#248 Gaslight

(1944, George Cukor)

“How can a madwoman help her husband?”

I love me a good noir thriller. Spooky mystery and tense atmosphere is an easy way for a film to win me over. And so, I gleefully look back to a movie from the classic era of film noir starring classic actress Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight, the remake of a British movie released only 4 years before.

World-famous opera singer Alice Alquist has been murdered, and her murderer has escaped before he could find her jewels, as he was interrupted by Alice’s daughter, Paula. A few years later, Paula (Ingrid Bergman), studying singing in Italy, where she meets a man named Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer).

Gregory convinces Paula to move back into the inherited home owned by Alice, but when they move in, strange things start happening. Things begin disappearing or moving around the house, footsteps are heard in the sealed attic and the gaslight lamps begin to fade at mysterious times. Is Paula going mad or is there something sinister afoot?