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FILM: Gaslight (1944)

Plot: In London, at Thorton Square 9, the prima donna Alice Alquist is strangled and her famous jewels miss. Her young niece Paula is sent to Italy to study music and the house stays empty. Ten years later, Paula decides to get married with the older pianist Gregory Anton, who convinces her to move back to the old address in London. When they arrive, Paula finds a letter from a mysterious and unknown Sergis Bauer, making Gregory upset. He psychologically begins to torture Paula and she has a nervous breakdown, insecurity and memory problems. When the Scotland Yard policeman Brian Cameron sees Gregory Anton [the couple] in a tourist place, he immediately recognizes Gregory [he see Paula who reminds him of her aunt; he does not know Gregory] and decides to investigate and find evidences to connect Gregory with the unsolved murder, while Paula is being driven mad and menaced of being interned in an asylum by her husband. Plot Summary for Gaslight (1944)

Credits: Director: George Cukor; screenwriters: John Van Druten, Walter Reisch; Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman. Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty, Angela Lansbury IMDB: Gaslight (1944)

Film Achievements: 1944 OSCAR Best Actress in a Leading Role – Ingrid Bergman; 1944 OSCAR Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White – Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Edwin B. Willis, Paul Huldschinsky; 1944 OSCAR Nomination Best Actor in a Leading Role – Charles Boyer; 1944 OSCAR Nomination Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Angela Lansbury; 1944 OSCAR Nomination Best Cinematography, Black-and-White – Joseph Ruttenberg; 1944 OSCAR Nomination Best Picture; 1944 OSCAR Nomination Best Writing, Screenplay – John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch, John Van Druten Golden; 1944 Globe Globe Best Actress – Ingrid Bergman IMDB: Awards for Gaslight (1944)

Filmsite: Gaslight (1944) (aka The Murder in Thornton Square) is a superb, definitive psychological suspense thriller from ‘woman’s director’ George Cukor. [Previous Cukor films that were similar as period dramas included Little Women (1933), David Copperfield (1935), and Camille (1936).] The lavish and glossy MGM film, with authentic Victorian-era production design, was a remake of a taut and subtle film made four or five years earlier in Great Britain. This earlier version, starring a very sinister Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard, was directed by Thorold Dickinson and released in the US as both Gaslight and Angel Street (1940). When MGM decided to remake the film, it bought the rights to Dickinson’s version and withdrew it from circulation (and reportedly – and unsuccessfully attempted to destroy prints of the film) – causing resentment among British film-makers (Tim Dirks). Gaslight (1944)

Wikipedia: Gaslight is a 1944 mystery-thriller film adapted from Patrick Hamilton’s play, Gas Light, performed as Angel Street on Broadway in 1941. It was the second version to be filmed; the first, released in Great Britain, had been made a mere four years earlier. This 1944 version of the story was directed by George Cukor and starred Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and eighteen-year-old Angela Lansbury in her screen debut. It had a larger scale and budget and lends a different feel to the material. Wikipedia: Gaslight (1944 film)

RELATED READING:Book Review: Gaslighting – How to Drive Your Enemies Crazy

FILM: Out in the Silence (2009)

Plot Summary: A gray winter sky hangs over lonely city streets, rotted oil derricks, and abandoned factories. This is Oil City, Pennsylvania, a fading industrial town in the heart of the American rust belt. It is the sort of town that Barrack Obama had in mind when he made his infamous comments about bitter small town residents clinging to their guns and religion as they watch the rest of the world pass them by. The peace and quiet is shattered when the filmmaker, Oil City native Joe Wilson, places the announcement of his wedding to another man in the local paper. The announcement catches the eye of Kathy Springer, a local woman whose teenage son, CJ, is being brutally tormented at school because he is gay. Ignored by the school authorities and with no where else to turn, she seeks help from Wilson and they begin a difficult but ultimately successful struggle to take on the school authorities who made every day “eight hours of pure hell” for CJ. The announcement has a very different effect on Diane Gramley, head of the local chapter of the ultra-conservative American Family Association. Infuriated by the prospect of the “homosexual agenda” invading her little town, she issues an action alert calling on townspeople to denounce same sex marriage and all other forms of “perversion”. Over the next four years Wilson navigates the ins and outs of being different in a conservative small town. He makes an unexpected friendship with an evangelical pastor that demonstrates the understanding that can develop when people on different sides of an issue lay down their swords and get to know one another. And he helps a lesbian couple renovate an historical downtown theatre that could catalyze the town’s economic revitalization – if the community will accept them. The greatest change occurs in Wilson himself as he realizes that while maverick acts such as the publication of his wedding announcement can create a splash, creating lasting change in small towns takes the courage and ongoing commitment of local folks to speak out and live openly (Dean Hamer).

Credits: Director: Dean Hamer,Joe Wilson; Cast: C.J. Bills, Diane Granley, Linda Henderson, Roxanne Hitchcock, Mark Micklos, Kathy Springer, Joe Wilson; Original Music: Namoli Brennet, Joel Douek; Film Editing: Nels Bangerter; Cinematography: C.J. Bills,Dean Hamer, Pete Smith, Joe Wilson The Internet Movie Database

Accomplishments: Emmy Award Achievement in Documentary; Official Selection: Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Outfest International Film Festival, Tribeca Doc Series; Nashville Film Festival Bravery Story Telling Award; South Dakota Film Festival Social Significance Award; Best Documentary – Out Takes New Zealand Out in the Silence Web site

Film Review: The documentary examines the controversy that arose in Oil City, Pa., after the publication of a gay couple’s wedding announcement and depicts the problems a gay teen faces in the town. The Rev. Peter D. D’Angio, St. Luke’s rector, said the screening could “open up the conversation” in the light of faith. Most people seem to have a view of what Christians think about LGBT issues that is not true, he said. Documentary depicts challenges LGBT community faces

OFFICIAL WEB-SITE: Following the story of a small American town confronting a firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement and the brutal bullying of a gay teen, this gripping documentary will challenge you to rethink your values and help close the gaps that divide our communities. Out in the Silence

RELATED READING: Coming ‘Out in the Silence’ of a Rust Belt town
‘Out in the Silence’: What They Call an Agenda