At the same time a Jack the Ripper-style serial killer known as “The Avenger” is targeting blonde women in London, the seemingly mild-mannered Jonathan Drew becomes the newest lodger at the Bunting’s boarding house. Jonathan falls for the owners’ fair-haired daughter, Daisy, and she returns his affections although she’s engaged to a policeman. Mrs. Bunting, the landlady, suspects that her newest tenant is the Avenger himself, and evidence begins to support her theory. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), it starred British matinee idol Ivor Novello (1893-1951).
Based on the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger was made into three other films: Novello starred in a remake in 1932, Laird Cregar starred in the 1944 film, and Jack Palance played Drew in 1953 when the film was called The Man in the Attic.
In the early years of cinema, Britain was considered behind the Americans, Germans, and Soviets. Hitchcock’s films helped change this perception. As a filmgoer, he was influenced by American D. W. Griffith and Soviet Sergei Eisenstein. He started his film career as an assistant director in Germany where he was able to observe the great work, first-hand, of Fritz Lang and F. W. Murnau.
Ivor Novello was a well-respected actor, playwright, and composer. His popular musical comedies include Symphony in Two Flats (1929) and We Proudly Present (1947). Among his numerous songs is the World War I favorite “Keep the Home Fires Burning.”
Silent films were accompanied by an organ, piano, and sometimes a full orchestra: the beginnings of film scoring as we know it. From Charlie Chaplin, who scored his own films, to John Williams and Thomas Newman of today, the power of music accompanying a silent or a talking film cannot be undervalued. Experienced composers know that music enhances the action and emotion, but never overshadows it.
Providing the live musical accompaniment for this film is Wayne Zimmerman, who has been playing for ELTC and The Cape May Film Society’s Silent Film Series since 2011. Wayne has played in a variety of venues from coast-to-coast and in Hawaii, regaling audiences with his silent-film accompaniment and concerts. At varying times he’s served as organist at the Lansdowne Theatre in Lansdowne, PA, the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA, the Brookline Theatre in Havertown, PA, and the Merlin Theatre in suburban Philadelphia. Currently he is president of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society.
This event is co-sponsored with The Cape May Film Society.