O Rei dos Vampiros

I'm not too sure that with London regularly steeped in dense fog and with a murderer lurking the streets at night, I'd be looking to be renting out my spare room, but luckily for musician "Angeloff" (Ivor Novello) he not only finds bed and board with the kindly "Bunting" family but gets an added bonus in that he is soon also courting the daughter of the house, "Daisy" (Elizabeth Allan). Is he all he seems? Well the police are less than convinced as some of his nocturnal activities out-of-doors leave him open to suspicion. Now, what undoubtedly compromises this is the fact that the audience is in on the secret a bit too early in the proceedings and that it does take rather a while to get itself up and running. Once it is, though, the contributions from a lively Barbara Everest and A. W. Baskcomb as his hosts; the possibly a little too flighty Allan and the engaging Novello - who does manage to squeeze in a tune to remind us that it isn't so very long since this would have been a silent movie, all build well enough to it's dimly-lit denouement. Keep an eye out for Jack Hawkins and if you try not to compare it to other (earlier) versions, then I think it's quite a watchable outing for a charismatic star.

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...

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.

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.

This film, known in the US as 'The Phantom Fiend' and seemingly only surviving in appalling prints with muddy soundtrack, was the first sound remake of Hitchcock's wonderfully atmospheric silent classic, 'The Lodger'.

As in the earlier film, British composer and matinée idol Ivor Novello plays the mysterious lodger of the title, this time affecting a bizarre European accent and managing to be even more creepy than in the silent version. His acting though was far too mannered for the sound screen, even if we do get to hear his piano playing in this film!

In support, Elizabeth Allen and a very young Jack Hawkins are not at all bad, although the story is extremely familiar and you could take a fair attempt at guessing the ending. Maurice Elvey's direction is rather pedestrian but the principals are photographed well and the tension is kept up well over the short running time.

Not a substitute for the silent version (or the superior sound version with Laird Cregar) but an interesting curio.