The Lodger

1944
Approved
1h 24m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

George Sanders and Merle Oberon in The Lodger (1944)

A landlady suspects that her new lodger is Jack the Ripper.A landlady suspects that her new lodger is Jack the Ripper.A landlady suspects that her new lodger is Jack the Ripper.

Director
- John Brahm
Writers
- Barré Lyndon
- Marie Belloc Lowndes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

4.2K

YOUR RATING

Director
- John Brahm
Writers
- Barré Lyndon
- Marie Belloc Lowndes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win

Top cast89

Edit

Laird Cregar

Mr. Slade

Merle Oberon

Kitty Langley

George Sanders

Inspector John Warwick

Cedric Hardwicke

Robert Bonting
(as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)

Sara Allgood

Ellen Bonting

Aubrey Mather

Superintendent Sutherland

Queenie Leonard

Daisy - the Maid

Doris Lloyd

Jennie

David Clyde

Sergeant Bates

Helena Pickard

Annie Rowley…

Fred Aldrich

Plainclothesman
(uncredited)

Harry Allen

Conductor
(uncredited)

Jimmy Aubrey

Cab Driver
(uncredited)

Joan Bayley

Undetermined Secondary Role
(uncredited)

Wilson Benge

Vigilante
(uncredited)

Billy Bevan

Bartender
(uncredited)

Ted Billings

News Vendor
(uncredited)

Edmund Breon

Manager
(uncredited)

Director
- John Brahm
Writers
- Barré Lyndon
- Marie Belloc Lowndes
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

7.4

Hangover Square

7.3

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

5.5

6.9

6.1

7.1

5.7

7.1

The Face Behind the Mask

7.3

6.5

7.2

7.3

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Merle Oberon fell in love with the film's cinematographer, Lucien Ballard, and they married the following year. Because of facial scars Oberon sustained in a car accident, Ballard developed a unique light for her that washed out any signs of her blemishes. The device is known to this day as the Obie (not to be confused with the Off-Broadway award).

Goofs
The police inspector says that a fingerprint was taken from one of the Ripper murder scenes, and the inspector himself carries a vial of fingerprinting powder. However, the Ripper murders took place in 1888; the first criminal identification from fingerprints took place in Argentina in 1892, and the British police did not adopt fingerprinting until 1901.

Quotes
Slade: You wouldn't think that anyone could hate a thing and love it too.
Kitty Langley: You can't love and hate at the same time.
Slade: You can! And it's a problem then...

Connections
Featured in Creature Features: The Lodger/The Black Pit of Dr. M (1971)

Soundtracks
What-cher, 'Ria!
(ca 1885) (uncredited)
Music by Bessie Bellwood
Lyrics by Will Herbert
Sung a cappella by a mob outside a pub

This is the first HOLLYWOOD lensing of the Jack The Ripper tale (Alfred Hitchcock choos ehtis material for his first film thriller in 1926, and there was a rather talky British remake in 1932) The film is a testimony to a great actor, Laird Cregar. He plays a tenant in a rooming house set in the middle of the Ripper murder sites. Cregar gives a wonderful performance, looking trapped when Scotland Yard detective George Sanders (always a treat) is around, or when his landlord's lovely niece (played by the beautiful Merle Oberon) is nearby. The best performance Cregar gives when all is closing in on him. Director John Brahm's camera catches him in close-up, savoring every bead of paniced sweat. Sadly, since Cregar was vastly over weight, only sinister roles came his way. Trying to crash diet, he died of a heart attack at the youthful age of 28. Had he lived, we would seen him become a more famous actors, taking roles probably well into the 1990's.