The Lodger

The opening few minutes of this film are such a marked contrast to Hitchcock’s first film and bear incredibly obvious German influences. The Pleasure Garden showed some skill from a young director, but The Lodger announced a real talent of strong skill. The rest of the movie doesn’t bear this influence as strongly, but it’s still a handsomely filmed and intelligently built thriller.

There are a string of killings going on in London. They all target young blond women, and the blonds of the...