Week 2: The Lodger (1927)

Good evening.

In Hitchcock's the Lodger, a serial killer is terrorizing London, murdering young blonde girls every week. Daisy, a young blonde dress model, lives with her parents and is dating one of the police officers assigned to finding the killer, known as "the Avenger." They rent out one of their rooms to a young, eccentric, mysterious man. As Daisy's mom notices that the lodger behaves strangely and sneaks out on the nights of the murders, she begins to suspect that he is the killer. Daisy does not see anything suspicious about him, and they develop a relationship. The police officer grows jealous and also starts to suspect the lodger.

The film is based on the book the Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes. Lowndes claimed that she heard a story from a woman once who believed that Jack the Ripper had rented a room in her house. After hearing the story, she developed the idea for the book.

I had never seen this particular film, but it is a fast favorite. It is one of his silent films, and I have always been impressed by his ability to create a creepy, suspenseful setting without audible dialogue between the characters. This film is certainly no exception. I found myself panicking throughout the entire film.

Furthermore, I could not figure out how the film was going to end until the very last moment. I won't give away how it ended, but I will say that if you watch the film, you will most likely change your opinion on the lodger at least three or four times and not decide for sure until the last scene. The novel itself apparently had an ambiguous ending, which Hitchcock wanted to preserve. The studio, however, insisted that he not leave it up in the air, so he does reveal to us whether or not the lodger is indeed the killer.

Ivor Novello deserves great attention for his performance as the lodger. That ambiguous feeling that the film preserves until the end is largely because of Novello. He plays the character as dark, brooding, yet sympathetic. In a way, you believe that he is the killer but you want him to get the girl. In another way, you believe he must be innocent. Then you remember that this character is based on Jack the Ripper, and you want him to die. It is testimony to his talent that Novello could inspire this range of emotions, particularly in a silent film, where everything is facial expression and body language.

I also have to give some attention to June Howard Tripp as the beautiful Daisy. Her ability to switch between a sassy, flirtatious model, to a concerned lover, to a frightened woman was very believable. And when I looked her up later, I discovered, much to my surprise, that she was only in four films in her life. Needless to say, I was very impressed.

Now on to the background of the film: This is a very important film in Hitchcock history, being one of his earliest films. It was made in 1927, and was his third film to direct, although he considered it to be his first real film.

Hitchcock wanted to open the film with a body being dragged out of the Thames River, with the Charing Cross Bridge visible in the shot. Scotland Yard told him he could not film the bridge. He sent them so many requests that they told him if he could film it in one night, they would unofficially turn a blind eye and ignore it. He did so, but later discovered that the scene had not been filmed properly due to a mistake of the cameraman. So he had to give up that idea. 

The best fun fact about this film though, is that it is his first film with his trademark cameo. This was actually an accident, due to a lack of extras at the time of filming a particular scene in a newsroom. He needed someone, and decided to do it himself. This gave him the idea of making it a trademark. Hitchcock lovers such as myself can be very grateful that there weren't enough extras, as spotting the cameo is one of the fun parts of watching a Hitchcock film.

I highly recommend checking this film out. It is in several of the Hitchcock silent film DVD combos, and those are more than worth their cost. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!