Watch The Lodger For Free

Admirable film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Once again, we have the streets of London taken over by Jack the Ripper (at least his ilk). Women are being murdered on dark foggy nights as the return to their homes or wander the streets. Some are prostitutes; some are just careless citizens. Anyway, the city is on edge and no one dares look past any stranger. Of course, that is assuming the person is a stranger. That said, a man takes a room in a house. His comings and goings are suspicious to the landlords, but they are also in need of the rent. Times aren't the best. The whole plot evolves around the murder of the women and how the man in the house is connected to their whereabouts. This is a very intense, well made film with great suspense.

Everybody in this world loves enigmas… The best example to prove this remains the unsolved mystery surrounding the Jack the Ripper murders in London at the end of the 19th century. For more than 125 years now, Jack the Ripper has been the source of inspiration for numerous of films, TV-shows, documentaries and novels. Whether based on facts or purely fictionalized, the notorious serial killer continuously remained a relevant and popular horror/thriller protagonist. In 1913, Marie Belloc-Lowndes wrote her novel "The Lodger" and even though her story was mainly pure fiction, the book nevertheless became one of the most prominent Jack the Ripper sagas and got adapted into at least five film scenarios already. In 1927 the book formed the inspiration for none other than Alfred Hitchcock's first steps in the cinema industry with "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog", and in 1953 the booked help launching Jack Palance's film career with "Man in the Attic". The personal favorite version of yours truly, however, is the stunningly atmospheric and compelling 1944 version directed by the German immigrant director John Brahm and starring the charismatic Laird Cregar as the suspicious and overly introvert lodger Mr. Slade who may or may not be maniac responsible for the gruesome Ripper murders in Whitechapel. Almost every aspect about "The Lodger" is impeccable and everyone's contribution is equally important. Belloc-Lowndes' source novel narrates the story from a different and fascinating angle. While the entire city of London lives in fear because of the gruesome murders of actresses and/or showgirls, Robert and Ellen Bonting receive a new lodger for their extra room and attic in the shape of the courteous but somewhat distant Mr. Slade. He warns them that he often has to go out during the night and that he uses the attic to conduct medical experiments, but the elderly couple still attempts to connect with him. When Mr. Slade meets their lovely niece Kitty, he increasingly grows fond of her even though she's a stage actress … And Mr. Slade firmly believes that all stage actresses are putrid and on a mission to disrupt the lives of noble gentlemen! As stated above, everyone in this production contributed to the success of the film! Director John Brahm is of German descent, and thus he clearly brought the beautiful influences of silent expressionist masterpieces with him. Cinematographer Lucien Ballard stuffs the film with countless of grandiose camera angles and manages to make the fogbound city look even more menacing than she already is. The supportive cast includes a handful of fantastic names and they each deliver great performances, like George Sanders ("The Picture of Dorian Gray") as the intelligent constable, Merle Oberon ("Wuthering Heights") as the naive but beautiful and sweet object of obsession and Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the ranting newspaper-addicted estate owner. However, they all remain in the shadow – pun intended – of Laird Cregar who depicts his character so good that it's nearly indescribable! Mr. Slade is menacing and simultaneously pitiable, sophisticated as well as primitive and generally speaking just overwhelming to observe! According to news articles that I've read, Cregar struggled with many complexes, regarding his appearance as well as his homosexuality, and the disunity of his own persona definitely reflects here on screen. He wanted to avoid further typecasting and thus went on an extreme and unsupervised diet which cost him his life at the tragically young age of 28. "The Lodger" and another magnificent collaboration with John Brahm called "Hangover Square" were the final achievements of an actor that easily could have become legendary if only he had lived a little bit longer… And, last but not least, another powerful contributor to the success of "The Lodger" is definitely its time of release! The aforementioned Hitchcock adaptation perhaps came too soon and "Man in the Attic" perhaps came too late, but this version got released during a footnote revolution in the horror movie industry. In the 1930s, Universal dominated the horror business with their grotesque monsters like mummies, werewolves, vampires and Frankenstein creatures. In the early 1940s, on the other hand, producer Val Lewton and RKO Pictures started making eerie and atmospheric horror movies that gave human faces to the monsters. Suddenly evil didn't have fangs or fur anymore, but instead it had penetrating dark eyes and wore stylish suits. Cregar's Mr. Slade perfectly belongs in this horror evolution and easily ranks as one of the most memorable creeps of the decade. Admittedly "The Lodger" also has a few defaults. Mr. Slade often behaves a bit too suspiciously and nervous even though Jack the Ripper is supposed to be cold-blooded and professional, while the naivety of Kitty and the ignorance of Robert Bonting are exaggeratedly implausible. Still, it's a tremendously brilliant film from start to finish, with a breathtaking finale to boot!

This is a great thriller that not enough people have heard of, let alone seen, which is a shame, because it is perhaps the most archetypal black and white Jack-the-Ripper film. The plot is simple but effective - during the Jack-the-Ripper scare, a strange gentleman with a mysterious past rents a room in a London boarding house, to the growing suspicion of the other residents.This mid forties version of the novel "The Lodger" is the best movie version ever made - which is high praise when you consider that it's been adapted to the screen almost every decade from the silent era to today (a version was just released in 2009 the year of this review), including one by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock himself. Not to mention it's influence on police procedurals (there's a scene at Scotland Yard's Black Museum) and later Ripper films such as "From Hell".But what makes this version special is that it features strong performances by Laird Cregar as the creepy Mr. Slade, and Merle Oberon as a can-can dancer who comes and goes through the East End at night, just the sort of girl who might fall prey to someone like The Ripper.Furthermore, this film came out when the film noir style was in full swing, and cinematographers were experimenting with new camera angles and especially the use of low key lighting. Whether or not it can be classified as a bona fide noir or not, it certain shows noir influences, with figures frequently silhouetted in the London fog, and a distinct similarity to the "menaced woman" noir sub-genre typified by films such as "Sorry, Wrong Number".

Victorian London, Whitechapple, and some maniac is slaughtering women with stage backgrounds. Could it be, that the mysterious Mr. Slade who has rented the upstairs rooms from Mrs Burton, is the man known as Jack the Ripper? This part of London is cloaked in fog, the cobbled streets damp and bearing witness to unspeakable crimes, the gas lights dimly flicker as the British Bobby searches in vain for Bloody Jack.The scene is set for what is to me the finest adaptation to deal with the notorious murderer, Jack the Ripper. A remake of the Alfred Hitchcock silent from 1927, this adaptation of the Marie Belloc Lowndes novel not only looks great (Lucien Ballard's photography creating fluid eeriness and film noir fatalism) but also chills the blood without ever actually spilling any. It's a testament to John Brahm's direction that the film constantly feels like a coiled spring waiting to explode, a spring that is realised in the form of Laird Cregar's incredibly unnerving portrayal of Mr Slade.Laird Cregar, as evidenced here, was a fine actor in the making. Sadly troubled by his weight and yearning to become a true matinée idol, he crashed dieted to such a degree his poor 28 year old heart couldn't cope with the shock. After just 16 films, of which this was his second to last, the movie world was robbed of a truly fine performer, a sad story in a long line of sad incidents that taint the Hollywood story.George Sanders and Merle Oberon (as police inspector and Slade's infatuation respectively) engage in a less than fully realised romantic strand, and Cedric Hardwicke dominates all the scenes that don't feature the might of Cregar, but really it's the big man's show all the way. Creepily enhanced by Hugo Friedhofer's score, The Lodger is a lesson in how to utilise technical atmospherics.The moody atmosphere here hangs heavy and the sense of doom is palpable in the extreme, it comes as something of a relief when the ending finally comes, as it's time to reflect and exhale a sigh of relief. Deviating from the novel, something which has over the years annoyed purists, The Lodger shows its hand very much from the off, but it in no way hurts the picture, if anything the exasperation at the supporting characters induces dry humour. The kind that comes in the form of nervous giggles out there in the dark, but rest assured, this is no comedy, it's a creepy classic from a wonderful era of film making. 9/10