Sight and Sound (1999) - The Lodger
Details
- review: The Lodger
- author(s): Danny Leigh & Geoffrey Macnab
- journal: Sight and Sound (01/Dec/1999)
- issue: volume 9, issue 12, page 65
- journal ISSN: 0037-4806
- publisher: British Film Institute
- keywords: Video recordings, Alfred Hitchcock, The Lodger (1927)
Links
Abstract
"The Lodger" is reviewed.
Article
The Lodger
Alfred Hitchcock; UK 1926; BFI; £15.99; B/W; Certificate PG
Adapted from a novel by Marie Belloc-Lowndes, Hitchcock's third completed feature is a contemporary variation on the Jack the Ripper story. A mass murderer with a penchant for blond-haired chorus girls is on the prowl on the streets of London. As the hunt for him intensifies, a mysterious stranger (Ivor Novello) turns up at the Buntings' house, looking for lodgings.
Baron Ventimiglia's camerawork accentuates shadows. Crucifix-like bars of light are seen to flicker across the lodger's face. Hitchcock's trick is to make a moody expressionist film in a specifically English context. The backstage badinage and colourful street scenes add a comic counterpoint to what might otherwise have seemed a grim, self-conscious study of a murderer. (MFB No. 510)