Moviola > Films > The Lodger

The Lodger  (PG)   75 mins

"A Story of the London Fog"

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock from the novel by Mrs Belloc Lowndes about a Jack-the-Ripper style serial killer who is murdering blonde women in London, and starring Ivor Novello as the lodger of the title who comes under suspicion.   "What makes the film so fascinating is the way it dissolves into pre-echoes of Hitchcock's later work.  His concern with the uncertain line between guilt and innocence, his confident dismissal of the minutiae of the plot, the disturbing intrusions of fetishistic sexuality, are as apparent here as they are in Psycho.  The tone is lighter (despite the Ripper-esque story) and the tone more superficial, but the film has its own vigorous identity, and there are moments - Novello coming out of the fog to make the lights dim and the cuckoo clock go berserk - which are memorably effective."  Time Out

Made in 1926, the film is shot in black and white and is silent.  It will be shown with a live piano accompaniment by the hugely talented Stephen Horne.

Last modified: 20-Jun-2008

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