The Lodger (1944)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John Brahm

Writers:

Marie Belloc Lowndes (novel)
Barré Lyndon (writer)

Release Date:

19 January 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The Story of Jack the Ripper

Plot:

A landlady suspects her new lodger is Jack the Ripper.

Plot Keywords:

Jack The Ripper | Lodger | Attic | Music Hall | Scientific Experiment

Cast

Merle Oberon	...	Kitty Langley
George Sanders	...	Inspector John Warwick
Laird Cregar	...	Mr. Slade
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Robert Bonting
Sara Allgood	...	Ellen Bonting
Aubrey Mather	...	Supt. Sutherland
Queenie Leonard	...	Daisy - the maid
Doris Lloyd	...	Jennie
David Clyde	...	Det. Sgt. Bates
Helena Pickard	...	Annie Rowley

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #9597)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Merle Oberon fell in love with the film's cinematographer, Lucien Ballard, and they married the following year. Because of facial scars Oberon sustained in a car accident, Ballard developed a unique light for her that washed out any signs of her blemishes. The device is known to this day as the Obie (not to be confused with the Off-Broadway award).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the scene at the Black Museum, Inspector Warwick mentions the "four murders" but by this point in the film there have been five.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Old Cockney Man: [reading poster] "Murders being committed in our midst. Police inadequate. We intend offering a substantial reward to anyone, citizen or otherwise, who shall give information bringing the murderer or murderers to justice." Hmm.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Concerto Macabre: The Films of John Brahm (2007) (V)

brilliant atmospheric thriller

From the first few frames, as the title credits wash in and out like the tide, this is a superb film, full of fog, shadows, suspense, and great performances from Cregar (brilliant in this), Oberon, Hardwicke and others. It manages to be chilling and moving at the same time, and the ending seems incredibly sad and poetic after what has gone before. This makes it all the more memorable. Sadly not on video at the moment unless you dig around, but deserves to be better known than perhaps it is. In comparison with the silent version by Hitchcock, this is more deranged and evil than Novello's cuckoo clocks and wild eyes, and also has a more logical conclusion that the viewer was sure of from early on. The strongest scene is the one in Oberon's dressing room quite near the end, which gives the viewer as much of a fright as it gives her. After that it is somehow reminiscent of Phantom of the Opera, not without advantage. Well worth a look.