The Lodger - A Story Of The London Fog [VHS] [1927]

It is something of a strange experience to watch a silent movie. I always wonder what the actors are actually saying; they talk up a storm, yet we are shown only scattered fragments of their conversations. The actors all play their roles to great excess, seemingly overemphasizing their expressions to help make up for the lack of actual dialogue. Sometimes their faces are completely bleached out as the quality of the picture varies. Frankly, I had not even thought about Alfred Hitchcock having made silent movies early in his career, but The Lodger, his third silent film (although Hitchcock essentially chose not to count the first two), displays the genius Hitchcock would become famous for. There are several scenes that seemed quite impressive for a film made in 1926: early on, there is an interesting montage of faces blending from one to another; in one scene, the camera pans up and we see the ceiling disappear to show us the pacing strides of the lodger up above; and toward the end we witness a series of images pan across the ground as a character looks down in deep thought.

I was quite impressed by The Lodger. The basic story is clearly delineated despite the lack of dialogue, the direction is masterful, and the ending is in no way anticlimactic. I admit I sometimes found myself making up dialogue for the actors and actresses, but by the midway point I was so absorbed in the story that I forgot about it being a silent movie and just sat back and let myself become absorbed in the growing drama. If you are going to watch a silent movie, Hitchcock's The Lodger is more than worthy of your consideration.

The story is derived from the Jack The Ripper tale, and remember, the 1926 London shown in this movie is not so different from the city that suffered the ravages of the Ripper. The atmosphere throughout is genuinely eerie and seedy -- a good historical document!

Ivor Novello is a suitably creepy, and his slightly hammy performance brings home the Expressionist nature of silent film. He plays the lodger Jonathan Drew, a tortured soul who is showing an unhealthy interest in the recent spate of blonde-girl murders. What is worse, the blonde daughter of his landlady is showing an unhealthy interest in him, oblivious to his oddities.

But is he the murderer? Well, why else would he carry a case with a map of all the killings?

Directed with Hitchcock's blend of clinical care and a dash of lusty voyeurism, this is an easy chime with 1960's Psycho. Check out the house layout: it's the same!

For all you trivia buffs, this film also Hitch's first cameo - spot the youngster if you can.

Excellent early Hitch -- but don't overlook his other non-suspense silents. This was a director plying his trade in all genres.

Hitchcock worked from his own scenario of star Ivor Novello's stage play for this initial foray into what would later be familiar Hitchcock territory. Novello portrays a strange and aloof lodger, who stays in a room above a lower-middle-class family. In the evening streets of London, the Avenger's victims are being found closer and closer to the lodging houses. Eventually the landlords, and their daughter's police detective suitor, come to suspect that the mysterious lodger has unholy designs on their beautiful blond daughter. Can their suspicions be confirmed before it is too late?

Throughout the film there are examples of visual inspiration in shots of a restless lodger in the room above pacing back and forth as seen, through the floor (as if eyes could read what ears are unable to hear in silent films), by the landlady below, or in the desperate lodger suspended only by handcuffs on a spiked metal fence. The Lodger is an early treat for fans of Hitchcock's distinctive storytelling technique. We dare say that this film is his most entertaining and flashy narrative until 1929's Blackmail. And, for those wondering, Hitchcock makes the first of his on-screen appearances, with Hitchcock sitting with his back to the camera in an early newspaper office sequence and as a flat-grey-hat wearing crowd member in the climax.