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

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.4/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Escritores:

Marie Belloc Lowndes (novel)
Eliot Stannard (scenario)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

14 febrero 1927 (UK)

Género:

Crimen | Horror | Suspenso

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Detective | London | Suspect | Serial Killer | Ends With Kiss

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Important Historically & Very Good In Its Own Right

Reparto

Marie Ault	...	The landlady
Arthur Chesney	...	Her husband
June	...	Daisy - a mannequin
Malcolm Keen	...	Joe - a police detective
Ivor Novello	...	The Lodger

También conocida como:

The Case of Jonathan Drew
El inquilino (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
El enemigo de las rubias (Spain) [es]

Duración:

75 min | USA:83 min | USA:101 min (TCM print) | Spain:67 min (VHS version) | Canada:98 min (Ontario)

País:

UK

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.33 : 1

Sonido:

Silent

Clasificación:

Spain:13 | Spain:T | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:15 (2007) | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Locaciones de Filmación:

Islington, London, England, UK

Compañía:

Carlyle Blackwell Productions

Trivialidades:

The movie is based on the book of the same name. It was the first book to offer a solution to the Jack The Ripper killings. The book is supposedly based on an anecdote told to the painter Walter Sickert by the landlady when renting a room; she said that the previous tenant had been Jack the Ripper.

Errores:

Continuidad: In one of the heralded shots of the film, Daisy and her parents look at the ceiling to see the chandelier shaking. We then see "through" the ceiling to a shot of the Lodger's feet pacing back and forth. This was a unique way to imply the sound of footsteps in a silent film. However, looking at the layout of the house, the room the family is in is NOT beneath the room in which the Lodger is pacing.

Citas:

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

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Important Historically & Very Good In Its Own Right

Usually remembered as Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller, "The Lodger" is also a very good film in its own right. Although the acting is somewhat dated, and although there is not a really appropriate musical score that has survived, it has the carefully crafted plot and suspense that Hitchcock would become famous for.

The opening sequence uses the director's creative touches in setting the mood of a city terrorized by a mysterious killer, "The Avenger", who is targeting light-haired women. Then we meet the actual characters: an older couple and their daughter Daisy, and Daisy's policeman boyfriend. When a mysterious lodger appears and rents the family's extra room, his strange behavior begins to make them suspect that he might be the mad killer, even as he builds a close friendship with Daisy. As the story proceeds, tension and fear continue to build until an ending that is exciting, if somewhat melodramatic.

Hitchcock shows his mastery of silent film technique in using a wide variety of camera techniques and props to communicate the emotions of the characters. The acting is mostly good, although Ivor Novello as "the lodger" overplays his role rather noticeably. This is the kind of movie that could really benefit from a good musical soundtrack, and the fact that it is exciting to watch even without an appropriate score shows the quality of Hitchcock's craftsmanship.

Anyone who enjoys Hitchcock or silent films will definitely want to see "The Lodger".