The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Marie Belloc Lowndes (novel)
Eliot Stannard (scenario)

Release Date:

14 February 1927 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A landlady suspects her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | London | Suspect | Serial Killer | Ends With Kiss

Cast

Marie Ault	...	The landlady
Arthur Chesney	...	Her husband
June	...	Daisy - a mannequin
Malcolm Keen	...	Joe - a police detective
Ivor Novello	...	The Lodger

Also Known As:

The Case of Jonathan Drew

Runtime:

75 min | USA:83 min | USA:101 min (TCM print) | Spain:67 min (VHS version) | Canada:98 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Spain:13 | Spain:T | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:15 (2007) | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Islington, London, England, UK

Company:

Carlyle Blackwell Productions

Trivia:

Hitchcock told François Truffaut that, though he had made two films prior to this, he considered this his first true film.

Goofs:

Continuity: After "the lodger" escapes handcuffed, Daisy met him sitting on a bank in the street. Then she sits down side by side with him. After that he puts his head on her right shoulder, with his face touching her face. Between shots she appears alone with nobody on her shoulder.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Female eyewitness: Tall he was - and his face all wrapped up.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hitchcock: The Early Years (1999) (V)

A compelling whodunit

A stranger (Ivor Novello) in fog-bound London seeks accommodation from a family and they provide him with a small apartment upstairs. Their blond daughter is drawn towards this fascinating and somewhat mysterious gentleman. Her parents become suspicious of the intentions of the lodger and they live in fear of her safety. There is a serial killer abroad in the foggy streets and who knows? this stranger could be that maniac.

It is interesting to view an early Hitchcock film as far back as the silent era. I am surprised at the quality (despite a few scratches here and there). The addition of music is rather overdone in my opinion but it does fill in the empty silence and does add a dramatic effect. No doubt in the early days a capable pianist (below the screen) bashed out some impromptu music to fit the mood of each scene.

It is an uncomplicated story but that does not mean the guilty person is easily recognized (if at all!) Hitchcock likes to tease with a lodger who has shifty eyes, who paces the floor (what an original idea to photograph through a transparent floor), who has the wall pictures removed and who creeps out silently at night.

I feel that the atmosphere created is exceptional. Certainly a bit theatrical with exaggerated eye expressions but compelling nevertheless.

When you see a film of this vintage you realise how much film production had already advanced in the 20's and without the aid of all our recent technological contrivances.