George Cukor - Gaslight (1944)

Paula Alquist, a late 19th century English singer studying music in Italy, abandons her studies because she's fallen in love with dapper, handsome Gregory Anton. The couple marries and returns to the U.K. and a home inherited by Paula from her aunt, herself a famous singer, who was mysteriously murdered in the house ten years before. Once they have moved in, Gregory, who is in reality a jewel thief and the murderer of Paula's aunt, launches a campaign of terror designed to drive his new bride insane.

La famosa artista Alice Alquist es asesinada en su casa. Paula -su sobrina- que vive con ella, es quien encuentra el cuerpo. La policía no logra dar con el asesino y la niña es enviada a Italia con un tutor. Diez años más tarde, Paula vuelve felizmente casada a la antigua casa de su tía en Londres. Sin embargo, la felicidad inicial se torna siniestra cuando extraños sucesos comiencen a atormentarla; luces que de un momento a otro disminuyen de intensidad, sonidos de pasos en un ático completamente sellado u objetos que de un momento a otro desaparecen del lugar en el que los dejó. Eventos misteriosos que solo la joven y vulnerable Paula ve y que lentamente comienzan a volverla loca, que es precisamente lo que espera su maquiavélico esposo George.




Ingrid Bergman won the first of her three Oscars (Best Actress, in this case), on her second nomination, playing a newlywed to Charles Boyer's mysterious character. Boyer was also nominated, his third of four Best Actor Academy Award nominations without a win. Bergman's character fears that she's going mad when strange things (including sounds) start happening at the family mansion. She finds that her new husband is not very supportive. Angela Lansbury, who received her first of three Supporting Actress nominations in her very first film, plays their servant. Joseph Cotten plays a friend of Bergman's character, who fears for her; twice nominated Supporting Actress Dame May Whitty also appears as one who loves murder mysteries. The film was nominated for an Oscar (e.g. as Best Picture), as was its Screenplay co-written by John L. Balderston (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)), John Van Druten, and Walter Reisch. It won for B&W Art Direction-Interior Decoration and also received a nomination for B&W Cinematography. Based on the Patrick Hamilton play, it's #78 on AFI's 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list.




Cukor cambia de registro para mostrarnos un thriller a la altura del maestro Hitchcock. La gran interpretación del duo protagonista dota a la historia de una tensión dramática que no viene sino a redondear el buen guión de la película. Por otra parte cabe destacar también la buena caracterización y ambientación de un Londres victoriano que aparece más lúgubre y tenebroso que nunca.




Script/Guión: John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, John L Balderston
Music/Sonido: Bronislau Kaper
Cinematography/Fotografía: Joseph Ruttenberg
Cast/Reparto: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Everest, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon, Halliwell Hobbes, Tom Stevenson

Ripped with MeGUI from the PAL DVD9