The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Marie Belloc Lowndes (from the novel by)
Eliot Stannard (scenario)
(more)

Release Date:

14 February 1927 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A landlady suspects her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.

Plot Keywords:

Lodger | Detective | Suspect | Serial Killer | Killer

Cast

Marie Ault	...	Mrs. Bunting - The Landlady
Arthur Chesney	...	Mr. Bunting - Her Husband
June	...	Daisy Bunting - Their Daughter
Malcolm Keen	...	Joe - a Police Detective
Ivor Novello	...	The Lodger
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Reginald Gardiner	...	Dancer at Ball (uncredited)
Eve Gray	...	Showgirl Victim (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Extra in Newspaper Office (uncredited)
Alma Reville	...	Woman Listening to Wireless (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock

Writing credits
Marie Belloc Lowndes		(from the novel by) (as Mrs. Belloc Lowndes)
Eliot Stannard		(scenario)
Alfred Hitchcock		uncredited
Marie Belloc Lowndes		play "Who Is He?" (uncredited)

Produced by
Michael Balcon	....	producer (uncredited)
Carlyle Blackwell	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Ashley Irwin		(1999)

Cinematography by
Gaetano di Ventimiglia		(photography) (as Baron Ventimiglia)
Hal Young		(photography) (uncredited)

Film Editing by
Ivor Montagu		(editing)

Art Direction by
C. Wilfred Arnold		(as C. Wilfrid Arnold)
Bertram Evans

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alma Reville	....	assistant director

Music Department
Malcolm Luker	....	scoring mixer: 1999 score
Richard Bronskill	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Michael Balcon	....	presents
Carlyle Blackwell	....	presents
E. McKnight Kauffer	....	title designs
Ivor Montagu	....	titling
C.M. Woolf	....	presents: in association with

Production Companies

• Gainsborough Pictures (produced by)
• Carlyle Blackwell Productions (as Piccadilly Pictures Ltd.) (controlled throughout the world by)

Distributors

• Woolf & Freedman Film Service (1927) (UK) (theatrical) (United Kingdom rights) (as W. & F. Film Service Ltd.)
• AmerAnglo (1928) (USA) (theatrical) (states rights system)
• Artlee Pictures (1928) (USA) (theatrical) (states rights system)
• Burbank Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Divisa Ediciones (1995) (Spain) (VHS)
• Video Yesteryear (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Laserlight Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Delta Expedition (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Whirlwind Media (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Navarre Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Rhino Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• BCI Eclipse (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Brentwood Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Laserlight Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Castle Communications (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2008) (Canada) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Network (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• Nostalgia Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The (????) (USA) (TV)
• Video Image (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"The Case of Jonathan Drew" -
"The Lodger" - Australia (TV title)
"El inquilino" - Argentina, Mexico (imdb display title), Venezuela
"A titokzatos lakó" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"De geheimzinnige gast" - Netherlands (alternative title)
"Der Mieter" - Germany
"Der Mieter - Eine Geschichte aus dem Londoner Nebel" - Germany
"Der Schrecken von London" - Austria
"El enemigo de las rubias" - Spain
"Il pensionante" - Italy
"L'inquilino" - Italy
"Les cheveux d'or" - France
"Lokator" - Poland
"Lokator: Opowiesc o londynskiej mgle" - Poland (DVD title)
"London-mysteriet" - Denmark
"O Hóspede" - Portugal
"O enoikiastis" - Greece (festival title)
"Vuokralainen" - Finland (imdb display title)

Runtime:

74 min (National Film Archive print) | USA:90 min (TCM print) | Spain:67 min (VHS version) | Canada:98 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Spain:13 | Spain:T | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:15 (2007) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 (1995) | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Islington, London, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Trivia:

For the opening of the film, Alfred Hitchcock wanted to show the Avenger's murder victim being dragged out of the Thames River at night with the Charing Cross Bridge in the background. But Scotland Yard refused his request to film at the bridge. Hitchcock repeated his request several times, until Scotland Yard notified him that they would "look the other way" if he could do the filming in one night. Hitchcock quickly sent his cameras and actors out to Charing Cross Bridge to film the scene. But when the rushes came back from the developers, the scene at the bridge was nowhere to be found. Hitchcock and his assistants searched through the prints, but could not find it. Finally, Hitchcock discovered that his cameraman had forgotten to put the lens on the camera before filming the night scene.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the lodger is playing a game of chess with Daisy (about 26 minutes into the movie), the chessboard is set up incorrectly. A game of chess is always played with a black square on the far-left and a white square on the far-right of the board as they face it; on this occasion the board is the wrong way around and should be rotated 90 degrees in either direction for it to be correct.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Female eyewitness:Tall he was - and his face all wrapped up.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paul Merton Looks at Alfred Hitchcock (2009) (TV)

A compelling whodunit

A stranger (Ivor Novello) in fog-bound London seeks accommodation from a family and they provide him with a small apartment upstairs. Their blond daughter is drawn towards this fascinating and somewhat mysterious gentleman. Her parents become suspicious of the intentions of the lodger and they live in fear of her safety. There is a serial killer abroad in the foggy streets and who knows? this stranger could be that maniac.

It is interesting to view an early Hitchcock film as far back as the silent era. I am surprised at the quality (despite a few scratches here and there). The addition of music is rather overdone in my opinion but it does fill in the empty silence and does add a dramatic effect. No doubt in the early days a capable pianist (below the screen) bashed out some impromptu music to fit the mood of each scene.

It is an uncomplicated story but that does not mean the guilty person is easily recognized (if at all!) Hitchcock likes to tease with a lodger who has shifty eyes, who paces the floor (what an original idea to photograph through a transparent floor), who has the wall pictures removed and who creeps out silently at night.

I feel that the atmosphere created is exceptional. Certainly a bit theatrical with exaggerated eye expressions but compelling nevertheless.

When you see a film of this vintage you realise how much film production had already advanced in the 20's and without the aid of all our recent technological contrivances.