The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, a review by Dragonfire
THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG
In this "hallmark" (Los Angeles Times) silent nail-biter, a rash of murders evokes a family's suspicions about their tenant, a man fascinated with their beautiful daughter.
Restored and Remastered! Includes Audio Commentary, Audio Interviews with Peter Bogdanovich and Francois Truffaut, Making-Of Featurette and More!
My ThoughtsI ended up enjoying this one even though I'm still not overly fond of silent movies. Hitchcock also didn't use many of the title things throughout the movie, so you have relie on just on the visuals. Most of the time that ends up working fine with this one, though with a few scenes earlier in the movie I was left wondering why a scene or two was included.
The movie starts off showing the discovery of a victim. She was the seventh victim. Blonde women in London are scared with some of them seeming to plan to change their hair color. A young woman, Daisy, works in some sort of musical. she lives with her older parents. Soon after she arrives home that night, a man arrives wanting to rent the room her parents have available. The Lodger, never identified by a name, acts mysterious, seeming to sneak around, flipping out over things that happen in the house. He also becomes attracted to Daisy and she is returning the feelings even though she had been somewhat involved with an older police officer, Joe, who didn't like the Lodger on sight.
I thought the plot was very interesting even though I'm still not sure why a few things were done. There is a good amount of suspense in the movie and mystery in the movie. The cast all handled their roles well and were very expressive, something absolutely essential in a silent movie. There are some very good, interesting visuals in the movie, like when Hitchcock filmed up through plate glass to show someone pacing upstaris. This is a black and white movie that didn't really seem to be in black and white to me. Just about every scene had a blue or sort of golden hue to them. The scenes set indoors have the golden hue and the ones outside have the bluish cast to them. One scene late in the movie had a pinkish/purplish cast to it. All the color hues was a bit odd to me since I'm use to black and white movies that are truly black and white. One sequence, set in the house late at night, was in what I consider true black and white, but that didn't last long at all.
I think the picture quality is good, especially considering the age of the movie. I think some restoration had been done on it for this DVD release. I still have to watch more of the extras. I did watch the one on the making of the movie which was interesting. A lot of people who have written books about Hitchcock talked about the movie and how it was one of the first he directed - I think it was the third. Hitchcock's granddaughter talked a little bit as well. I've seen his daughter in several extras, but never his granddaughter before. Peter Bergdaovich - no clue how to spell his name at the moment - talked a lot about the movie and Hitchcock too. Some clips from interviews that Bergdaovich did with Hitchcock in 1962.
This is a good movie overall, though I know it won't appeal to a lot of people because it is silent. It's still worth seeing. I've heard it described as the first true Hitchcock movie since it was the first suspense type of movie he did.
Oh..by the way, I did watch Easy Virtue already..back in March I think..
I didn't write as much about it because it wasn't as interesting to me. Anyway, I rated that one
(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on May 4th, 2009)
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May 17, 2024, 10:33:08 PM
