| The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog | |
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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 (UK) Artlee Pictures (US) |
| Release date(s) | 14 February 1927 (UK) 10 June 1928 (NYC) |
| Running time | 80 min. |
| Language | Silent English intertitles |
| Budget | UK£ 12,000 |
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film, based on a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes and a play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes, concerns the hunt for a "Jack the Ripper" type of serial killer in London. The wrong man is accused of the crime and is forced to try to prove his innocence.
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The film begins with the screaming visage of a young blonde woman, framed against a sheet of glass, her golden hair illuminated. She is the latest victim of a serial killer known as "The Avenger", who targets young blonde women.
That night, Daisy Bunting (June), 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 hair with dark wigs or hats while Daisy laughs at their fears. She returns home to her parents, Mr and Mrs Bunting, and her policeman sweetheart, Joe, who have been reading the details of the latest Avenger crime in the day's paper.
Later that same night a new tenant (Novello) arrives at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting and inquires about the room they are renting. Mrs. Bunting (Ault) takes him to the room on the top floor of her house which is decorated with portraits of beautiful young women, all blondes. The man 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 bread, butter, and a glass of milk and to be left in peace.
Mrs. Bunting leaves her new tenant and tells her husband the good news, showing him the small fortune she has been paid. Upon returning with the lodger's meal, she is surprised to find him turning all the portraits of the women around to face the wall, and he politely requests that they be removed. Mrs. Bunting enlists Daisy to remove the portraits, and upon first sight an attraction begins to form between Daisy and the lodger. The women bid him goodnight and return downstairs, where they hear the lodger's heavy footsteps as he paces the floor.
Over the course of the following week, the relationship between Daisy and the reclusive lodger gradually heats up, and Joe (Keen), newly assigned to the Avenger case, begins to resent the closeness developing between them. The following Tuesday, Mrs. Bunting is awoken late in the night by the lodger leaving the house. She is suspicious and searches his room in his absence, finding a cupboard that has been locked tight. In the morning, another blond is found dead just around the corner from their house.
Joe and his fellow policemen, after weighing the latest clues, observe that the murders are moving towards the Buntings' neighborhood. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bunting voices her fears to her husband that the lodger is the Avenger, and the two become fearful for Daisy's safety, agreeing to prevent her from spending further time alone with the stranger. Daisy remains oblivious to any danger, and the next Tuesday night, she and the lodger manage to sneak away on a late night date. Joe tracks them down, and confronting them, is told by Daisy that it's over between them. The heartbroken Joe is left to ponder his fortunes while the lodger and Daisy head home. As Joe sits, he begins to piece the events of the previous weeks together and convinces himself that the lodger is indeed the murdering Avenger.
With a warrant in hand and two fellow officers in tow, Joe returns to search the lodger's room. In the locked cupboard they find a leather bag containing a gun, a map plotting the location of the Avenger's murders, newspapers and a photograph of an attractive blonde woman. Taking the lodger's emotional reaction as an admission of guilt, Joe surmises this woman was the Avenger's first victim. The lodger is arrested despite Daisy's protests, but manages to escape and runs off into the night. Daisy follows and finds him, still handcuffed, coatless, and shivering in the fog. He explains that the photograph found in his room was his sister, a beautiful debutante who was murdered by the Avenger at a dance she had attended with her brother. He then vowed to his mother on her deathbed he would not rest until he had brought the killer to justice.
Daisy brings the lodger to a nearby pub to give him brandy to warm him, hiding his handcuffs with a cloak. The locals, suspicious of the pair, pursue them, quickly gathering numbers until they are a veritable lynch mob. The lodger is surrounded and beaten, while Daisy and Joe, who has just heard the news from headquarters that the real Avenger has been caught, try in vain to defend him. When all looks lost, a paperboy interrupts with the news that the real Avenger has been arrested. The mob releases the lodger who falls into Daisy's waiting arms.
Alfred Hitchcock cameo: Alfred Hitchcock appears sitting at a desk in the newsroom with his back to the camera and while operating a telephone (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.[1] Hitchcock's cameo came about as the actor supposed to play the part of the telephone operator failed to turn up and Hitchcock filled the breach.
The Lodger is based on a novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes, and on the play Who Is He?, cowritten by Belloc Lowndes, about the Jack The Ripper murders.[2]
Originally, the film was intended to end with ambiguity as to whether or not the lodger was innocent. However, when Ivor Novello was cast in the role, the studio demanded alterations to the script. Hitchcock recalled:[3][4]
| “ | 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, Hitchcock followed these instructions, but avoided showing the true villain onscreen.[4]
Upon seeing Hitchcock's finished film, producer Michael Balcon was furious, and nearly shelved it (and Hitchcock's career). 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]
Hitchcock's assistant, Alma Reville, married Hitchcock on 2 December 1926, shortly before the film was released.
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,[1][7] 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]
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.
The novel was adapted for the CBS Radio series Suspense, turned into an opera in two acts composed by Phyllis Tate and has also been the basis of four other films:
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