The Lodger

Movie Review: The Lodger (silent)

Year of Release: 1927
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June, Malcolm Keen, Ivor Novello

Plot outline: A landlady suspects her new lodger is the madman killing women in London (IMDb).

An assortment of Hitchcock's greatest early movies are featured in a three-disc collection. The Lodger, while it was not his first movie, was the first to truly deserve the designation "A Hitchcock Movie". A serial killer known as "The Avenger" (in reference to "Jack the Ripper" - the serial killings taken place in the autumn of 1888 in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London) is on the loose in London, murdering blonde women. A mysterious man - British matinee idol Ivor Novello plays Jonathan Drew, a quiet, secretive young man - arrives at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting looking for a room to rent. Drew's arrival coincides with the reign of terror orchestrated by "The Avenger". The lodger quickly builds a close friendship with Daisy, the Bunting's daughter, who is seeing one of the detectives assigned to the case. The detective becomes jealous of him and begins to suspect he may be the murderer ... causing plenty of anxiety for the house's other residents. As the story proceeds, circumstantial evidence begins to mount, pointing to Drew as the selfsame murderer. As the movie progresses, tension and fear continue to build until an ending that is exciting, if somewhat melodramatic. In addition to Novello's 1932 remake, The Lodger was remade in 1944 with Laird Cregar, then again in 1953 as Man in the Attic, with Jack Palance as Jonathan Drew. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars