The Lodger

Based on the original silent version of THE LODGER, Director Maurice Elvey's THE PHANTOM FIEND is a classic in its own right.

Angeloff (Ivor Novello) moves into a London boarding house just as a murdering maniac gets busy with his grisly work. Angeloff is immediately under suspicion due to his odd behavior and "peculiar" way of speaking. His deepening relationship with a young woman named Daisy (Elizabeth Allan) is the emotional heart of the film.

The fear of strangers / others is explored. Novello plays his eccentric role very convincingly, mixing a controlled menace with a subtle vulnerability.

Elvey uses various lighting and camera techniques to give the sense of growing paranoia.

A wonderful movie that's more than just another thriller...

Lodger, The (1932)

** (out of 4)

The first remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1927 film of the same title. A serial killer is running through London at the same time as a strange young man (Ivor Novello) shows up at a boarding house. Even though this thing runs a small 60+ minutes it feels like three hours because the pacing is so incredibly slow and boring. The acting is among the worst I've ever seen and the performance by Novello is incredibly bad. I could help but laugh at his acting, which is so bad it almost seems like he's spoofing the film.

This was actually the shorter (67 mins. as opposed to the full-length 85) version released in the U.S. under the title THE PHANTOM FIEND. While it pales in comparison with Hitchcock's seminal original – a rare expressionist film to emerge from Britain – especially since this has the tendency typical of early Talkies to emphasize dialogue (which is so muffled as to be unintelligible most of the time anyway, a deficiency which unfortunately seems to plague most British films I've seen from this era) at the expense of technique. As a matter of fact, the latter is only apparent during the atmospheric, fog-laden climax in which leading lady Elizabeth Allen mistakes the real Ripper-type murderer for the young man who lodges with her family (Ivor Novello, who reprises his role from the Hitchcock classic!).

Despite its basic purposelessness (though I would guess that a remake was commissioned, so soon after the Silent version, not so much to have a Talkie of the intriguing story – based on a popular novel – but more in response to the American horror boom of the early 30s), the plot is compelling enough to keep one watching…and predictable enough to be followed, so that it could have dispensed with dialogue altogether. The film features an impossibly young Jack Hawkins in one of his earliest roles as a fast-talking reporter (!) and Allen's fiancé, whose jealousy of Novello leads to the latter being targeted as prime suspect of the killings (also because his background, and wardrobe, is strikingly similar to that of the murderer)!

As I said earlier, perhaps the film's best sequence – at least with respect to direction – is its denouement; however, the changes done to the ending from the Hitchcock original are unconvincing and unsatisfying (especially since the romantic triangle at the centre of the plot isn't resolved…though this may very well have been trimmed for the American version, hence its abruptness.

This is the 'soundie' remake of Hitchcock's first thriller "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog", again with Ivor Novello in the title role - but without Hitchcock as director...

The story is pretty much the same as in the original: a strange lodger comes to Mr. and Mrs. Bunting's house, and their daughter Daisy is soon feeling very much attracted to him - but then the suspicion falls on him that he might be the mad killer who calls himself the 'Avenger' and goes around cutting young girls' throats... Only the twist ending takes a slightly different turn this time - but see for yourself!

Of course, this film can't reach the class of Hitchcock's masterpiece; but seen for itself, it's still a very neat and scary classic whodunit - especially the nightly London fog scenes are extremely suspenseful. Ivor Novello's performance may look a little like he's still stuck in the silent film days - but then it's the role he played before, and maybe he wanted to recreate it just as it was. While beautiful Elizabeth Allen (who would also become the heroine in another scary movie, "Mark of the Vampire", two years later) is really excellent as sweet, trusting Daisy; and there are some typical British 'characters' - and a PRETTY unpleasant reporter (he sure wouldn't have been depicted in a Hollywood movie this way; reporters usually were, especially in that era, heroes!) who's also in love with Daisy...

If you haven't seen Hitch's original - or if you can accept the fact that most average directors just haven't got the GENIUS Hitchcock had - this film will be quite entertaining, and somehow nostalgic in a... well, British way...

I saw the short US version (Phantom Fiend) of the sound remake of Hitchcock's the Lodger which was based on a novel based on the Jack the Ripper murders.

Ivor Novello (the real life counter part to Jeremy Northam's character in Robert Altman's Gosford Park) stars as the strange man who has rented a room from a nice family in London. The times are dangerous as some one called the Avenger is killing young women. Things begin to get dicey as the family begins to suspect that they may in fact be harboring a killer.

This is strange film due to the odd performances of some of the actors (Novello included) who seem to still think they are in silent films. The sound is uneven with some exchanges lost in "mud" due to poor sound recording. It makes it a bit tough to get through. Not helping matters is the fact that the story has been told and retold numerous times, so odds are you'll have some idea of whats going on. Its not a bad tale just one that I find overly familiar.

Its an okay film, thats of interest more for the odd early sound touches and casting than anything in the story.