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 |
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (often just called The Lodger) is a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock It concerns the hunt for a "Jack the Ripper" type serial killer in London. The wrong man is accused of the crime and is forced to try to prove his innocence.
Hitchcock once told François Truffaut that he considered this his first film, although it was the third film directed by Hitchcock.[1]
Contents |
Plot
The story is about a serial killer 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 Buntings' daughter, Daisy, becomes enamored with the lodger. At the same time, Joe, who is 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 seventh 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. However she does not complain after he willingly pays her a month's rent in advance, and asks 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. She is surprised to find him reading aloud from the Bible passages about vengeance, and she is also 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 these details.
That night, the Buntings' only daughter, Daisy, a blonde model, is at a fashion parade where she and the other showgirls heard the news of the murder. The blonde girls are horrified; covering their blonde hair with dark wigs or hats. Daisy scorns their fears. She returns home and becomes interested in her parents' new tenant. Her boyfriend Joe Chandler is also there, and is making an attempt to be endearing to her, but she couldn't care less. She has her eye on the man upstairs.
Next morning, Mr Bunting reads aloud from the newspaper of the seventh 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 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 following Tuesday, Mrs Bunting is awoken by Mr Drew leaving the house. In the morning, another blonde girl is found dead just around the corner from their 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 searching for the Avenger himself because the killer's first victim was his sister. Drew's sister was a beautiful debutante who was murdered as she walked home alone from a dance she had attended with her brother. When she left, Mr Drew remained behind, despite his misgivings, and the girl was brutally murdered. Drew 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.
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.[2]
Cast
- Marie Ault - The Landlady (Mrs. Bunting)
- Arthur Chesney - Her Husband (Mr. Bunting)
- June - Daisy Bunting, a Mannequin
- Malcolm Keen - Joe Chandler
- Ivor Novello - Jonathan Drew (The Lodger)
- Reginald Gardiner - (uncredited)
- Eve Gray - Showgirl Victim (uncredited)
- Alfred Hitchcock - Extra in newspaper office (uncredited)
Production
It is based on a novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes, and the play Who Is He?, cowritten by Belloc Lowndes, about the Jack The Ripper murders.[3]
With the casting of Ivor Novello as the nameless lodger, the studio demanded alterations to the script.[4][1]
| “ | They wouldn't let Novello even be considered as a villain. The publicity angle carried the day, and we had to change the script to show that without a doubt he was innocent.[4] | ” |
Ultimately, Hitchock decided to simply avoid showing a villain at all.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6]
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 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,[7][2] 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"[8]
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 four 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
- The Lodger (2008) directed by David Ondaatje and starring Alfred Molina.
Listen to
- The Lodger on Mystery in the Air, 1947, starring Peter Lorre and Agnes Moorehead
References
- ^ a b IMDB trivia
- ^ a b Lodger, The: A Story of the London Fog (1926)
- ^ Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. Da Capo, 84. ISBN 030680932X.
- ^ a b c Spoto, Donald pg. 85
- ^ Spoto, Donald pgs. 88-89
- ^ Spoto, Donald pg. 91
- ^ Spoto, Donald pg. 86
- ^ Richard Allen and Sam Ishii-Gonzales Alfred Hitchcock Centenary Essays pg. iv
External links
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