May 12 – The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), 90 minutes, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, and June Tripp.
A serial killer known as The Avenger has been terrorizing London. Meanwhile, a mysterious young man rents a room, and begins a romantic relationship with the landlady's daughter. But…could he be The Avenger? The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog was Alfred Hitchcock's third film, but he considered it the first of any high quality. Even if the director had been unknown, The Lodger would still stand as a first-rate thriller, but Hitchcock behind the camera ensures added pleasure. We see the beginnings of so many of his filmmaking preoccupations here – from bold editing to contemplative fade-outs and tight close-ups, demonstrating an already canny understanding of an audience's anxieties, fears, and expectations. (Image used with permission of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.)
May 2023 at CinemaLit – Silent Spring
CinemaLit in May presents three classics from the final years of the silent film era. They are wildly different from each other, but united by the highest levels of film artistry before talkies arrived. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) was stylistically influenced by German Expressionism, but is very much its own creation. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) is an engrossing early Alfred Hitchcock thriller. And The General (1926) is a diabolically clever Buster Keaton comedy. (Image used with permission of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.)
Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies.
“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."
“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”
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