Gibson Gowland
as Servant
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Joy Harrington
as Miss Pritchard
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Si Jenks
as Uncle Billy
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Edwin Maxwell
as Vickery
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Charles McNaughton
as Wilkins
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Clive Morgan
as Bit part
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George Nokes
as Bit part
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Elsa Prescott
as Bit part
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Sid Saylor
as Baggage Clerk
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Morgan Wallace
as Fred Garrett
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Eric Wilton
as Valet
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Eustace Wyatt
as Budge
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Arnold Bennett
as Footman
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Bobby Hale
as Lamplighter
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Guy Zanette
as Bit part
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Harry Adams
as Policeman
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Maude Fealy
as Bit part
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Pat Malone
as Policeman
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Arthur Stone
as Durkin
- Anton Walbrook
- Diana Wynyard
- Frank Pettingell
- Cathleen Cordell
- Robert Newton
