#GASLIGHT 1944 STREAMING MOVIE#
She kisses him right there on the platform!īergman found it very awkward to film love scenes early on in a movie before she’d gotten to know her co-star. Needless to say, Paula was upset when the train pulled into the station, so she was only too thrilled to find Gregory waiting for her with open arms. The woman didn’t realize to whom she was speaking, and regaled Paula with the horrific story of Alice Alquist’s murder. She ran into a woman on the train who lives a few doors down from Paula’s old house in London. Somehow his impatient courtship of Paula reminds me of Maxim’s quick, overpowering decision to marry Cardigan Girl in Rebecca…there might be a lesson here.ĭespite Paula’s request for time alone, Gregory is waiting on the train platform when she arrives. Director George Cukor puts him in an interesting spot for this shot, don’t you think? There’s something oddly menacing about the metal grille and his smiling face. Paula begs for a week to think, and takes a train to Lake Como. She blushes and demurs at his proposal, and he is, shall we say, insistent. She thanks the maestro for his understanding, tells him she doesn’t know when she’ll see him again, fixes a charming miniature boater to her hair, and flies to Gregory’s side. Who is her fella? It’s Gregory Anton ( Charles Boyer), the dark pianist who has been playing during her lessons for the last few weeks. Her teacher figures it out: his young student is in love! Ahh, how magnificent. Paula’s been training as a singer for years, but suddenly she seems disinterested and distracted. It’s worth watching the movie for the bustles alone, though it’s also amazing to see how tall, healthy Bergman is squeezed into tiny-waisted dresses with the assistance of what must have been painfully tight corsets. So for the time being we leave dark London for sunny Italy! It’s about ten years later, and Paula is all grown up, but still a little fragile and very innocent.įun fact: The aria that Bergman sings in this scene is from the opera “Lucia Di Lammermoor,” in which the title character goes insane…remember this.Īlso, get ready for MGM’s wild imaginings of Victorian costumes, overseen by designer Irene (Lentz). After the murder, Paula is whisked away to Italy to study with a famous maestro, who was also one of her aunt’s dearest friends and teachers. It’s Alice, “the famous prima donna,” as the newspaper says, who was strangled in their house. We learn that Paula’s mother died when she was born, so Paula was brought up by her aunt, Alice. Look at how the soft light illuminates her face! It’s a beautifully shot film with gorgeous lighting and eye-catching compositions. Bergman will produce, usually in close-up, for the loving camera. (She’s supposed to be about fourteen.) Paula appears to be in shock this is just the first of many, many vacant, terrified, or confused expressions that Ms. It’s Paula ( Ingrid Bergman), looking amazingly young. We see a burly man leading a young woman out of a house and into a carriage. A handy newspaper tells us that there is a strangler on the loose. The film is set in foggy, gaslit Victorian London. Vincent Price and Judith Evans starred in a Broadway version called “Angel Street” in 1941, and the play was made into a British film in 1939, though it’s hard to see because MGM tried to destroy all the prints to eliminate competition once it decided to make its own version. Gaslight is based on a 1938 British play by Patrick Hamilton. Seventeen-year-old Angela Lansbury makes her film debut as a saucy Cockney housemaid, so look out for that. I’m not into scary movies (not even a little bit), but since it is Halloween…here’s my kind of horror film: Gaslight (1944) starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotten. Unless otherwise noted, all images are my own
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