Gaslight (1944)

They don't make films like Gaslight, nominated for Best Picture of 1944, anymore, and frankly, today's film-makers should just stop trying. You'll likely never be able to create a sense of tension as effectively as director George Cukor and his talented cast did with this film. I'd like to call this the best Alfred Hitchcock film that Hitchcock didn't make, but I have a feeling that would offend some of my friends who, like me, are huge fans of the master of suspense. What you have instead is a beautifully filmed, well-acted thriller set in Victorian England (with all of its requisite fog).

Ingrid Bergman plays Paula Alquist, a young woman who moves to Italy after the mysterious murder of her aunt, a famous opera singer. While in Italy, Paula tries her own hand at singing opera, but recognizing that she is not as talented as her aunt, she decides not to pursue a career in music. She herself is instead pursued by the accompanist who plays the piano at her singing lessons, Gregory Anton. I guess when you have Charles Boyer chasing after you, you don't tend to say no, and it's only a matter of time before the two of them are married at Lake Cuomo and planning her return to England.

Gregory wants to take Paula home to London to live in her aunt's house in Thornton Square; we don't understand until much later why he's so adamant about taking her back to a place where she has experienced such pain. The house at #9 has been sitting vacant for the ten years that have elapsed since her aunt's murder, and walking back into the home clearly makes Paula nervous. She masks her fears by trying to show Gregory some of the more intriguing mementos there, including a remarkable portrait of her aunt in the role of Empress Theodora and the contents of a curio cabinet filled with items she had collected, including a signed glove. Claiming that the items would upset her, Gregory moves a great deal of the furnishings to the attic and locks them away from Paula.

Before long, things begin to take an even stranger turn. Gregory is prone to irrational moments, such as when he grabs a letter from her hand before she can read it too carefully. He also keeps telling her that she's forgetful and is prone to losing things. So paranoid does he make her that Paula never wants to go out of the house. We start to realize that Gregory is deliberately trying to drive his wife mad, particularly after we see him hide his watch in her purse. She's had a series of incidents where objects appear in places where they are not supposed to be, and she's begun to question her sanity.

Joseph Cotton, who is regularly appearing on this blog thanks to his prolific career, plays a Scotland Yard inspector who's trying to locate some missing jewels that were given to Alice Alquist, Paula's aunt, by a European monarch. It's considered a dead case (so to speak) by everyone else, but he befriends Nancy, the new housemaid that Gregory has hired, in order to find out what she might know about the goings-on at Thornton Square. Nancy is played with delicious glee by a very young Angela Lansbury. She's a hoot to watch, particularly when she's blatantly flirting with the master of the house (who flirts right back). You begin to feel that Nancy might know a lot more than she's willing to let on.

The climax is really too intriguing to spoil. I'm sure you've probably seen the image of Bergman holding a knife over Boyer, who's tied to a chair. How he gets that way and what she does to him are just a bit too much fun for me to ruin for you. I know that had someone like Hitchcock made this film, it would have had a few more surprises than Cukor and the three screenwriters are able and/or interested in pulling off, but I do think the ending is completely satisfying.

All of the performers are top-notch. Bergman won the Oscar that year for Best Actress, and she's so good here at depicting Paula's mixed emotions. Boyer is her acting equal, though, managing to be charming at times and intensely cruel at others. He lost to Bing Crosby playing a priest in Going My Way, and frankly, I don't see how the Academy could even compare the two roles given the range that Boyer manages to convey. I have already mentioned Lansbury and Cotton, but I'd like to add the great Dame May Whitty as a nosy neighbor to the list of solid performances here. Whitty provides many of the comic moments of the film, and it's a pleasure to watch her in the few scenes she gets. She and the rest of the cast make Gaslight a film worth seeing and enjoying.