Les cheveux d'or

A story loosely based on Jack the Ripper. In London a killer called the Avenger goes around killing blond-haired girls. Around this time Mr. and Mrs. Bunting take in a lodger (Ivor Novello). He's quiet but very odd. He takes a liking to their blond-haired daughter Daisy (June Tripp). But then the Buntings begin to suspect that he may be the Avenger and want Daisy as his next victim...

Hitchcock's first thriller and a very good one. Very few title cards are used--he uses images to carry the film. Sometimes it works but, more than once, I was confused. It was one of his first films though so this can be forgiven. It also moves a bit too slow. But it's still worth seeing.

You can see the beginnings of his later work peeking through and there are some sequences so well directed that they're stunning (the one where Novello and Tripp kiss is just SO beautiful). Also the acting is actually quite good by everybody--especially Novello. He was a box office draw in the 1920s and it's easy to see why. The man is not only a good actor he was undeniably beautiful. It's easy to see why he was once called one of the most beautiful men alive.

Novello was gay--I wonder if Hitch knew that. There are two lines in this film where people talk about his character--"Good thing he doesn't like girls" and "Even if he is a bit queer". These lines are quite interesting now--I wonder if they were put in on purpose or just happened to be written without anyone knowing. Interesting to think about...

... a thriller based on the book by Marie Belloc Lowndes. A mysterious killer known as "the Avenger" is terrorizing the streets of London. He targets women with blonde, curly hair, and the police are at a loss to stop him. Meanwhile, a sketchy new lodger (Ivor Novello) takes up residence in the rooming house of a landlady (Marie Ault) and her husband (Arthur Chesney). The landlady becomes convinced that the lodger is really the Avenger, which proves problematic as the lodger has caught the attention of the landlady's daughter, Daisy (June Tripp). Also featuring Malcolm Keen as Daisy's policeman boyfriend.

Inspired by the Jack the Ripper case, this was Hitchcock's first suspense picture, and was an immediate success, with one critic at the time even calling this the "best British film ever made". This is my second time watching it, and the first time watching the beautiful BFI restoration. The quality of the print is outstanding, and the commissioned score is excellent. Hitchcock uses a number of visually impressive double exposure shots, and I also liked the stylized intertitles. I still find the movie a tad too long, and Novello, who looks striking, is a silent-era-style ham, but it's still worth checking out for silent film fans. Arthur Chesney, playing the landlord, was the lookalike younger brother of Edmund Gwenn, and the former husband of Estelle Winwood.

it is a real special film. first - for the status of early Hitchcock. the second - for Ivor Novello performance who seems be more than a good one but the right piece for the balance of film. the story is predictable and this fact did it charming. because old themes are mixed with smart images. because the romanticism and the touching scenes reminds the popular literature of XIX century. because it is fresh and naive and seductive and dark. and because it is a fascinating clue for discover the art of its director in new and interesting perspective.

This movie is fantastic and fascinating mostly because of its director, but it would be fun either way. I'd say that it's better than many films of the same period, but not to the same extreme degree that Hitchcock's movies eventually achieved.

You can see it's his work, though. Hitchcock knew that what made a suspenseful movie good had nothing to do with gore or loud noises, and this shows even in his early work. The Lodger has a distinctly Hitchcock feel to it--fun and scary--and it's interesting to see how he gets around the lack of sound, considering the fact that most (all?) of his other films were talkies.

The Lodger (1927)

This is the first of three movies in a 30 year period based on the same plot, and in terms of plot this is the best of them. (There is also a recent one that is the worst of the bunch.) It is, for sure, an early Alfred Hitchcock film. It's early in the sense that it's still creaky at times. It's Hitchcock because it's tightly made, visually dramatic, and it combines sympathy and suspense really well.

If you are into what makes Hitchcock tick, you really have to see this movie. Not that you should mind--it's great stuff. First of all you get the presumably innocent man accused of a string of murders (this is ambiguous). Then you have the mixing of sex and murder (or lust and murder--there is no sex here). And then you have the way Hitchcock mixes every day regular people and very safe and homey situations with genuine terrible murderous events. And finally there is his filming and editing.

Take a look even at the very first shot--a close up a screaming woman shot at an angle (a "Dutch angle"). Look next at how dark and impressionistic the next shots are of a horrified crowd, a cop, and a reporter. Later there are other interesting cuts to lead you to thinking a certain way about the characters. And the overlapping of images. And the shot of a man walking overhead on glass, as if you can see through the ceiling.

The humor and clever conversation of later versions of this story are naturally lost on us here. Also in good Hitch fashion there are few intertitle cards. Good thing. The visuals tell the story. And wait until the final scenes, the Pieta all over again, really gorgeous. Some of these last shots were redone at the request of the studio to change the impressions of the main character, a handsome man with an acting reputation to protect. Hitchcock went along, and it seems to be acceptable all around by the time it was released.

It's hard to find a decent "print" of this (a version from a good copy of the film, on DVD or streaming), but it has recently been restored and re-scored (orchestrated) and that's for sure the one to get. It is so far only a U.K. release, apparently even a blu-ray version is out (look for the red and black Constructivist cover). Criterion has not released a version. The original release has different scenes tinted blue or amber for greater effect and the usual version on Hitchcock DVDs and DVD sets in the U.S. is all black and white.

So, if you don't like silent films and can't stand choppy or grainy or badly cropped releases of early films, don't see this. But if you can find the clean new restoration, or you just love Hitchcock, or if you really like silent films (they get more and more amazing the more you see), then see this! It's the director's first really characteristic feature.