The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
About The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The Avenger kills blonde women in the London fog, on Tuesdays. A secretive man calling himself Jonathan Drew takes a room with the Buntings, pays a month ahead, and turns the portraits of blonde women to the wall. Their daughter Daisy is drawn to him. Her boyfriend Joe, a policeman on the case, is not. Murders keep happening near the house. Joe searches the room and finds a gun, a map, clippings, and a photograph. Drew is arrested, escapes, and tells Daisy the photograph is his sister, the Avenger's first victim. A mob beats him. A paperboy shouts that the real Avenger has been caught. Drew is cleared and stays with Daisy.
Cast & crew
More about The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
Alfred Hitchcock's third feature, and the earliest of his films to survive intact. Eliot Stannard wrote the screenplay from Marie Belloc Lowndes's 1913 novel and the play Who Is He? Michael Balcon, Carlyle Blackwell, and C. M. Woolf produced. Gaetano di Ventimiglia photographed it. Hal Young is also listed as a cinematographer on Wikidata. Ivor Montagu edited. Filming began on 25 February 1926. It opened in London on 14 February 1927 and in New York on 10 June 1928. Ivor Novello plays the lodger. June Tripp plays Daisy. Marie Ault and Arthur Chesney are the Buntings. Malcolm Keen plays Joe. The BFI restoration of 2012, part of Save the Hitchcock 9, runs 90 minutes. Wikidata times the film at 70 minutes.
Themes
Background
The killer in the film is modeled on the panic around a fog murderer of blonde women. Lowndes's novel had used the Jack the Ripper case.
Making
Shooting started on 25 February 1926, nearly a year before the London opening.
Look
Gaetano di Ventimiglia was the cinematographer. Wikidata also lists Hal Young.
Preservation
The earliest Hitchcock feature to survive intact. The BFI restored it in 2012 in the Save the Hitchcock 9 project.
Notes
- Hitchcock's cameo is in a newspaper office, back to the camera, working a telephone.
- Alma Reville is in the Wikidata cast.
- The lodger is innocent. The photograph is his murdered sister.
- The Internet Archive identifier is TheLodgerAStoryOfTheLondonFog_579.
Scenes
- Drew turns the blonde portraits to the wall as soon as he takes the room.
- Joe finds the gun, the map of the murders, and the photograph.
- A paperboy announces the real Avenger's capture while the mob has Drew on the ground.
Influenced by
- Marie Belloc Lowndes's 1913 novel The Lodger
- the play Who Is He?
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheLodgerAStoryOfTheLondonFog_579)
