A Call to Action: The Films of Raoul Walsh

The PFA screened a Raoul Walsh retrospective in July and August.  I saw five of the films.

The Big Trail starring John Wayne & Marguerite Churchill; (1930)

They Died with Their Boots On starring Errol Flynn & Olivia de Havilland; (1942)

What Price Glory starring Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe & Dolores Del Rio; silent with intertiles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1926)

Wild Girl starring Joan Bennett; (1932)

Pursued starring Robert Mitchum; (1947)

All the films were directed by Walsh.

Prior to Wild Girl, Michael Fox interviewed film critic Dave Kehr.  Fox programs the Mechanics' Institute CinemaLit film series.  Dave Kehr writes a weekly column for the New York Times on recent DVD releases.  Kehr was autographing his latest book, When Movies Mattered.  He drew a large audience.  Former Balboa Theater operator and current Telluride Film Festival director Gary Meyer was present.  The audience had several comments and questions for him.

The previous paragraph reminds me of two items.  I've been a member of the Mechanics' Institute for several years and have yet to attend a CinemaLit screening.  Second, the Balboa's Kickstarter campaign for a digital projector in one of its auditoriums was successful...quite impressively too.  They met their goal with at least two weeks to go.  Other Kickstarter campaigns I follow reach their goals in the last days or hours of the their funding period.

Getting back to the films in the series - I'm not a big fan of Raoul Walsh's work.  He was extremely prolific so if you like films from Hollywood's Golden Age, you can likely find a Walsh film to like.  I've always had a soft spot for Gentleman Jim (1942) with Errol Flynn about heavyweight champion James J. Corbett.  Ward Bond is particularly memorable as John L. Sullivan.

At the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival in January 2009, I attended a lecture at the Castro Theater entitled Hollywood Speaks German by Stefan Droessler.  In a nutshell, at the dawn of the talkie era of films, technology hadn't advanced to allow dubbing or subtitling.  Knowing that their silent stars had built a worldwide fanbase, Hollywood decided to have their stars speak foreign languages in their films.  A film would have both an English language version and a foreign language version(s) with the actors speaking multiple languages.

For the biggest stars (such as Laurel and Hardy), you could not get by with different actors so the audience was treated to Laurel & Hardy speaking Spanish.  The less popular actors could be substituted with native language actors.  The Big Trail was one of these films.  Five versions were simultaneously filmed in English, Italian Spanish, German & French.  Walsh co-directed the German & Spanish versions.  The principal cast was completely different in each version.

I recalled that The Big Trail was a film with multiple casts although Kehr didn't mention this in his introduction.  He highlighted another production aspect which I was unaware of - two different film formats were used simultaneously.  35 mm and 70 mm cameras were used; frequently on the same take.  Since most movie theaters in 1930 did not have 70 mm projectors (same could be said every year since then), the 35 mm print was used for most screenings.  The two edits varied considerably.  The 35 mm edit was 108 minutes while the 70 mm edit was 122 minutes.  The PFA screened the 70 mm version although it was projected from a 35 mm print.

The Big Trail, typically referred to as a Western, does not comport with my image of a Western, particularly a John Wayne Western.  Likely set in the 1840s, Wayne plays Breck Coleman, a buckskinned clad trapper who agrees to lead a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon along the Oregon Trail.  He only agrees because he suspects the murderers of his friend are part of the wagon train.  He suspects Red (Tyrone Power, Sr.) and Lopez (Charles Stevens) of the murder.  Tyrone Power (the father of the actor most associated with that name) is quite memorable as the blustery Red Flack.  There is a riverboat gambler and girl who likes Breck but can't admit it due proprieties of the era.  There a multiple attempts on Breck's life before a slightly anti-climactic showdown filmed in the Giant Sequoias of Northern California.

As mentioned, there was a 70 mm camera which Walsh used extensively for exterior shots.  There are Conestoga wagons, a cattle herd and a great variety of landscapes as one would expect between Missouri and Oregon.  In the 70 mm version, Walsh clearly wanted to show the landscapes, dangers and difficulties encountered by the settlers.  I thought that got in the way of the story.  Of course, in 1930 the images must have been impressive.  In fact, in 2013 they are still impressive because you know they are CGI but I generally don't like films that allow the background to become the foreground no matter how impressive the background is.

John Wayne's performance was pretty wooden and awkward.  For those who criticize the Duke's acting ability, I would only that if you compare this film vs. his films from the 1950s, you see that his acting skills improved.

The Big Trail was an extremely expensive film to make due to the multiple cameras, multiple casts and multiple locations in five different states.  Considered a financial flop, the film nearly derailed Wayne's career.  It would be nine years of B films for him between The Big Trail and Stagecoach.

There is one rumor surrounding the filming of The Big Trail which I have long heard about and wished Kehr would have touched on (or that I had the courage to ask).  It's very scandalous.  The leading lady, Marguerite Churchill, was rumored to have been raped by Tyrone Power, Sr.  In a case of frontier justice, Walsh allegedly had Power beaten for the transgression.  Power would die about a year after The Big Trail was released.

From left to right:  Gaston Glass (La Piste des géants), Theo Shall (Die Große Fahrt), John Wayne (The Big Trail), Franco Corsaro (Il grande sentiero) and Jorge Lewis (La Gran jornada).

They Died With Their Boots On is a historically dubious biopic of George Armstrong Custer with Errol Flynn, a frequent leading man in Walsh's films.  Following Custer's army career from West Point to the Civil War to The Battle of Little Big Horn, TDWTBO is entertaining enough.  If it were a baseball game, it would be a 2-1 game with a bunch of singles but most men stranded on base.  Maybe that baseball analogy is too tortured but the sentiment I am trying to express is that I was underwhelmed by the film.  The most memorable part is the repeated use of the hard to dislike Garry Owen which according to the film, Custer adopted as the 7th Cavalry's regimental song.

What Price Glory (frequently listed as What Price Glory?) follows Sgts. Quirt (Edmund Lowe) and Flagg (Victor MacLagen), two US Marines.  They have a rivalry which stretches over many years and many continents (not to mention many films).  Frequently assigned to the same unit, they lock horns repeatedly over the same women.  As I recall, Lowe is the tough Marine while Flagg is more congenial, eventually getting a commission as an officer.

In WWI France, Quirt is assigned as the senior NCO in Flagg company.  Despite their differences in rank, they resume their hostilities over the control of the company and the affections of the innkeeper's daughter (Dolores del Rio).

The film is a standard issue "rivalry" comedy although there are some impressive battle scenes for 1926.  Like They Died With Their Boots On, What Price Glory was entertaining enough but leave a lasting impression on me.  Lowe & MacLagen would reprise their roles as Quirt and Flagg three more times in film (twice more directed by Walsh).  John Ford would remake What Price Glory with James Cagney and Dan Dailey in the lead roles.

Wild Girl was my favorite of the five Walsh films I saw.  Wild Girl was the first non-silent film adaptation of Bret Harte's Salomy Jane.  I think I recognized exterior locations in the woods which were used in The Big Trail.  Joan Bennett is the titular Wild Girl, a denim pant wearing tomboy whose beauty and curves are hard to overlook.  The audience knows it is in pre-Code territory due to Bennett swimming nude in a lake.  There are a lot of guys sniffing around Jane (including Ralph Bellamy) but frankly I can't remember the plot.  Jane rides around on a stage coach with a guy prone to bragging and making animal noise.  After a distasteful encounter, Jane enlists a stranger to town to kill the offender.  He almost gets lynched for his troubles.  Wild Girl is a showcase of Bennett's talent and beauty which is enough said.

In Pursued, Jeb (Robert Mitchum) is a young man who was orphaned at young age.  His parents' murder was so traumatic that he cannot remember witnessing it.  In fact, he cannot remember his life before coming into contact with his adoptive mother or foster parent.  Jeb has two step-siblings, brother Adam and sister Thor from whom more than sisterly affection is directed.  Eventually Jeb learns the truth about his past and those nightmares which have been dogging him.  Pursued is a film noir masquerading as a western - murder extramarital affairs, vaguely incestuous relationships, hot-heated men and women, etc.  Pursued has the atmosphere and psychological underpinnings of classic noir but the plot was too muddled for me enjoy this film.

 

Hitchcock 9 Part 2

The Hitchcock 9 returned to the Bay Area with a two week run at the PFA in August.  I saw six of the nine films in June at the Castro Theater.  That series was organized by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.  I was able to watch the three remaining films during the PFA series.

One film in the Hitchcock 9 gets a third screening in the Bay Area in the upcoming months.  The Lodger plays at the San Francisco Symphony on Halloween.

The Farmer’s Wife starring Jameson Thomas & Lilian Hall-Davis; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1928)

Downhill starring Ivor Novello; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1927)

Champagne starring Betty Balfour; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1928)

Alfred Hitchcock directed all three films.

Immediately after seeing each of the three films, I was left unimpressed.  One good thing about waiting (or more accurately procrastinating) to blog is that I am able to think about the films some more.  I am typically more charitable towards the films after some delay between seeing the films and writing about them.  Such was the case with the Hitchcock 9.

The Farmer’s Wife is a comedy.  The eponymous farmer is Jameson Thomas who plays widower Samuel Sweetland.  When his daughter gets married, Sweetland decides it is time to find a new wife.  He feels confident that his prospects are good and with the help of his housekeeper Minta (Lilian Hall-Davis), comes up with a list of suitable potential brides.  The first thing I noticed was that Hall-Davis (the lead actress in Hitchcock's The Ring) is noticeably more attractive than the would-be wives.  Not only is she more attractive but she is more well adjusted.  However, she is the housekeeper and Sweetland, a landowner, merits a wife of higher standing than a mere domestic.

With a list of four women in hand, Sweetland goes-a-courtin'.  One after another they reject him and in hilarious manner.  Humbled and dejected, Sweetland returns home and his new state of mind allows him to see Minta in a new light.  Fifth time is the charm when Sweetland asks Minta to marry him and she accepts his proposal.

The plot and ending of The Farmer’s Wife is easily identifiable from a distance.  The comedic brushstrokes are a little too broad for my tastes but three weeks later, I am still able to recall (with a smile) some of the scenes.  There must be something about the film I like.

Downhill was based on a play written by David L'Estrange which a pen name for Ivor Novello & Constance Collier.  Novello plays the lead role of Roddy Berwick, a boarding school (or was it university?) student.  The son of a wealthy family, Roddy is a popular student but it also leads to his downfall or slide downhill as the title alludes.  Roddy, due his family's wealth, is falsely accused of impregnating a local salesgirl.   Rather than deny the charge, Roddy takes the rap for his best friend.  His best friend would lose his scholarship if he accepted responsibility.  In fact, the girl was never pregnant and I wonder if the charge wasn't rape.  Hitchcock abstains from detailed intertitles during this scene.  Roddy is expelled from the school for the charge.  What about paternity and child support issues?

Roddy's father is upset with his expulsion.  It seems he could just money the issue away but instead Roddy leaves in a huff or was he kicked out?  As you can see, some of the details escape me.  Roddy takes a job as an chorus boy and falls for the star of the show.  When he comes into some money from an inheritance, the actress (Isabelle Jeans) agrees to marry him.  She quickly burns through his money and cuckolds him.  Once again, he leaves in a huff.

Next, he ends up as a "taxi dancer" in a Paris nightclub.  This scene is amazing.  I'm certain that some of the "women" were men in drag and I thought it was incredible that they would depict and a bi/gay nightclub in 1927.  I felt it was clear that Roddy was "gay for pay" with the patrons but every other source I have seen refers to this scenes as a nightclub for older women.  Regardless, he is once again taken advantage of by the madam of the club.

This sends Roddy on his final descent where he ends up delirious and homeless.  Again, it's unclear to me if the final scene where he is reunited with his father is "real" or a hallucination.

Given that Novello was gay, I once again wonder about the Parisian nightclub scene.  Somewhat simplistic in plot, Hitchcock's skill was in full display in two memorable scenes.  After being expelled and quicked out of the house, we see Roddy dressed in a tuxedo so we think he is doing well.  Then the camera pulls back and we see he is a waiter in tux; not doing so well.  Then we see him surreptitiously taking a wallet and we think he has fallen to quite a low station in life.  Then the camera pulls back even more and we see his is a chorus dancer.

The second scene which is memorable is at the Parisian nightclub.  Just when Roddy appears to have made a genuine connection, the nightclub curtains are pulled open revealing sunlight.  Like vampires, the grotesque patrons are exposed and go scurrying off.

In Champagne, Betty Balfour plays "The Girl," an American heiress who, with her pilot, flies her "aeroplane" on a one-way trip midway across the ocean to catch the ocean liner carry "The Boy" (Jean Bradin).  The Boy happens to be the boyfriend.  Betty wants to marry The Boy seemingly to spite her father who is concerned that The Boy is only interested in Betty's money.  The father concocts a ruse and tells Betty that the family fortune (made in the champagne business or bootleg liquor) has been wiped out in the stock market.  The film was released about a year before the 1929 stock market crash.

As  a result of a separate quarrel, Betty and The Boy are taking a break from their relationship.  Betty finds work at a swanky nightclub as a flower girl (one of those women who sells rose or carnations to patrons for the lapel buttons).  It's not lost on Betty or the audience that this the type of club she would have frequented as a patron and now she is working there.

Since the beginning of the film, there has been a suspicious looking man (Ferdinand von Alten credited as The Man) hanging around Betty.  He shows up at the nightclub and his intentions are unclear.  Betty fears the worst but he appears to have Betty's best interests at heart.  The Boy shows up and once again argues with Betty over her job and he storms out.  Betty and The Boy have a volatile relationship.  Later, The Boy and The Father return.  The Father reveals to Betty his deception.  Betty is angry at both of them although I'm not sure of The Boy's complicity.  In a moment of pique, Betty asks The Man to take her back to America since he is traveling there the next day.  He agrees and they drive from Paris to the Normandy coast to board the ocean liner.  Once on board, The Man locks Betty up in her cabin (although there were two beds) from the outside but conveniently leaves the key in the lock.

A few minutes later, The Boy arrives in the cabin and Betty conks him on the head before realizing who he is.  They reconcile again but The Man returns and interrupts the couple.  This time The Father is with the The Man.  It turns out The Man is some sort of detective who has been hired to look after Betty.  The good news is that The Father now approves of The Boy and Betty marriage to him.  As the couple discuss wedding plans, another argument ensues.

Of the three films, my opinion of The Farmer’s Wife has improved the most.  My opinion of Champagne has changed the least.  I didn't think it was that funny and to say it was contrived would be an understatement.  Betty Balfour was definitely game but I found the film limp and lacking.

From the entire Hitchcock 9, my favorite film was The Manxman with honorable mentions for Blackmail and The Lodger.  My opinion of The Pleasure Garden also improved considerably in the 2.75 months since I watched it.

Hitchcock 9

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) presented the Hitchcock 9 at the Castro Theater from June 14 to 16.  I saw six of the nine films on the program.  The Hitchcock 9 is project by the British Film Institute to digitally restore all of Alfred Hitchcock’s surviving silent films.

Blackmail starring Anny Ondra, John Longden & Cyril Ritchard; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by the Mont Alo Motion Picture Orchestra; (1929)

The Ring starring Carl Brisson, Lilian Hall-Davis & Ian Hunter; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by the Mont Alo Motion Picture Orchestra; (1927)

The Manxman starring Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen & Amy Ondra; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Stephen Horne & Diana Rowan; (1929)

Easy Virtue starring Isabel Jeans, Robin Irvine & Franklin Dyall; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1927)

The Pleasure Garden starring Virginia Valli, Camelita Geraghty, Miles Mander & John Stuart; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Stephen Horne; (1926)

The Lodger starring Ivor Novello, Malcolm Keen & June Tripp; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by the Mont Alo Motion Picture Orchestra; (1926)

The same nine films are screening at the PFA from August 16 to 31.  Judith Rosenberg is scheduled to accompany all nine films.  I plan on seeing the three films I missed at the PFA screenings.

It was little odd for SFSFF to have a program so close to their annual festival.  The crowds were a little lighter than the festival proper but still quite strong.  It was also the first time I recall Judith Rosenberg performing at a SFSFF event.  She performs regularly at PFA and Niles Essanay.

Most of the films were not "Hitchcockian" - few murders and the humor wasn't quite so cheeky.

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The festival opened with Blackmail which was Hitchcock's final silent film and it portended his best talkies.  Frank (John Longden) is police detective. He and his girlfriend Alice (Anny Ondra) have an argument over dinner.  It's unclear if Alice is having an affair or goes off with an artist in response to the argument with Frank.  I think the latter but regardless, she goes to his studio where he eventually tries to rape her.  She defends herself with a pair of scissors which ends in the artist death.

Frank is assigned the case the next day and recognizes Alice's glove at the murder scene as well as the victim who he glimpsed leaving the restaurant with Alice.  He tries to steer the investigation away from Alice but she is being blackmailed by someone who saw her enter the artist's studio.  Frank and Alice conspire to handle the blackmailer but he flees leading to climactic chase on the roof of the British Museum Reading Room.

This film felt just like one of the Master's more well known films - sex, blackmail, murder, etc.  Hitchcock shoots a great visual scene where the camera elevates as Alice and the artist ascend the stairs.

Michael Powell of Powell & Pressburger fame worked on Blackmail as a still photographer.

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The Ring wasn't bad although it didn't feel like a Hitchcock film.  "One Round" Jack (Carl Brisson) is a carnival boxer who takes on all comers.  Bob Corby (Ian Hunter) is the boxing champ who steps into the carnival ring against Jack.  Jack doesn't know who his opponent is and suffers a rare defeat at his hands.  Corby was there looking for a sparring partner.

Jack's girlfriend, and eventual wife, (Lilian Hall-Davis credited as "The Girl") is fickle.  She was attracted to Jack because of his boxing prowess but seeing Corby beat him and the following Corby's boxing career, she eventually takes up with the champ.  In fact, Jack must rise up the ranks in order to get a championship fight against Corby in order to win the girl back.  Ironically, it is while Jack is training for the fight that Corby and the girl become an item.  If the old boxing superstition is to be believed, it was because Corby consorted with women that he eventually loses the match to Jack.

The film was a little too pat.  The Ring is Hitchcock's only screenwriting credit and shows a maudlin streak.  I thought it would have worked better if Jack had lost the fight (or the girl) but there is no use in talking about the film that wasn't made.  The final fight scene was nicely done although the two actors did not move like fighters.

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The Manxman was also a love triangle but I enjoyed it more than The Ring.  The title refers to people from the Isle of Man.  Shouldn't they be called Manman or Manmen (plural)?  Hitchcock makes great use of the coastal scenery but Cornwall stood in for the Isle of Man, a small island off the northwest coast of England,

Pete (Carl Brisson) , a poor fisherman and Philip (Malcolm Keen), a lawyer from a prominent family are best friends.  Pete is in love Kate (Anny Ondra) but her father refuses to allow her daughter to marry Pete due to his low station in life.  Pete goes to Africa to make his fortune.  Africa?  Anyway, before he leaves he ask Philip to "take care" of Kate until he returns and can marry her.  You know were this is going.

In Pete's absence, Kate & Philip develop attraction towards each other but it isn't until news of Pete's death reaches them that their passion can be fully expressed.  Philip is being groomed for a judgeship on the island (which is called a Deemster).  Additionally, Philip's family objects to his consorting with people like Kate (a tavern keeper's daughter) and Pete.

News of Pete's death was inaccurate as he arrives back on Isle of Man healthy and wealthy.  Although she has stronger feelings from Philip, Kate marries Pete so as not to break his heart and not to mention Philip has kept their relationship on the QT.  There is a great scene where the wedding reception is held at a grain mill, the same spot of many of Philip and Kate's trysts.  Kate's father (the stern looking Randie Ayrton) delivers a wedding toast about something being ground up like the grain under the millstone.

Kate & Pete settle into married life while Philip is appointed Deemster.  If Kate could just let go of Philip, everything would be alright.  Kate gives birth (the father is open question) and the stress of being a new mother and being married to a man she doesn't truly love is too much.  She goes to Philip to rekindle their affair but he has a career and reputation to protect.  Distraught, Kate attempts suicide but is unsuccessful.  Attempted suicide is a crime on the Isle of Man and Kate is prosecuted in Philip's courtroom.

Despite his wife's erratic and hurtful behavior, Pete is still in love with her and pleads with Philip to free her to his custody.  Pete still doesn't know about Philip and Kate's relationship.  Philip agrees to let Kate go in the custody of her husband but she refuses.  While watching the proceedings, Kate's father begins to realize that Kate is in love with another man...and that man is Philip.  He publicly accuses Philip of betraying Pete and impregnating his daughter.  Philip admits to this and leaves the bench.

The final scene is Kate & Philip leaving the Isle of Man to jeers of a mob.  That seemed a little overdone but according the program notes, it would have been consistent with the prevailing attitude of the time.

The Manxman was very good and I liked it quite a bit.  I was going to say that I liked it quite a bit for a love triangle story but decided there was no need to qualify statement.  The three lead actors gave strong performances.

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Easy Virtue was adapted from a Noel Coward play which seems like odd source material for both Hitchcock and a silent film.  I thought I saw the stage version of Easy Virtue at ACT a few years back, but I was mistaken.  ACT has never performed Easy Virtue.  I'm wondering where I saw it.  Since seeing the film, I realized it had been remade a few years ago with Jessica Biel, Colin Firth & Kristin Scott Thomas.  I still can't figure out where I saw the stage version.

Anyway, the Hitchcock version is a film I like better today than when I saw it.  I won't say I liked it but I've gone form mild dislike to neutrality.  As the film opens, Larita (Isabel Jeans) is married to a drunken wife beater.  Accused of adultery, she accepts divorce to get away from him.  The divorce brands her an adulterer or woman of "easy virtue" so she leaves for the French Rivera where she meets John Whittaker (Robin Irvine), a rich young man.  Afraid to reveal her divorce or more specifically the grounds for her divorce, she keeps her first marriage a secret.  John falls in love and asks her to marry him and she accepts.

John takes Larita back to England to meet his family where his mother shows an antipathy towards her. News of her first marriage and particulars of its dissolution come to light.  Larita eventually decides to end her second marriage for different reason that her first.  Tired of the hostility and realizing another woman loves John, Larita gets divorced for a second time.

Condensed to 70 minutes, the film didn't leave much room for character development.  Moreover, it looked like a play that had been filmed.  I'm also sure that some of Coward's biting dialogue was lost on the intertitle cards.

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The Pleasure Garden was kind of ham-handed in some of its characterizations.  Jill (Carmelita Geraghty) arrives in London with a letter of introduction addressed to the proprietor of the Pleasure Garden Theater - a dance and variety revue.  Jill apparently comes from a small town and is immediately the victim of a pickpocket.  Jill promptly loses her letter and her money.  Patsy (Virginia Valli), a kind-hearted chorus girl at the Pleasure Garden takes pity of Jill and invites her to stay at her place.

Jill's boyfriend Hugh (John Stuart) shows up in London with Levet (Miles Mander) Levet, slight acquaintance.  Whatever her background, Jill is self-confident to the point of arrogance.  She gets a lead role on the basis of her talent and quickly gets high-handed with Jill and to a lesser extent Hugh.  In the meantime, Patsy & Levet being a romance despite signs of Levet's misogyny and other character flaws.

Hugh is sent overseas for work and Levet is soon to join him although he first marries Patsy.  Jill begins to carry on an affair with a prince which Hugh is unaware of.  After their honeymoon, Levet goes Africa although it looked more like a South Seas/Pacific island where he meets Hugh, keeps secret Jill's affair and takes up with local girl.  Patsy becomes concerned after not hearing from her husband for a long period.  Shacked up and not thinking much of his wife, Levet makes up an excuse by saying he has been ill.

Concerned for his health, Patsy immediately sets out to join him so she can nurse him back to health.  When she arrives unannounced, she discovers Levet has been carrying on with the native girl.  This sends Levet into a tizzy.  He forces the girl from his hut she refuses.  He settles the matter by drowning the girl.  Determined to get his wife back, he looks for her and find her tending to Hugh (who really is ill).  Levet forces Patsy to return to the hut where his guilt over killing the woman drives him crazy.  Actually, I wondered if his behavior was the result of untreated syphilis.  I don't know why that popped into my mind.

Hugh has warned his boss that Levet is acting erratically.  The boss arrives at Levet's house to find him trying to kill Patsy.  He shoots & kills Levet.  In the meantime, Hugh has read in a newspaper that Patsy brought that Jill is marrying the prince.  As Patsy arrives, the two find consolation with each other - one  a fevered man who has just learned he has been jilted and the other woman just barely survived attempted murder.  I'm sure that's a happily-ever-after relationship.

Miles Mander seems to be enjoying himself playing the dastardly Levet.   Carmelita Geraghty also seems to embrace the "success has gone to her head" Jill.  Virginia Valli & John Stuart seem a little flat in their roles.  A little melodrama goes a long way and this film had too much for my taste.

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The full title of The Lodger was The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog.  A serial killer called "The Avernger" is terrorizing London.  His MO is to kill young blonde women.  He even kills them on Tuesday night every week.  Joe (Malcolm Keen), a policeman is assigned to case.  His blonde girlfriend Daisy (June Tripp) lives & works at her parents boarding house.  Joe has determined that the Avenger's murders are working their way across London and if the pattern holds, next week his hunting ground will be in the vicinity of Daisy's boarding house.

Mr. Drew (Ivor Novello) arrives at the boarding house and rents a room.  A peculiar man, Drew is secretive and has the paintings of beautiful blonde nudes removed from his room.  Drew & Daisy become friendly during his stay which leaves Joe resentful.  In addition, Daisy's mother hears Drew entering the house late one night...only to discover the Avenger has struck again and right around the corner from her house.

Daisy's parents and Joe come to believe Drew is the Avenger but Daisy is unconvinced.  She even goes out with him the Tuesday night.  Joe arrests the lodger and finds a gun, a map with the Avenger's murders marked on it, newspaper clippings and a photo of an attractive blonde woman.  Joe thinks he has caught the Avenger despite Daisy's protest.  Drew escapes custody and hides out with Daisy's help.  Drew explains that the woman in the photo is his sister and one of the Avenger's victims.  Drew had promised his dying mother that he would catch the Avenger and he has been hunting him ever since which explains his suspicious behavior.

With a manhunt on for the Avenger/Drew, a crowd becomes suspicious of Drew and Daisy.   It appears as though a lynching is inevitable but at the crucial moment, a paperboy, hawking his newspapers, loudly announces that the Avenger has been caught and the mob disperses.

Not quite a MacGuffin but definitely a red herring, Hitchcock keeps the deception up for the entire film.  I don't think the Avenger's face was shown in the film.  The lodger's true intentions remained hidden throughout the film which allowed for a "surprise" ending.  The Lodger felt like a Hitchcock film and a good one at that.  Ivor Novello is particularly creepy as the eponymous character.