The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

    Even though The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s first films as director, this was my first viewing. Having now seen it, it’s pretty obvious that he (really) had just returned from a trip to Berlin, having made a couple of films there. His exposer to German Expressionism is reflected all over this movie. I don’t mean it as a knock, but if I didn’t know anything about Hitchcock, I’d have guessed that The Lodger was made by Murnau or Fritz Lang.

    The Lodger is based on a book that took its inspiration from the Jack the Ripper murders from a few decades prior.  Here, London is being rocked by a series of murders of young blonde women by someone calling themselves “The Avenger”.  He even leaves a small card on the body with that name on it.  At the height of these murders a young man rents a room from a couple and their adult daughter (who happens to be blonde!!). The daughter is, sort of, dating a police detective who places in the couple’s head that their lodger loosely fits the description of the killer. Now they are paranoid that he could be The Avenger and their daughter is growing closer to him each day.

    Hitchcock described The Lodger as his first “thriller”, and you can see a lot of themes that would reappear in many of his future films. I actually enjoyed this film. Yes, I recognized images and themes that I’ve already seen in many of Hitchcock’s films, and pretty much figured out what was going to happen in the end, but it still kept my interest. I’m not a huge fan of silent films, there are a few that I really enjoy, but, for the most part, I tend to lose interest before the end. This one runs about 90 minutes and does a pretty good job of keeping the tension up throughout, with a sprinkling of humor that is appreciated. The performances fall mainly in that “silent movie” style- a little over done, but there are a few small moments and facial expressions that come off as pretty sincere. The best performance, in my opinion, is that of the Lodger himself- Ivor Novello. He was able to juggle that balance of being a little creepy while winning your sympathy at the same time. You really can see the film ending with either him being the killer or not. He plays it just right. I liked that the interstitial cards were not just plain words on a card, but were decorated in a, kind of, art deco style, definitely inspired by that German Expressionism. Those actually helped keep my attention because they were visually interesting in themselves.

    While he doesn’t really move the camera around here, Hitchcock does place the camera in some interesting places. Sometimes looking down on a scene or up from the ground level. There's even an interesting shot where the family looks at the ceiling, imagining what is happening up there, and the image of a man pacing is double exposed on the ceiling to convey what they are imagining.  He uses close-ups really well too. It’s obvious that he wasn’t afraid to do several different camera set-ups per scene. Many films of the time seem to have locked down cameras, where most of the action is seen in the wide shot with the occasional 2 shot or close-up. I expected to see a more embryonic display of Hitchcock’s talent, but here it’s already very close to fully formed. He knew what he wanted and knew how to make it happen. There is also the implication of homosexuality (which would come up again in some Hitch films) that is treated as fairly matter of fact. I was surprised to see it portrayed that way in a film from 1927. If you’re a fan of Hitchcock's thrillers, you’ll like this one too. It has all the hallmarks of Hitchcock thriller and was the first to contain a cameo by the director, which would become something he would do in all of his films that followed.

    I watched The Lodger on the streaming service Max. It’s the restored version from 2012 and looks great. This version is available on home video as part of the Criterion collection.