|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| Author |
Message |
    
Maria Giordano
Chief Inspector
Username: Mariag
Post Number: 506
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 05, 2005 - 11:21 am: | 
|
I saw the 1927 version, silent film directed by Hitchcock last night.
As I recall, in the books the lodger turns out to really be the killer but in the movie he doesn't and there's a schmaltzy happy ending.
So movies were ruining books since the dawn of time.
It wasn't anything like the JTR case, either, it was contemporary to 1927 in sets and costume.
Also, not scary--not like M and Nosferatu.
Mags
|
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 936
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 05, 2005 - 10:17 pm: |
|
The 1944 version with Laird Cregar, George Sanders, and Merle Oberon is set in the period, and sticks to the guilt of the lodger as Jack the Ripper.
I don't know if Hitchcock faced this situation with his popular star his version of THE LODGER, Ivor Novello, but Hitchcock sometimes had to alter the endings of films when his star's agents refused to let their public image get smeared by playing a villain. In SUSPICION, the novel that was the basis had the husband actually prove to be a murderer, and poison his wife. Cary Grant's agent refused to allow that to be use (although, supposedly, Hitchcock did shoot an ending similar to the way the novel ended - but also another ending that we see now where Grant tells Joan Fontaine he was planning to kill himself to get out of his financial bind)
.
Possibly Novello also felt that his image (he was a leading West End talent in 1927, usually in musical comedies) could not be tampered with.
If I can suggest an answer, years ago there was a book, HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT, where the French director interviewed Hitchcock and they discussed every film he made up to 1969. They do go over THE LODGER, although (from what I recall) it was mostly about some innovative photography in the film where Novello is "heard" pacing his bedroom, and the cameral looks at the ceiling, and then a fake see-through ceiling materializes and we see the pacing from the perspective of Norvello's shoes. Maybe he explains his changing the ending there.
Jeff Bloomfield |
Stanley D. Reid
Chief Inspector
Username: Sreid
Post Number: 533
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 12:00 am: |
|
Hi Maria and Jeff,
I have The Lodger and like it for what it is. Like you, I was surprised to see motor cars in the film. I also have seen the other major silent Ripper film Die Buchse der Pandora which is very good. Also, I have The Man in the Attic with Jack Palance on order which was based on the same book. It's not the greatest but it was part of a box set so I guess it's worth it.
Best wishes,
Stan |
Maria Giordano
Chief Inspector
Username: Mariag
Post Number: 508
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 9:38 am: |
|
Jeff, I'm sure that Novello's agent didn't want him to play the killer--I understand that he was quite the matinee idol of his day. Very striking looking man.
I hate it that they changed Suspicion-it would have been good for Grant's career, I think, to have him be the bad guy but audiences wouldn't buy it.
Same thing with Witness for the Prosecution,the one with Tyrone Power and Marlene Deitrich, where the ending thus the entire point of the story is changed from the way Christie wrote it.Imagine the arrogance--changing a Christie ending!
Mags
|
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 939
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 9:08 pm: |
|
Hi Mags,
Hitchcock frequently had to give in to demands on his movie ideas. In SABATEUR he wanted to have the villain played by Harry Carey Sr. as an American First public figure. Instead he was told not to, and the role is played by Otto Kreuger as a wealthy power seeker/traitor. And in THE PARADINE CASE he wanted Robert Newton to play the dead man's batman, not Louis Jourdan. Newton was supposed to look like he worked most of the time in the stables, so to suggest another edge to Alida Vali's interest in him. Instead Jourdan looked more neat and tidy.
The end of WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION was that Leonard Vole and his wife get away with the murder and the inheritance. But the issue of the perjury charge against Mrs. Vole would still have put a spoke into that wheel. Also, would she really trust Leonard to not get rid of her as well? So the change of the ending really did not ruin the story for me.
Best wishes,
Jeff |
Stanley D. Reid
Chief Inspector
Username: Sreid
Post Number: 540
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 6:48 pm: |
|
Maria,
I forgot to mention that I also have an hour long radio version of The Lodger starring Robert Montgomery as Mr. Sleuth on CD. It was an episode on the CBS series Suspense and isn't bad. The program was first broadcast on February 14 of 1948.
Stan |
Eduardo Zinna
Detective Sergeant
Username: Eduardo
Post Number: 97
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 5:21 am: |
|
Hi Stan,
Further to another message I posted in one of these threads, Paul Begg, who is an Old Time Radio devotee, reminds me that Suspense broadcast three versions of The Lodger, including the very first programme in the series, which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Herbert Marshall. The second was broadcast on 14 December 1944, ran 30 minutes and starred Robert Montgomery. And the third show, the one Mr Reid has, was one of a short series of hour long episodes that began with a show called The Black Curtain. The episode of The Lodger was broadcast on 14 February 1948, starred Robert Montgomery, and was the last show produced by William Spier, the hugely respected guiding light of the show who attracted some of the finest of Hollywood's stars to the show.
You may read Paul's essay on Old Time Radio here in the Casebook. You'll find it in the Ripperologist section.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I have both Robert Montgomery versions, plus one with Peter Lorre and Agnes Moorehead which was not produced for Suspense but for Lorre's own show, Mystery in the Air. I obtained all of them in audiocasette several years ago from Radio Spirits, an American company.
All the best,
Eduardo |
Stanley D. Reid
Chief Inspector
Username: Sreid
Post Number: 609
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 6:49 pm: |
|
Hi Eduardo,
Yes, I got that CD version I have from Radio Spirits. They have a radio program where they broadcast some of the old shows they have here as well.
Best wishes,
Stan |
|
Use of these
message boards implies agreement and consent to our Terms of Use.
The views expressed here in no way reflect the views of the owners and
operators of Casebook: Jack the Ripper.
Our old message board content (45,000+ messages) is no longer available online, but a complete archive
is available on the Casebook At Home Edition, for 19.99 (US) plus shipping.
The "At Home" Edition works just like the real web site, but with absolutely no advertisements.
You can browse it anywhere - in the car, on the plane, on your front porch - without ever needing to hook up to
an internet connection. Click here to buy the Casebook At Home Edition.
|
|
|
|
