The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (#885)

With his third feature film,The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog,Alfred Hitchcock took a major step toward greatness and made what he would come to consider his true directorial debut. This haunting silent thriller tells the tale of a mysterious young man (matinee idol Ivor Novello) who takes up residence at a London boardinghouse just as a killer known as the Avenger descends upon the city, preying on blonde women. The film is animated by the palpable energy of a young stylist at play, decisively establishing the directors formal and thematic obsessions. In this release,The Lodgeris accompanied byDownhill,another silent from 1927 that explores Hitchcocks wrong man trope, also headlined by Novellomaking for a double feature that reveals the master of the macabre as he was just coming into his own.

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fogwas restored by the BFI National Archive. Principal restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The Film Foundation, and Simon W. Hessel. Additional funding provided by the British Board of Film Classification, Deluxe 142, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, and Ian and Beth Mill. New score commissioned by Network Releasing in partnership with the BFI.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• 2K digital restoration, with a new score by composer Neil Brand, performed by the Orchestra of Saint Pauls and presented in uncompressed stereo on the Blu-ray
• Downhill,another 1927 feature directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ivor Novello, in a 2K digital restoration and with a new piano score by Brand
• New interview with film scholar William Rothman on Hitchcocks visual signatures
• New video essay by art historian Steven Jacobs about Hitchcocks use of architecture
• Excerpts from audio interviews with Hitchcock by filmmakers Franois Truffaut (1962) and Peter Bogdanovich (1963 and 1972)
• Radio adaptation ofThe Lodgerfrom 1940, directed by Hitchcock
• New interview with Brand on composing for silent film
• PLUS: Essays onThe LodgerandDownhillby critic Philip Kemp
  
  New cover by Geoff Grandfield