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Post date: Sep 22, 2018 1:00:21 PM
"The Lodger" was made in 1926. It was Hitchcock's third picture and the first which had themes that he would expand on in his next fifty films. A mysterious young man takes a room in a boarding house. The family become suspicious of his late night excursions but the daughter is interested to find someone her own age. The family and the daughter's suitor convince themselves and others that the lodger is the killer of many women around the city. The daughter and the lodger form a bond against everyone else. The film concludes with a chase across the city leading to an exoneration of the main character at the end.
This movie has a real German expressionist influence. One of the classic German expressionist movies is Fritz Lang's "M" shot a few years later. It is about the pursuit of a serial killer across a city. Both movies are silent and both film makers set up the killing with minimal dialog. This is a discipline that Hitchcock carried through his whole career. An example of this is one of my favorite Hitchcock scenes. It is from the early "Man Who Knew Too Much" which was a sound movie. Instead of a bad guy telling the mother "We have your daughter and are going to kill her if you do not be quiet...", the whole idea is conveyed clearly without dialog in about 6 shots. The Lodger is remarkable for very few title cards. A change from D.W. Griffith where everyone and every action had a title card.
Common Hitchcock themes had their genesis in "The Lodger" were character moral ambiguity and corruption of the police.
What is meant by moral ambiguity is that the main character is innocent of the accused crime but is guilty on a moral level. In "The 39 Steps", Richard Hannay is fine with lying and acting like a killer to get people to help him. In "Strangers on a Train", Guy Haines yells that he would like to strangle his wife. He is not the one who does it but the intent is there.
In the Hitchcock universe, the police are either ineffective or corruptible.
Examples of police ineffectiveness are shown in "To Catch a Thief", "Psycho", "The Wrong Man", "I Confess" ,and "The Lady Vanishes". The police do not want to involve themselves. In "To Catch a Thief", the police blame a crippled man to be the agile cat burglar just to close the case and not interfere with the French Rivera's tourist season.
One of the usual ways that the police are corrupted is that the villain usually has a high social position which makes him above the law. In "The 39 Steps", the villain reveal himself to Richard Hannay by that famous shot of showing his fingers. He is showing the hero that he is untouchable by any police authority. Other examples of untouchable villains are:"Saboteur", "North By Northwest", and "Man Who Knew Too Much"
"Strangers on a Train" is an interesting variation. The good guy is untouchable. Guy Haines is going out with a senator's daughter. He is under suspicion but because of the senator's power, the police are kept at bay.
Other corruption of the police are shown in movies like "Blackmail"(coming soon), "Shadow of a Doubt", and the "Lodger". In "The Lodger" the police officer use his authority to pursue the lodger more out of petty jealousy than facts.
Interestingly enough, the police can be corrupted the other way. In "Shadow of a Doubt", "Blackmail", and "Sabotage" the police have personal relationship to one of the main characters. This leads to them covering up the truth in order to protect the main character. Example of this is "Shadow of a Doubt" where the police officer covers up the truth of Uncle Charlie to protect young Charlie's family.
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