Gaslight

Gaslight, motion picture about a man who tries to convince his new wife that she is insane, based on a play by Patrick Hamilton. Ingrid Bergman earned an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Paula Alquist, the beleaguered woman in this drama, which was released in 1944. Shortly after Alquist marries Gregory Anton (played by Charles Boyer), she begins to believe she is losing her mind. They move into the house where her aunt was murdered some years in the past. Anton does all he can to make the young woman feel crazy, including manipulating the gaslight fixtures in her room so that she’ll believe she is hallucinating. While Alquist questions her sanity, Anton searches the attic for the aunt’s jewels, which were never recovered after the murder. A police detective (Joseph Cotton) who knew Alquist before her marriage begins to suspect that something is awry. This movie is a remake of the British film Gaslight (1940).

Director

• George Cukor

Cast

• Charles Boyer (Gregory Anton)
• Ingrid Bergman (Paula Alquist)
• Joseph Cotten (Brian Cameron)
• Dame May Whitty (Miss Thwaites)
• Angela Lansbury (Nancy Oliver)
• Barbara Everest (Elizabeth Tompkins)
• Eustace Wyatt (Budge)
• Emil Rameau (Mario Gordi)
• Edmund Breon (General Huddleston)
• Halliwell Hobbes (Mr. Mufflin)
• Tom Stevenson (Williams)
• Heather Thatcher (Lady Dalroy)
• Lawrence Grossmith (Lord Dalroy)
• Jacob Gimpel (Pianist)
• Terry Moore (Paula, age 14)
• Harry Adams (Policeman)
• Charles McNaughton (Wilkins)
• Bobby Hale (Lamplighter)
• Alix Terry (Girl of ten)
• Eric Wilton (Valet)
• Simon Oliver (Boy in museum)
• Alec Craig (Turnkey)
• Leonard Carey (Guide)
• Pat Malone (Police officer)
• George Nokes (Boy)
• Lillian Bronson (Lady)
• Joy Harrington (Miss Pritchard)
• Arthur Blake (Butler)
• Ronald Bennett (Footman)
• Phyllis Yuse (Young girl)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Actress (1944): Ingrid Bergman
• Academy Award for Best Interior Decoration—Black & White (1944): Cedric Gibbons—Art Direction, William Ferrari—Art Direction, Edwin B. Willis—Interior Decoration, Paul Huldschinsky—Interior Decoration
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress—Drama (1945): Ingrid Bergman

Trivia

• Angela Lansbury made her film debut in this movie, playing the seductive young housekeeper, Nancy Oliver. Lansbury received an Academy Award nomination for this performance.

Quote

• Alquist (to her husband): “Suddenly, I’m beginning not to trust my memory at all.”