Movie Review: The Lodger (1927)

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Young blonde women are being murdered on the streets of London! On his victims' clothes, the killer pins a scrap of paper with "The Avenger" written inside a triangle. He was sighted fleeing his latest murder and the distraught elderly witness identified him as tall, well dressed, with a scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face.

Young blonde Daisy (June Tripp) works as a model in a store and lives with her parents. She's dating a cop named Joe (Malcolm Keen) who is excited to be assigned to the murder case. Once he puts a noose around the culprit, he'll put a ring on Daisy's finger. The parents are happy about that. 

The family has a room to let. One foggy night, a gentleman (Ivor Novello) comes to rent the room. He's tall and mysterious and handsome. And he has a scarf around the lower part of his face! When he gets to the room, he asks the parents to remove all the paintings of young blonde women that are on the walls. His mysterious valise is locked away in a desk. He starts wooing Daisy. He paces the floor anxiously and often goes out at night on mysterious errands.

With this set up, Hitchcock is in his usual form. All the circumstantial evidence points to the lodger as the culprit. He's distracted and prickly. The cop doesn't like him because the lodger and Daisy are getting along very well. Daisy grows in affection for the new guy, causing tension. The story drama is enhanced by the visual flare typical of Hitchcock. At one point, viewers see the lodger pacing through a glass ceiling. The family just see their plain chandelier moving about as the lodger walks around. Even after the "is he or isn't he the killer" issue is resolved, Hitchcock gets more drama and tension out of the story.

For a silent film, it is very engaging. I watched the Criterion Collection DVD which is from a restoration by the BFI. A lot of the visual flourishes seem like they'd be from later work, but filmmakers were consummate artists even in the silent era. The score goes well with the movie, imitating the famous Bernard Herrmann compositions for later classic films like North by Northwest and Vertigo.

Highly recommended--this is a hidden Hitchcock gem, probably because it is a silent film.

Also, this will be discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast, which is having a whole month of silent films!