The Lodger (Hitchcock, 1926):
BFI Southbank & Curzon Mayfair as part of Genius of Hithcock season for an extended run
I went to see this at a preview screening and was impressed by all but the songs accompanying Nitin Sawhney's new score. I think Guy Lodge sums it up well in his Time Out review:
'Look into Ivor Novello’s
haunted, kohl-rimmed eyes in Hitch’s most overtly Hitchcockian silent
film – his first of many ‘wrong man’ mysteries – and you can see
generations of matinee idols coming full circle. Willowy and
wounded-looking, Novello was the Robert Pattinson of his day, and his
gracefully on-edge performance as a shy boarding-house tenant, suspected
of a series of Jack the Ripper-style murders terrorising London, is as
intriguing as the director’s resourceful formulation of suspense
techniques that would later become his bread and butter. The money men
forced Hitchcock into a tidier ending than he’d wanted, but there’s
ambiguity aplenty in his leading man’s darting facial language – which
we can now see clearly, thanks to the BFI’s pristine restoration. It’s
never looked better, though I’m not sure the same can be said for how it
sounds. Nitin Sawhney’s newly commissioned score is often playful, but
marred by dreary, anachronistic songs – a tribute to Novello’s legacy as
a balladeer perhaps, but an imposition on an otherwise glorious
renewal.'Guy Lodge
Here is the trailer.
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