The Lodger

The Lodger (1927)


Runtime: 99 minutes


Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock


Starring: Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June, Malcolm Keen


From: Gainsborough Pictures


This is the first silent movie I've reviewed for this blog, which I started up August of '09. I certainly have seen silent movies before but that was a long time ago. The excuse for me to watch this: Sundays this month on Turner Classic Movies they will spent a lot of time showing movies from this legendary director. Thus, I hope to be busy this month watching and rewatching movies and then writing about them here.


I picked this one out as they showed it late on Sunday night and I might as well start off with what even the director said was his first true movie in his style. After this I'll be reviewing his movies in a non-chronological order. The plot, from the IMDb: “A serial killer known as "The Avenger" is on the loose in London, murdering blonde women. A mysterious man arrives at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting looking for a room to rent. The Bunting's daughter is a blonde model and is seeing one of the detectives assigned to the case. The detective becomes jealous of the lodger and begins to suspect he may be the avenger.”


The silent movies I watched in the past were mostly of the comic variety: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, that sort of thing. A crime drama mystery silent is a new thing for me. Overall, it's different to watch a movie that way but overall I say that this was good with those circumstances. There aren't many title cards (the shots where you get to read what the characters said) and instead you have to use context clues often to figure out what's going on, which is fine.


The story wasn't complex but it was usually interesting. I won't list what the tropes are as they're spoilers but even back in the late 20's you get to see some tropes that you often saw in Hitchcock films, including his love of blondes; it's like Tarantino and feet in how obvious that fetish is. Anyhow, there's also some black humor and visual puns in that a few times it looks like The Lodger is going to kill the blonde daughter but he's actually doing something else. Stuff like that amuses me.



Anyhow, this movie has some great shots and if you enjoy the director then I say this may be worth tracking down. I'll be back tomorrow night.