Super atmospheric Hitchcock silent film set in London about a young male boarder who may or may not be a serial killer.
The boarder is played by actor Ivor Novello, and the main draw for me in this film -- aside from it being a Hitchcock movie -- is that Ivor Novello is a character in Robert Altman's murder mystery "Gosford Park," and "The Lodger" specifically is mentioned in an exchange between Novello (played by Jeremy Northam) and a snooty dowager played by Maggie Smith. In "Gosford Park," Novello is constantly singing and playing the piano, and it wasn't until I watched "The Lodger" and learned a bit more about Novello that I found out he was more known as a musician than an actor, and that much of the music in "Gosford Park" is his.
So this isn't really a review as much as a lot of trivia, but I don't have a lot to say about this movie anyway. I enjoyed it, and it feels like what it is -- an early film by someone who would eventually grow into one of the masters of the art form.
Grade: B+
The boarder is played by actor Ivor Novello, and the main draw for me in this film -- aside from it being a Hitchcock movie -- is that Ivor Novello is a character in Robert Altman's murder mystery "Gosford Park," and "The Lodger" specifically is mentioned in an exchange between Novello (played by Jeremy Northam) and a snooty dowager played by Maggie Smith. In "Gosford Park," Novello is constantly singing and playing the piano, and it wasn't until I watched "The Lodger" and learned a bit more about Novello that I found out he was more known as a musician than an actor, and that much of the music in "Gosford Park" is his.
So this isn't really a review as much as a lot of trivia, but I don't have a lot to say about this movie anyway. I enjoyed it, and it feels like what it is -- an early film by someone who would eventually grow into one of the masters of the art form.
Grade: B+