# Twists that everyone knows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830 "2020-12-11T13:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/101 "2020-12-13T04:31:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s pretty clear to me that Shelley did NOT intended the Monster to simply be a figment of Victor’s tortured imagination. I never claimed that she did. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/102 "2020-12-13T04:51:05Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Now that I think about it, probably the most known twist has to be the ending of _Gaslight_ . Anyone who speaks English and is older than about 13 probably knows how to use “gaslight” as a verb, and therefore can be said to “know,” in a sense, the ending of the movie, yet may not even know that it is a movie. In other words, you could see the movie for the first time, and completely misunderstand why it’s call “Gaslight”-- and not realize that the ending is supposed to be a surprise. I don’t know what “gaslight” means and I’ve never seen this movie. Strikes me as a rather obscure reference. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Also, what about the one at the end of _Witness for the Prosecution_ ? I saw this movie when I was about 12, and did not see it coming, and loved it (the Agatha Christie original part, not the part that Hollywood was obliged by the Hays’ code to add). I read the short story first, so the movie wasn’t a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/103 "2020-12-13T05:08:17Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t know what “gaslight” means and I’ve never seen this movie. Strikes me as a rather obscure reference. Very obscure. Google returns only 22,200,000 results for the word “gaslight” and “gaslighting” has its own Wiki entry (note the photo is from the film): > **[Gaslighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting)** > > Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as manipulating someone into questioning their own perception of reality. The expression, which derives from the title of the 1944 film Gaslight, became popular in the mid-2010s. Merriam Webster cites deception of one's memory, perception of reality, or mental stability. In a 2022 Washington Post report, it was described as a "trendy buzzword" frequently used to describe ordinary disagreements, rather than those situations that align with t The or... The word traces to the stage play that the movie above is based on, but the movie (which garnered seven Oscar nominations, including a win for Best Actress by Ingrid Bergman) is credited with its widespread adoption. So, an obscure reference for a generous interpretation of the term obscure. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/104 "2020-12-13T05:14:00Z")
by obscure, I was referring to the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/105 "2020-12-13T05:14:35Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t know what “gaslight” means and I’ve never seen this movie. Strikes me as a rather obscure reference. You may not have encountered it, but it’s certainly not obscure (although not as universally known as **RivkahChaya** says. I’ve seen it used frequently on the board. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/106 "2020-12-13T05:15:56Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > by obscure, I was referring to the movie The movie is not obscure by any stretch of the imagination. But anything is obscure if you personally haven’t heard of it.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/107 "2020-12-13T06:10:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > by obscure, I was referring to the movie. It’s a great movie, make sure to watch the Ingrid Bergman version, not the original. What bugs me about the new found popularity of the word gaslight as that people use it to mean lying and don’t understand the extra component of it. It’s not just lying, it’s convincing the person that they’re confused/losing their mind. What I tend to hear are things like ‘I totally gaslit my brother yesterday. I ate his doughnut but told him dad took it’ where it should be ‘I totally gaslit my brother yesterday. I ate his doughnut but told him that he ate it. He spent the next hour really confused about how he could have eaten a doughnut without realizing it’. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/108 "2020-12-13T07:02:18Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > The word traces to the stage play that the movie above is based on, but the movie (which garnered seven Oscar nominations, including a win for Best Actress by Ingrid Bergman) is credited with its widespread adoption. Really? The play the movie was based on was called _Angel Street_. But thanks for the support! I appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/109 "2020-12-13T07:15:39Z")
I think the past tense should be “gaslighted.” I know that the past tense of “light” is “lit,” but the word being used as a verb here, was originally a noun, a compound noun of gas + light. If you were to take the noun “light” and use it as a verb to mean something like pelting someone with lightbulbs, you wouldn’t use the irregular past tense that the verb form takes-- you say you “lighted” the person, if for some reason you needed a creative verb, and didn’t just want to say you “threw lights at him.” So “gaslight,” as a verb should be regular. I’m trying to think of another example of this, but it’s too damn late, and I have to be up in three hours, and I’ve only slept 90 minutes tonight, so far. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/110 "2020-12-13T08:42:51Z")
Would these qualify as twists everybody knows? 1. **The Maltese Falcon** : The falcon is a fake. 2. **Chinatown** : Evelyn Mulwray’s sister is her daughter. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/111 "2020-12-13T16:37:00Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Really? The play the movie was based on was called _Angel Street_ . I checked, and we are both right. The play originated in the UK in 1938 as _Gas Light_, but when it was staged on Broadway in 1941, it was titled _Angel Street_. (and before then, it was staged in Los Angeles under a completely different title, _Five Chelsea Lane_). There was even a British film in 1940 titled _Gaslight_, but retitled _Angel Street_ when it was finally released in the United States. > **[Gas Light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Light)** > > Gas Light is a 1938 thriller play, set in 1880s London, written by the British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton. Hamilton's play is a dark tale of a marriage based on deceit and trickery, and a husband committed to driving his wife insane in order to steal from her. > Gas Light was written during a dark period in Hamilton's life. Six years prior to the play Hamilton was hit by a drunk driver and dragged through the streets of London, leaving him with a limp, a paralysed arm, and a disf... ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/112 "2020-12-13T16:57:11Z")
I _knew_ I knew this! Thanks for the vindication. I took drama in high school, and every month we had to read a play, and turn in a report on it. This was one I read, so I was _sure_ of the title, because I bought my reading copy in a used bookstore for like, $.79, and it was on my bookshelves for years after, until all the books went into storage. I have seen the earlier film, and it is really awful, especially in comparison to the Bergman-Boyer version. The camera work is so uninspired, they could just have set up a camera in the proscenium of a theater where the play was running, and filmed it, and the acting is marking time. It looks like a mid-run rehearsal-- you know, when the actors have done the development rehearsals months ago, and already done many performances, and the initial excitement over the play had dwindled, and now it is running only on weekends, so on Wednesday afternoons there is a rehearsal, and nobody is working hard, just sleep-walking through their lines and business. That’s what the movie looks like. Admittedly, it’s one of those rare animals where the stage script is not that great, but the film script is fantastic. It usually doesn’t happen that way. Usually only really great scripts even get bought by studios, so the odds already disfavor the screenwriter being able to improve upon them, but someone at MGM saw something in it, and got the great John Van Druten to excavate it. The screenplay is magnificent. ETA: It just dawned on me that there’s a great deal of irony in the word “gaslight” taking on the meaning it has, because the title was ironic in the first place. Gregory does all these things to drive Paula mad; however, the dimming of the lights he is not doing deliberately. It’s merely happening as a result of his going into the attic, but Paula thinks she is imagining it, since it just happens that no one else sees it the first couple of times. The dimming lights she attributes to her encroaching madness, and it powerfully affects her-- it’s actually _more_ effective than anything Gregory is doing deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/113 "2020-12-13T18:34:25Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I have seen the earlier film, and it is really awful, especially in comparison to the Bergman-Boyer version. You are lucky. Apparently, one of the conditions of the MGM purchase of rights was that all copies of this film be destroyed. So there were only a few surviving copies by the 50’s. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/114 "2020-12-13T19:29:02Z")
That was nearly always a condition when a film was remade. It rarely succeeded. The Fredric March _Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde_ was supposed to be destroyed. The Irene Dunne _Magnificent Obsession_ was supposed to be destroyed. There’s a huge list of films that were supposed to be destroyed, but weren’t. A lot of times, distributors simply pulled copies from distribution, but retained them, and many films were already in the hands of private collectors, and there was nothing anyone could do to force someone to destroy their own property, as long as it had been legally obtained. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/115 "2020-12-13T20:11:14Z")
> [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > ABHftLL I have no idea what movie this is. Did I miss it being mentioned before? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/116 "2020-12-13T20:17:13Z")
**A Big Hand for the Little Lady**. Mentioned way earlier in the thread. (Easy to miss. I had to scroll up and do quite a bit of searching to find it.) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/117 "2020-12-13T21:04:27Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > ETA: It just dawned on me that there’s a great deal of irony in the word “gaslight” taking on the meaning it has, because the title was ironic in the first place. Gregory does all these things to drive Paula mad; however, the dimming of the lights he is not doing deliberately. It’s merely happening as a result of his going into the attic, but Paula thinks she is imagining it, since it just happens that no one else sees it the first couple of times. The dimming lights she attributes to her encroaching madness, and it powerfully affects her-- it’s actually _more_ effective than anything Gregory is doing deliberately. I know we’re getting a bit off topic here and I haven’t seen this movie since forever (and it doesn’t appear to be streaming on anything I have), but, I thought she asked him about it a few times and he convinced her it was in her head. From then on, each time it happened she spiraled further downward. I thought at one point she even went and measured it or had to relight it or something that gave her actual real proof it was happening, but he was convincing enough that her mental breakdown just got worse and worse. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/118 "2020-12-14T01:43:46Z")
It is considered one of the greatest movies of all time. It is very well known by people that know movies or at least watch TCM. Just curious, do you know what a McGuffin is? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/119 "2020-12-14T01:54:10Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Just curious, do you know what a McGuffin is? He may not have heard of it, I don’t think they have McDonalds north of the Artic Circle 😉 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830/120 "2020-12-14T01:59:40Z")
Well, if he hasn’t heard of a McGuffin or MacGuffin, then it pretty much means he’s not a movie buff or TCM watcher. If you’re neither and under the age of 70, It is far more reasonable that you never heard of Gaslight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twists-that-everyone-knows/927830.md?page=7)