Daily Mail (22/Mar/1926) - The Lodger: A Murder Film in the Making
Details
- article: The Lodger: A Murder Film in the Making
- newspaper: Daily Mail (22/Mar/1926)
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Arthur Chesney, Islington Studios, London, Ivor Novello, June Tripp, Marie Ault, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
Article
"THE LODGER"
A MURDER FILM IN THE MAKING.
The London murder mystery film "The Lodger," based on the novel by Mrs. Bellow Lowndes, is now being produced by Gainsborough Pictures, Ltd., at the Islington Studios, N. On Saturday all kinds of intriguing work was in process. Mr. Alfred Hitchcock, the young director of whom so much is expected, was taking Mr. Ivor Novello through several short scenes. Mr. Novello, muffled up to the eyes and looking pale and furtive, tip-toed down the stairs, across the hall, and softly out of the front door of his boarding-house.
But, no, he must bend forward more and stand and listen a moment before opening a door just sufficiently wide for him to pass through. After half a dozen rehearsals this scene was photographed and rephotographed, and finally close-ups of Mr. Novello's stealthy feet were arranged.
Meanwhile Miss June appeared from her dressing-room to discuss the merits of an intensely golden wig she must wear in "The Lodger." Miss Marie Ault, who plays landlady to Mr. Novello's lodger — ably assisted by Mr. Arthur Chesney, looking the very pattern of London landlords — is one of our Englist stars who, after a wife experience, prefers screen work to the stage.
In other parts of the large studios were most "sets" for the film, the lodger's bedroom, the basement kitchen, and the tall, steep staircases and landings.
And the real mystery remains unsolved. Is the lodger really a vile murderer who creeps out at night foully murders golden-haired girls? There is an ominous stain on a ceiling and Mr. Novello had a hang-dog way of creeping about. Yet his face is not the face of a criminal.
