Main Cast: Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood
Release Year: 1944
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
Plot
The Lodger was the third film version of Mrs. Marie Belloc-Lowndes' classic "Jack the Ripper" novel, and in many eyes it was the best (even allowing for the excellence of the 1925 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation). Laird Cregar stars as the title character, a mysterious, secretive young man who rents a flat in the heart of London's Whitechapel district. The Lodger's arrival coincides with a series of brutal murders, in which the victims are all female stage performers. None of this fazes Kitty (Merle Oberon), the daughter of a "good family" who insists upon pursuing a singing and dancing career. Scotland Yard inspector John Warwick (George Sanders), in love with Kitty, worries about her safety and works day and night to solve the murders. All the while, Kitty draws inexorably closer to The Lodger, who seems to have some sort of vendetta on his mind?..Some slight anachronisms aside (for example, the villain falls off a bridge that hadn't yet been built at the time of the story), The Lodger is pulse-pounding entertainment, with a disturbingly brilliant performance by the late, great Laird Cregar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
In what may be the best remake of a Hitchcock classic, John Brahm's take on the story of Jack the Ripper works because he does not try to mimic Hitchcock, and instead simply makes a solid thriller. Laird Cregar delivers a dominating performance as the mysterious Mr. Slade, who turns out, of course, to be Jack the Ripper. Cregar perhaps overdoes it at times, trying too hard to appear intense and tortured, but overall he gets it right, depicting a man so overwhelmed by his own misogyny that he lashes out against women. More importantly, what really works for The Lodger is Brahm's assured, solid approach to the material. He tells the story with plenty of style, but wisely does not try to make more out of it than is necessary. The psychological basis behind the film's plot is simplistic to say the least, but Brahm keeps the film interesting by making Slade so menacing. He does this by consistently emphasizing Slade's enormous bulk, often filling the frame with Cregar's intimidating presence and having him tower over his co-stars (particularly the victims). He also often frames Slade in a manner to emphasize that he is a prisoner of his own madness. Brahm, of course, is aided immensely by Lucien Ballard's photography, which is both haunting and lush. There is an especially well done scene in which one of the murders is shot from the killer's point of view, and the sequence plays out through the eyes of a trembling, encroaching camera. The solid supporting performances of Sara Allgood and an unrecognizable Cedric Hardwicke are also worth mentioning. The Lodger is no classic, but it is certainly superior to the average studio thriller. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
James Basevi - Art Director, John Ewing - Art Director, Kenny Williams - Choreography, Rene Hubert - Costume Designer, John Brahm - Director, J. Watson Webb, Jr. - Editor, Hugo W. Friedhofer - Composer (Music Score), Emil Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Lucien Ballard - Cinematographer, Robert Bassler - Producer, Thomas K. Little - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Fred Sersen - Special Effects, Barré Lyndon - Screenwriter, Mrs. Marie Belloc-Lowndes - Book Author
