The Cool Channel DVD Review: The Lodger Posted by J.D. Dunn on 06.01.2006
Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller still works surprisingly well.
The Lodger (1927)
D:Alfred Hitchcock W:Eliot Stannard, from a novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes Starring:Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June, Malcolm Keen and Ivor Novello. MPAA: NR Runtime: 83m.
The Film:
The first of Alfred Hitchcock's signature thrillers certainly points you in the right direction if you want to analyze "The Master's" career. Many of the themes central to Hitchcockian films are on display here. June plays an unattainable blonde with a yen for the dark side of humanity. Ivor Novello plays a man accused of a crime he didn't commit, trapped between the law and Justice (as a concept).
The story itself is based on the true life case of Jack the Ripper. Of course, that story is far too grisly to show in a 1920's film, and many people involved in that case were still alive around the time of the making of this movie, so names and events have been changed to make it more palatable to commercial audiences. There's no doubt that the Ripper has left his mark on this film, however.
"London is in a frenzy. A feeling of paranoia sweeps the foggy streets. "
The killer at the heart of the film is nicknamed "The Avenger" because he targets morally loose blonde women. Prostitution doesn't exist in fictional London of the 1920s, so many of the women are models or actresses. Like all serial killers, the Avenger follows a pattern — he always kills blondes, and he always kills on Tuesday.
London is in a frenzy. Brown hair dye is flying off the shelves because no woman wants to be a blonde on the streets of Whitechapel (well, one assumes it's Whitechapel). A feeling of paranoia sweeps the foggy streets.
At the same time, the mysterious drifter Jonathon Drew (Novello) inquires about the upstairs room of the Bunting family. He does look and act rather spooky. He's tall, gangly, pale, and his eyes seem to stare off into the distance, not seeing anything in the room. Is he hearing voices? Perhaps voices telling him to kill? Well, this is the kind of speculation he garners when he arrives.
He does pay his rent on time, so the Buntings are happy to take him in, despite the fact that their blonde model daughter Daisy (June) lives with them. After all, she has a big, strapping detective suitor Joe (Keen) to look after her. Unfortunately for Drew, he and Daisy develop a sort of platonic mutual attraction that enrages jealous Joe. The perfect storm of Joe's jealousy and Jonathon's bizarre behavior make him an easy scapegoat for the Avenger's murders.
The climax of the film sees a handcuffed Jonathon trying to escape an angry mob of Londoners hellbent on bringing him to justice the old-fashioned way. Novello hanging from a wrought-iron railing while the mob forms around him is one of the more famous images from early Hitchcock.
Origins and Visualizations
"The Lodger" is the first film to give Hitchcock that Expressionist palette that he needed to convey horror for the first time. When looking at Hitchcock's films, one must remember his two most important influences — Victorian Era stageplays and German Expressionism. In the very foundations of filmmaking, each country's cinema reflected their own artistic culture. The Italians (famous for their painting and sculpture) crafted beautiful visuals. The French focused on the beautiful and poetic storytelling. The English used film to record existing plays. The Germans reflected their inner psyche (remember where Freud and Jung come from). And, of course, the Americans used it to make money.
Hitchcock became enamored with the idea of German Expressionism. He was a gifted artist before he even got behind a camera, so much so that he served as a title card writer early in his career. Expressionism — the concept of expressing an emotion through the visual image — was all the rage in Hitchcock's youth. The idea of projecting sick, twisted thoughts onto the screen appealed greatly to him, and it's something he kept with him throughout his career.
But one can't discount the influence of stage performance either. Although the subtlety of Hitchcock's actors runs counter to the grandiose movements needed for the stage, there is no doubt that the use of an actor's face in close up is one of Hitchcock's primary tacks for telling an emotional story. The combination of these two influences is a primary factor in Hitch's success.
"Hitchcock became enamored with the idea of German Expressionism — the concept of expressing an emotion through the visual image. "
Take, for example, the first appearance of Jonathon Drew. He approaches the small house in the dark of night, shrouded when there is a problem with the gaslight outside. By a trick of circumstance, Mrs. Bunting opens the door just as the gas is fixed. The effect is that of an ethereal light flaring up behind Drew just as she first sees him.
The second, and more famous, visual trick is the use of the glass floor to film Drew as he paces back and forth in the room above. After he arrives, the family begins to speculate on his purpose of visit. Mr. and Mrs. Bunting look suspiciously up at the ceiling as Drew's pacing causes the chandelier to swing back and forth slightly. The ceiling dissolves, and we see Drew walking back and forth overhead. Obviously, this is not something that really happens within the story, rather it's another example of Hitchcock taking us inside the minds of the characters for an Expressionistic view.
Finally, there is the aforementioned handcuff shot. In a story that may be apocryphal but usually gets tossed around in discussions of Hitchcock, he was caught stealing from a local store, and his father, in order to teach him a lesson, sent him with a note to the local police station. The desk officer read it and led Hitch to a jail cell where he was kept until his father arrived to collect him. Whether it's a true story or just an irrational fear on Hitchcock's part, it certainly influenced his entire career.
In this instance, Drew is hung up on the railing in a helpless, almost-religious pose as the angry mob approaches. One can't help but feel his vulnerability as he desperately searches for someone to release him.
Social Issues & McGuffins
A hint of social consciousness always serves as a subtext to Hitchcock's finest films. Here, we see a rather grim view of the sexualization of young women, an aspect that Hitchcock would come back to time and time again. Always a bit socially awkward, Hitchcock found himself both allured and frightened by this newfound sexual freedom that began to develop in the 1920s.
The character of the Avenger, who is never actually seen in full, could be read as some sort of passive-aggressive indictment of these social changes, but I think that would be reading too far into things. In reality, the Avenger is just one in a long line of McGuffins. He doesn't add anything to the story other than a reason for the Buntings to suspect Drew of killing those women.
And while I'm at it, I suppose I should explain the term "McGuffin" for the uninitiated. The term comes from an old joke about two businessmen who were riding a train across the U.K.. One of them had a peculiar-looking box, prompting the other one to ask what was in it. "It's a McGuffin," the man replied. "What's a McGuffin?" the other asked. "It's a device for capturing tigers in the Scottish Highlands." After a pause, the first man noted, "But there are no tigers in the Scottish Highlands," to which the other man responded, "Then it's not a McGuffin."
The idea is that it's a completely unimportant piece of information given to distract the audience while the filmmaker focuses on the really important things like style and storytelling. Is it important to the characters in "The Lodger" that they arrest the Avenger? Of course. Is his identity important to the audience? Not in this story. We just want to make sure Jonathon Drew is okay. The Avenger is a McGuffin, and a fine one at that.
Video
Unfortunately, "The Lodger" is one of those foreign films that slipped into the public domain in America, and thus, hasn't been given a proper restoration. Most of the prints, including this reviewed copy from Laserlight, are grainy, dark and out of focus. With a recent revamp of copyright laws, it looks like "The Lodger" may be restored soon, so let's keep our fingers crossed. (Please note that the final rating at the bottom of the review reflects the problems with existing prints.)
The 411: As Alfred Hitchcock's first signature thriller, "The Lodger" stands as an important jumping off point in analyzing the themes and styles that would resurface throughout his illustrious career. While it's certainly dated and not all of Hitchcock's experimentations work in the context of the film, it definitely has merit as one of the great thrillers of the silent era. Any serious film fan should pick it up for the historical significance alone. B
