Gaslight

Gaslight (1944)

Timing: 1:54 (114 min)

7.527/10
550

7.888/10
19567

7.8/10
38000

All about film

Video 6

Photo 60

Actors and characters

Release date

1944-05-04

Country

United States

Production

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Genre

Thriller, Drama, Mystery, Crime

Budget

$2 068 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

George Cukor

Actors

Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Everest, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon, Halliwell Hobbes, Tom Stevenson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Patrick Hamilton

Producer

Arthur Hornblow Jr.

Operator

Joseph Ruttenberg

Composer

Bronislau Kaper

Artist

William Ferrari

Audition

Editing

Ralph E. Winters
All team (34)

• The film is based on the eponymous play by Patrick Hamilton, which was staged in America under the title “Angel Street” (1938).
• Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer met for the first time on the day they filmed the scene where they meet and kiss at the train station. Boyer and Bergman were the same height, and to appear taller, he stood on a box, but the actress constantly bumped into and knocked it over when she ran into the frame. Furthermore, during filming, Boyer wore shoes with a five-centimeter platform.
• Bergman also found it very awkward to film love scenes. So awkward that she vowed for the rest of her career not to film love scenes with partners she had just met. A similar situation arose during the filming of Anatole Litvak's melodrama "Do You Love Brahms?", where Anthony Perkins was her partner. Bergman asked Perkins to rehearse with her in the makeup room to prepare for the on-screen kisses and avoid looking too flustered and blushing.
• During the making of the film, MGM ordered the destruction of all existing copies of the first adaptation of "Gaslight." The effort ultimately failed, although the film was shown quite rarely for the next few decades.
• Angela Lansbury was 17 years old at the time of filming. She worked in a store in Los Angeles and when she told her boss she was leaving, he offered to let her stay and promised to raise her salary to the level she had been promised at her new job. He assumed it would be more or less the amount she was earning at the store (27 dollars a week) and was stunned to learn that she would be earning 500 dollars a week.
• During filming, Charles Boyer's wife, actress Pat Paterson, was expecting a child. Boyer and Paterson had long dreamed of a child, so Boyer was noticeably nervous on set. As the due date approached, he would call home during breaks to ask his wife how she was feeling. The birth was expected to occur after filming was completed, but the baby was born prematurely while Boyer was on set. When he was informed of the birth of his son, he burst into tears and then shared the news with the entire film crew. Filming was halted and champagne was opened.
• In preparing for the role, Ingrid Bergman, at the suggestion of director George Cukor, studied patients at a psychiatric clinic.
• The scene in which Angela Lansbury's character smokes a cigarette was filmed at the very end. Filming began when Lansbury was 17 years old, so a social worker accompanied her on set and forbade her from smoking until she came of age. This scene was filmed at the very end, after Lansbury turned 18, and her birthday was celebrated by the entire film crew.
• Ingrid Bergman was very happy to have starred in this film later on, but initially she didn't want to take it on. She considered herself strong and independent and feared she wouldn't be able to convincingly play a shy person with a delicate emotional makeup, but later considered this role one of the highest achievements of her career.
• The term "gaslighting" – a form of psychological abuse that forces a person to doubt the adequacy of their perception of reality – originated from the title of the film.
• According to the script provided by MGM, Charles Boyer's character was supposed to tell Ingrid Bergman's character at the end of the film that he had always loved her. The scriptwriters inserted this line into the text, although it was not originally in the play. Screenwriter and producer David O. Selznick read the script and immediately produced one of his famous writings addressed to the film company's management, demanding that this line be removed. And it was removed.
• Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer met on the day they filmed the scene where they meet and kiss at the train station. Boyer and Bergman were the same height, and to appear taller, he stood on a box, but the actress kept bumping into and knocking it over when she ran into the frame. Furthermore, during filming, Boyer wore shoes with a five-centimeter platform.
• Bergman felt very awkward filming the love scene. So awkward, in fact, that she vowed never to film love scenes with partners she had just met for the rest of her career.
• While working on the film, MGM ordered the destruction of all existing copies of the first screen adaptation of "Gaslight." The effort ultimately failed, although the film was shown relatively rarely for the next several decades.
• At the time of filming, Angela Lansbury was 17 years old. She worked in a store in Los Angeles, and when she told her boss she was leaving, he offered to let her stay and promised to raise her salary to the level she had been promised at her new job. He assumed this would be roughly the same amount she was earning at the store ($27 a week) and was astonished to learn that she would be making $500 a week.
• During filming, Charles Boyer’s wife, actress Pat Paterson, was pregnant. Boyer and Paterson had long dreamed of a child, so Boyer was noticeably nervous on set. As the due date approached, he would call home and ask his wife how she was feeling. The birth was expected to occur after filming wrapped, but the baby was born prematurely while Boyer was on set. When he was informed of his son's birth, he burst into tears. Filming was halted, and champagne was opened.
• Angela Lansbury’s character smokes in the film. Filming began when Lansbury was 17, so she was accompanied by a social worker on set who forbade her from smoking until she came of age. This scene was filmed at the very end, after Lansbury turned 18, and her birthday was celebrated by the entire film crew.
• Initially, Ingrid Bergman did not want to take on the role. She considered herself strong and independent and feared she wouldn’t be able to convincingly play a shy and sensitive person, and later considered this role one of the highest achievements of her career.
• The term “gaslighting” – a form of psychological abuse that makes a person doubt the validity of their perception of reality – originated from the title of the film.
• According to the script, Charles Boyer's character tells Ingrid Bergman at the end of the film that he has always loved her. The screenwriters added this line to the text, even though it wasn't in the play. Screenwriter and producer David O. Selznick, after reading the script, produced one of his famous pronouncements addressed to the studio management, demanding that this line be removed.