Gaslight

Gaslight
Release Date: May 11, 1944
Director: George Cukor
Actors: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Everest, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon, Halliwell Hobbes, Tom Stevenson, Heather Thatcher, Lawrence Grossmith, and Jakob Gimpel

     Angela Lansbury's birthday was not too long ago, so I thought I would write about her first movie, and one of my favorites! She was only 17, and today, at 88, she is still going strong. Ingrid Bergman is amazing in this as well, and even went to a mental institution for inspiration, pretty neat huh? Ingrid Bergman won Best Actress in a Leading role at the Oscars the following year, in 1945, this movie also won the Oscar the same year for Best Art Direction (Interior Decoration, Black and White). Nominated was Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Angela Lansbury), Best Writing (Screenplay), and Best Cinematography too. They sure did make a great movie!!

     Paula Alquist's (Ingrid Bergman) aunt was murdered in the house she grew up in. Paula never wanted to go back to that house, the memories, she was afraid, would forever haunt her. But when her new husband, Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) wants to move into the house, Paula caves, and decides to go ahead and move back. Paula's fears proved correct, memories were all around, she was afraid. And to make matters worse, she starts losing her mind!!! Her husband is worried that she is ending up like her mother, who was hospitalized for mental issues many years before. But someone is watching over Paula, and it is not her loved ones that have passed. It is Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotten), who believes that it is not Paula that is mad, but her husband Gregory, that is up to no good. Is Brian correct? Their house maid, Nancy (Angela Lansbury) believes she is nuts as well. It is hard to go on with the story without giving away the ending. But I would highly recommend this classic treasure. :) enjoy!!!

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt
Released Date: January 15, 1943
Directed by Alfred Hitchock
Actors include Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, and Hume Cronyn

Shadow of a Doubt, Alfred Hitchcock said, was his favorite movie that he made. I had always said that this was my favorite as well. The movie is not scary but more suspenseful and there is also a lot of humor in it too. This movie is not as popular as other movies Hitch has made, but it should definitely be. His daughter, Patricia Hitchcock said that the reason it was his favorite, was because it always excited him to bring menace into a small town.

Teresa Wright one time said that she went to go visit Hitchcock at his office in California because he wanted her in his new movie. So she went to visit him and he told her a story, this story. When the movie finally came out in theaters which was August 16, 1943, she said she had seen this movie before. Not just because she was in the movie but because Hitchcock was a great story teller and told her the entire movie from beginning to end in his office.

The movie is about a man who is running away from something wrong, and ends up in his sister's house, in a small town where everyone knows each other. This town is Santa Rosa, California. Everyone seems to have smile on their face, and they also seem to be living in a bubble. And have no idea that outside of the bubble is a crazy, insane world that is scary and lonely. Till he comes in and shows his sweet niece that the world is not what she thinks it is. It's, to him, a fowl sty. His name is Uncle Charlie, and the young girl, the niece, was named after him. Her name is Charlotte but everyone calls her Charlie too. She has an ordinary life, with ordinary, sweet filled dreams. And her uncle will bring her nightmares. After a whole list of crazy events, the uncle will soon realize that he can't hurt this family, although his, he can't change the fact that they are happy and will continue to be. He never meant to upset his sister, or even his niece, but the fact of the matter is, he did upset his niece.

One of my favorite lines from any movie is in this. There is a scene where the mother of the movie is on the phone, and the mother is also screaming at the top of her lungs because she obviously has no idea that even with a whisper you can be heard on the telephone. Well then Teresa Wright's little sister in the movie said this: "mama, you don't have to shout. Really papa, you'd think mama had never seen a phone. She makes no allowance for science. She thinks she has to cover the distance by sheer lung power." :)

 

Really Mama :)

Needless to say, it's a scary world. It has a lot of great actors in the movie. I don't want to ruin the end, so I won't. But the movie is funny and suspenseful, and everyone is a star in the movie. Even Alfred Hitchcock, which can be seen in the beginning of the movie playing cards on the train. :) He has the winning hand and looks "well you don't look good either" on his face because of it.

I hope you see this movie now, and enjoy it too.