The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
| The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog | |
|---|---|
 US film poster |
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon Carlyle Blackwell |
| Written by | Marie Belloc Lowndes (novel) Eliot Stannard |
| Starring | Marie Ault Arthur Chesney June Malcolm Keen Ivor Novello |
| Cinematography | Gaetano di Ventimiglia |
| Editing by | Ivor Montagu |
| Distributed by | Woolf & Freedman Film Service |
| Release date(s) | 
14 February 1927 |
| Running time | 75 min. |
| Language | Silent film English intertitles |
| Budget | UK£ 12,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (often just called The Lodger) is a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Plot
The story is about a Jack the Ripper-type murderer known only as "The Avenger" in London, who has been killing young blonde women. Meanwhile, a mysterious man arrives at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting looking for a room to rent. The Bunting's daughter, Daisy — a blonde model — becomes enamored with the lodger. At the same time, Joe — Daisy’s boyfriend and a detective assigned to The Avenger case — becomes jealous of the lodger and suspects he may be the murderer.
The story begins one Tuesday night with police detectives interviewing a hysterical young woman who was an eyewitness to the third murder committed by the Avenger. She describes him as "tall; his face all wrapped up". The police begin a search. Later that same night a new tenant arrives at the house of the retired Mr and Mrs Bunting and inquires about the room they are renting. Mrs Bunting takes him to the room on the top floor of her house which is decorated with portraits of beautiful young women. The man introduces himself as Jonathon Drew and is rather reclusive and secretive, which puzzles Mrs Bunting but she does not complain after he willingly pays her a month's rent in advance and requests only for a Bible, a hot meal and to be left in peace. Mrs Bunting leaves her new tenant and tells her husband the good news and shows him the small fortune Mr Drew has paid her. She prepares a meal for Mr Drew and takes it to his room, to find him reading aloud from the Bible passages of vengeance and she is startled to see that he has turned all the portraits of the women around to face the wall. She leaves him alone and decides not to tell her husband of what Mr Drew has done.
The next day the Buntings' only daughter, Daisy a blonde model, arrives home after staying with relatives and quickly becomes interested in her parents' new tenant. Mr Bunting reads aloud from the newspaper of the third Avenger killing and how the whole of London is in the grip of terror. Mr Drew does not join them for breakfast but they hear him ranting around in his room and heavy footsteps. Joe Chandler, Daisy's lover, arrives to visit her and wonders about the new tenant. He also reports that he has no idea of who the Avenger is and that patrols of policemen are scouring the streets every Tuesday night, as that is when the murders are committed. The next again Tuesday Mrs Bunting is awoken by Mr Drew leaving the house. In the morning, another blonde girl is found dead around the corner of the house.
Mrs Bunting voices her fears to Joe that Mr Drew is the Avenger and states that all the evidence she has gathered points to this logical theory. Mr and Mrs Bunting report their fears for Daisy's life and along with Joe break into Mr Drew's room and find a gun, a photogragh of a woman Joe identifies as the Avenger's first victim and a map marking all the locations of the Avenger's attacks to date. Drew is arrested despite Daisy's protests, for the two have been courting much to Joe's envy, and Drew insists he is not the Avenger: he is looking for the Avenger as his first victim was Drew's sister and he vowed to his mother on her deathbed he would not rest until he had destroyed the killer. Joe ignores him and clamps him in handcuffs and takes him away.
Drew manages to escape and runs off into the night. Daisy follows despite her parents' protests that even if he is innocent the Avenger will be out seeking a new prey. A lynch mob chase Drew and prepare to kill him, when a policeman interrupts with the news that the real Avenger has been caught. Joe releases Jonathon and apologises for his jealous actions. Daisy is reunited with her love at last.
Production
It is based on a novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes, and a play "Who Is He?" cowritten by Belloc Lowndes, about the Jack The Ripper killings.
This was the third film Hitchcock directed. It is also the prototypical "Hitchcockian" film.
Despite all the effort that Hitchcock put into the film, producer Michael Balcon was furious with the end result and nearly shelved the film - and Hitchcock's career as well. After considerable bickering, a compromise was reached and film critic Ivor Montagu was hired to salvage the film. Hitchcock was initially resentful of the intrusion, but Montagu recognized the director's technical skill and artistry and made only minor suggestions, mostly concerning the title cards and the reshooting of a few minor scenes.[citation needed]
The result, described by Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto, is "the first time Hitchcock has revealed his psychological attraction to the association between sex and murder, between ecstasy and death." It would pave the way for his later work.
Analysis
Though made in 1926, The Lodger still resonates with modern audiences. Ostensibly a murder mystery, the film is as much about public and media hysteria as about crime – the news reporting in The Lodger is certainly not “fair and balanced.” The film impacts how audiences view the benefits and drawbacks of the breakneck speed of modern communications and stimulates dialogue on current affairs. [citation needed]
The Lodger introduced themes that would run through much of Hitchcock’s later work: the innocent man on the run, hunted down by a self-righteous society, and a fetishistic sexuality. Perhaps for the first time, a truly cinematic eye was at work in British cinema. Hitchcock had clearly been watching contemporary films by Murnau and Lang, whose influence can be seen in the ominous camera angles and claustrophobic lighting. While Hitchcock had made two previous films, in later years the director would refer to The Lodger as the first true "Hitchcock film"[1]
Soundtrack
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Hitchcock's birth, a new orchestral soundtrack was composed by Ashley Irwin. The composer's recording of the score with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg was broadcast over the ARTE TV network in Europe on August 13, 1999.
The first live performance was given on September 29, 2000 in the Nikolaisaal in Potsdam by the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg under the direction of Scott Lawton.
Remakes
The novel was also the basis of three other films:
- The Lodger (1932) directed by Maurice Elvey and also starring Ivor Novello in the lead role
- The Lodger (1944) directed by John Brahm and starring Laird Cregar
- Man in the Attic (1953) directed by Hugo Fregonese and starring Jack Palance
Listen to
- The Lodger on Mystery in the Air, 1947, starring Peter Lorre and Agnes Moorehead
Trivia
- Alfred Hitchcock cameo: Alfred Hitchcock appears sitting at a desk in the newsroom with his back to the camera (3 minutes into the film). This is Alfred Hitchcock's first recognizable film cameo and was to become a standard practice for the remainder of his films.
References
- ^ Richard Allen and Sam Ishii-Gonzales Alfred Hitchcock Centenary Essays pg. iv
External links
| Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock | |
|---|---|
| 1920s | Number 13 · The Pleasure Garden · The Mountain Eagle · The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog · Downhill · Easy Virtue · The Ring · The Farmer's Wife · Champagne · The Manxman · Blackmail |
| 1930s | Juno and the Paycock · Murder! · Elstree Calling · The Skin Game · Mary · Number Seventeen · Rich and Strange · Waltzes from Vienna · The Man Who Knew Too Much · The 39 Steps · Secret Agent · Sabotage · Young and Innocent · The Lady Vanishes · Jamaica Inn |
| 1940s | Rebecca · Foreign Correspondent · Mr. & Mrs. Smith · Suspicion · Saboteur · Shadow of a Doubt · Lifeboat · Aventure Malgache · Bon Voyage · Spellbound · Notorious · The Paradine Case · Rope · Under Capricorn |
| 1950s | |
| 1960s | Psycho · The Birds · Marnie · Torn Curtain · Topaz |
| 1970s | Frenzy · Family Plot |
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