Gaslight (1944)

[Drunk Monk]

I think that was the first time I've ever seen this and it's fantastic. It earns all its cred for giving us the term we rely on so much now. 

Cukor does amazing work with B&W - everyone is always perfectly backlit and the composition angles, especially of the staircases, are so foreboding. He has a great understanding of texture, light and shadow. 

So much goes to Ingrid, who is captivating throughout. And Boyer is such a cad. Cotton is such a hero but how he sorts out the mystery is in itself a bit of a mystery, but we'll let that go. And a teen Angela Lansbury being such an ingénue. 

Thoroughly engaging, but tonight, anything to take my mind off the election was welcome.

No sword fights. Totally DOOM recommended.

[cranefly]

I almost watched Let's Scare Jessica to Death tonight, which I believe treads similar ground.  Not that I'm suggesting it's of similar quality.

[Greg]

Totally saw it many years ago, long before they were even using the term. Lansbury was the devil.

[Drunk Monk]

Boyer is the devil. Angela is just a young hottie. What I can't get is that Boyer had Ingrid. She's totally devoted to him. He had the house. He had everything and if he just took his time, he could've found the jewels eventually. Who casts out Ingrid just for some decade-old heist scheme? That's even more perplexing than Cotton's ability to sort it all. 

Regardless, this is a great film. A classic. Worthy of the jargon term we've poached from it. 

We need Cotton now.

[Greg]

Yes, Boyer was the devil. But Angela agreeing whole heartedly with torturing Ingrid took it to a new level.

[Drunk Monk]

True. 

Young hotties are often Devil's little helpers. My mom is addicted to Murder She Wrote so it was great to see a young Angela being wicked.