In the attic, Sergis discovers the jewels hidden in plain sight, sewn into one of Alice's famous costumes. His marriage to Paula was a scheme to gain access to her aunt's home, followed by a cunning strategy to drive his wife mad and have her institutionalized, leaving him Alice's estate and allowing him to search unabated for the jewels. They realize "Gregory" is actually Sergis Bauer, who murdered Alice but was interrupted before he could find her jewels. Paula has heard him searching through Alice's belongings, and the gaslights flicker when he turns on the attic lights, reducing the gas to the downstairs lamps.Ĭameron pries open Gregory's desk, and Paula finds the letter from Bauer that her husband insisted was a delusion. He deduces that Gregory goes to the neighboring vacant house to enter his own attic through a skylight. When Gregory leaves, Cameron offers Paula his help, confirming that the attic noises and flickering gaslights are indeed real. Suspicious, Cameron recruits a patrolman to watch Gregory, who they learn often visits an abandoned house nearby, and is planning to institutionalize Paula. Doubting her own sanity, Paula breaks down. Taking Paula home, Gregory angrily claims that her mother died in an asylum, and that the letter she discovered from Sergis Bauer never existed. When he finds it in her handbag, Paula becomes hysterical in front of the guests. Unable to prevent her from attending a party hosted by her old family friend, Gregory accuses Paula of stealing his watch. Isolating his wife from the world, Gregory convinces her that she is a kleptomaniac, responsible for hiding a painting, and is too unwell to be in public. Struck by Paula's resemblance to her aunt, Cameron attempts to reopen the cold case, discovering that a gift of royal jewels was not recovered after Alice's murder. Her anxious behavior is noticed by Inspector Brian Cameron of Scotland Yard, a childhood admirer of Alice. Gregory flirts with Nancy, whose disdain for his wife only worsens Paula's nerves. With Gregory looking on, Paula has discovered the letter from Sergis Bauer. She is plagued by noises coming from the boarded-up attic, and notices the gaslights dim for no apparent reason when Gregory is not home, which he assures her is only her imagination. Paula is surprised when Gregory chides her supposed forgetfulness, but on a visit to the Tower of London, she cannot find an heirloom brooch he gave her, although it was stored safely in her handbag. He hires a young maid, Nancy, and insists that she never bother his "high-strung" wife. When Paula finds a letter to her aunt from a man named Sergis Bauer, Gregory reacts violently but apologizes. Paula grapples with the memory of her aunt's murder, and Gregory suggests storing Alice's furnishings in the attic. At his suggestion, they settle in London and occupy her late aunt's long-vacant townhouse. As an adult, Paula marries her accompanist Gregory Anton, after a two-week whirlwind romance. In 1875, when world-famous opera singer Alice Alquist is murdered at her London home, her niece Paula is sent to Italy to follow in her footsteps. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Gaslight was released theatrically on May 4, 1944, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to critical acclaim and box-office success, grossing $4.6 million on a $2 million budget, and received seven nominations for the 17th Academy Awards, including for the Best Picture, winning two: Best Actress (for Bergman), and Best Production Design. The film features numerous deviations from the original stage play, though the central drama remains that of a husband trying to drive his wife insane in order to distract her from his criminal activities. To avoid confusion with the first film, Cukor's version was originally titled The Murder in Thornton Square in the UK. Ī remake of the 1940 British film of the same name directed by Thorold Dickinson, Cukor's version had a larger scale and budget than the earlier film, and lends a different feel to the material. Balderston from Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light (1938), it follows a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is descending into insanity.
Adapted by John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, and John L. Gaslight is a 1944 American psychological thriller film directed by George Cukor, and starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Angela Lansbury in her film debut.
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