Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

classicsoncall I've seen both the 1927 silent film "The Lodger" directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and the 1932 sound remake titled "The Phantom Fiend" for an American audience. Both movies utilized the Jack the Ripper theme without using the name, whereas this version leaves no doubt who and what the story is based on. With the introduction of Laird Cregar's character Slade, one almost instinctively realizes it will be him who's revealed as The Ripper murderer, but coming so early in the picture one remains on guard for a twist in the story.Like most viewers commenting here, I was quite literally stunned by actor Cregar. This was my first view of him in any film and he managed to maintain a looming menace throughout the picture. There's no doubt he would have left a significant mark in film if he hadn't died tragically at an early age. He reminded me a bit of Orson Welles in size and girth, and if you study him closely, there's a similarity in facial appearance as well. Just take a look at the "Heaven Can Wait" photo of him posted on his character page here on IMDb. He looks more like the devil than the devil himself, if you get my drift, really creepy.That creepiness factor is used to good advantage throughout the movie, as Slade carries on a surreptitious presence at the Bonting home along with his mysterious forays into the night under the guise of a pathology student. His ideas about 'beauty is evil' and 'evil is beauty' seemed somewhat convoluted to this viewer, but I took that as in keeping with a tormented mind trying to deal with the anguish over his loss of a brother. You have to keep an eye on Slade as he goes into a frenzy over Kitty Langley's (Merle Oberon) Parisian Trot, his manic gaze galvanizes the viewer in a way few actors have the ability to do.

JLRMovieReviews Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Sara Allgood, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Laird Cregar (as the title role) star in what must be the definitive film adaptation of this story, claiming to be based on the Jack the Ripper legend. I remember seeing the Hitchcock silent, and while it was good, it didn't capture the London-at-night atmosphere and the dark shadows, and it didn't have Laird Cregar, and his intense desperation. He was excellent! I can only imagine that he was probably a nice guy in real life, but his disturbing performance is practically the whole show. Merle Oberon is lovely and all, but her role is really a thankless or throw-away role, with very little to do but to just be there.Laird Cregar (and the movie) allows us to enter his mind and understand his motivations and even to sympathize with him. We're allowed to see things through his eyes. Especially at the end, when he's cornered by the crowd, when he looks so demented to the crowd, we see the crowd from his perspective. They must look so frightening to him.One quick note: Sara Allgood also was in "How Green was My Valley," and she deserves some recognition for her great part in "The Lodger" and her prolific career. She was an actress who worked without much fanfare, but always gave great performances.See this version of "The Lodger" and don't be taken in or fooled by imitations. Stay away from the new one, and don't even be curious about "Man in the Attic" with Jack Palance, a vastly inferior rip-off. "The Lodger" can be found on a Fox Horror 3-movie collection, and on TCM from time to time. Discover this version of "The Lodger," and you won't be disappointed, unless you want today's blood and gore. Its less-is-more technique goes a long, shiny way with your imagination.

Spikeopath Victorian London, Whitechapple, and some maniac is slaughtering women with stage backgrounds. Could it be, that the mysterious Mr. Slade who has rented the upstairs rooms from Mrs Burton, is the man known as Jack the Ripper? This part of London is cloaked in fog, the cobbled streets damp and bearing witness to unspeakable crimes, the gas lights dimly flicker as the British Bobby searches in vain for Bloody Jack.The scene is set for what is to me the finest adaptation to deal with the notorious murderer, Jack the Ripper. A remake of the Alfred Hitchcock silent from 1927, this adaptation of the Marie Belloc Lowndes novel not only looks great (Lucien Ballard's photography creating fluid eeriness and film noir fatalism) but also chills the blood without ever actually spilling any. It's a testament to John Brahm's direction that the film constantly feels like a coiled spring waiting to explode, a spring that is realised in the form of Laird Cregar's incredibly unnerving portrayal of Mr Slade.Laird Cregar, as evidenced here, was a fine actor in the making. Sadly troubled by his weight and yearning to become a true matinée idol, he crashed dieted to such a degree his poor 28 year old heart couldn't cope with the shock. After just 16 films, of which this was his second to last, the movie world was robbed of a truly fine performer, a sad story in a long line of sad incidents that taint the Hollywood story.George Sanders and Merle Oberon (as police inspector and Slade's infatuation respectively) engage in a less than fully realised romantic strand, and Cedric Hardwicke dominates all the scenes that don't feature the might of Cregar, but really it's the big man's show all the way. Creepily enhanced by Hugo Friedhofer's score, The Lodger is a lesson in how to utilise technical atmospherics.The moody atmosphere here hangs heavy and the sense of doom is palpable in the extreme, it comes as something of a relief when the ending finally comes, as it's time to reflect and exhale a sigh of relief. Deviating from the novel, something which has over the years annoyed purists, The Lodger shows its hand very much from the off, but it in no way hurts the picture, if anything the exasperation at the supporting characters induces dry humour. The kind that comes in the form of nervous giggles out there in the dark, but rest assured, this is no comedy, it's a creepy classic from a wonderful era of film making. 9/10

kenjha A strange man rents a room at a London house while Jack the Ripper terrorizes the city. His peculiar behavior has people wondering if he is the killer. The expressionistic cinematography, marked by foggy nights and shadowy figures, helps create an eerie atmosphere. Oberon is fine as an actress that the lodger takes an interest in. Also good are Sanders as an inspector, who oddly openly discusses his case with everyone, and Hardwicke and Allgood as the landlords. The film made Cregar a star, but sadly the portly actor suffered a fatal heart attack at 28 after making only one other film. Unfortunately, the visual elegance is undercut by the lackluster and obvious script.