Blu-ray Review The Lodger (1944) Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Matt Hough

The Lodger (1944) Blu-ray Review

One of the great Gothic thrillers of Hollywood's Golden Age, John Brahm’s The Lodger offers a gorgeous production, scintillating performances, and effective, sustained suspense in its story of the Ripper on the loose in Victorian London.

[review]
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[JeffT.]

One has to afford a (well-deserved) tip-of-the-hat to Kino-Lorber Studio Classics for making available blu-ray releases of genuinely prestigious screen horror masterpieces from the Golden Age of Cinema conspicuously exhibiting such outstanding consummate quality in production, performance and execution.

Laird Cregar is a name that should be (well) remembered and respected to be sure. It's unfortunate that his life was prematurely curtailed so short a span.

His Mr. Slade elicits far more audience empathy and sympathy than the so-called forces-of-righteous good do in this compelling and hauntingly tragic and darkly grim drama.

An excellent acquisition for those aesthetic appreciative fans who marvel at and are enamoured with such similarly accomplished works as THE CAT PEOPLE (1942) and CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962).

Thank you Kino for all the great work!

Jeff T.

 

[warnerbro]

This is one of those undiscovered gems I had never heard of until recently and I simply love it. I had never heard of Laird Cregar either, but he is quickly becoming one of my favorites of all time. Mank's commentary is outstanding and worth the price of admission here. Love it when he says, "The marriage didn't last" when discussing how Sanders treated his wife basically keeping her locked up as a slave. The print is a little underwhelming but I'm sure it was the best they could do with what they had. The cinematography and production design and every element of this film is top rate. Love the lighting on Cregar's eyes!

 

[warnerbro]

One has to afford a (well-deserved) tip-of-the-hat to Kino-Lorber Studio Classics for making available blu-ray releases of genuinely prestigious screen horror masterpieces from the Golden Age of Cinema conspicuously exhibiting such outstanding consummate quality in production, performance and execution.

Laird Cregar is a name that should be (well) remembered and respected to be sure. It's unfortunate that his life was prematurely curtailed so short a span.

His Mr. Slade elicits far more audience empathy and sympathy than the so-called forces-of-righteous good do in this compelling and hauntingly tragic and darkly grim drama.

An excellent acquisition for those aesthetic appreciative fans who marvel at and are enamoured with such similarly accomplished works as THE CAT PEOPLE (1942) and CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962).

Thank you Kino for all the great work!

Jeff T.

Thanks for the cool pic!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for the review, I'll buy this title once it's discounted some more.

 

[Frank Ha]

Thanks for the review, Matt. I watched this for the first time back in October and enjoyed it. I'll eventually upgrade from the DVD when the price comes down some.

 

[haineshisway]

I have to offer the other opinion - first off, I love the movie itself, love Cregar and Oberon and Sanders and everyone else, the atmosphere and the Friedhofer score, but I'm really not certain how this could ever be thought of as a 4.5 out of 5 transfer - there are all the problems noted in the review so that right there should mean something, but it's just not a good transfer at all - it has annoying contrast fluctuations, and while some of it is okay sharpness-wise, other parts almost border on out of focus. I don't know what generation negative this is from but it's not anywhere near the original and I believe it to be the same as what was used for the DVD. I'm happy to have it, in the same way I'm happy to have The Barefoot Contessa, but neither of those transfers are anywhere near what they should be.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have to offer the other opinion - first off, I love the movie itself, love Cregar and Oberon and Sanders and everyone else, the atmosphere and the Friedhofer score, but I'm really not certain how this could ever be thought of as a 4.5 out of 5 transfer - there are all the problems noted in the review so that right there should mean something, but it's just not a good transfer at all - it has annoying contrast fluctuations, and while some of it is okay sharpness-wise, other parts almost border on out of focus. I don't know what generation negative this is from but it's not anywhere near the original and I believe it to be the same as what was used for the DVD. I'm happy to have it, in the same way I'm happy to have The Barefoot Contessa, but neither of those transfers are anywhere near what they should be.

He gave the movie a 4.5 out of 5 grade. The video presentation is graded 4.0 out of 5 with his noted comments. Now, you can argue that the grade should've been lower, but such differences of opinion are the norm with just about every review. I hope to have this BD once the price drops a little more and I'll share my opinion of this disc at that time.

 

[haineshisway]

I was pretty certain it was 4.5 when I looked at it - I'm usually careful about this stuff.

 

[Matt Hough]

I was pretty certain it was 4.5 when I looked at it - I'm usually careful about this stuff.

I can assure you, Bruce. I didn't change it.

 

[haineshisway]

No, I'm sure I misread it. At my age, it happens.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for the review, I'll buy this title once it's discounted some more.

Amazon just dropped the pricing down to $16.49 which is close enough for me.

 

[Robert Harris]

No, I'm sure I misread it. At my age, it happens.

Careful!

 

[Douglas R]

Amazon just dropped the pricing down to $16.49 which is close enough for me.

Me too! And low enough to avoid any UK import charges. THE LODGER is one of those films which I never tire of re-seeing.

 

[Mark-W]

Thanks for the fantastic review, Matt!

I was interested in this because of loving the Hitchcock version, and the fact that it has two commentary tracks by fellas I usually enjoy listening to. Unfortunately, I have to agree with your assessment of the Silver and Ursini commentary. After loving their discussion on Twilight Time's The Egyptian Blu-ray, I was really looking forward to this...and ultimately I felt let down. I gave the Mank track a listen and thought it was fantastic and very informative. I started Googling folks like David Bacon after listening to it.

I had never heard of Laird Cregar and now I defiantly want to check out his other films.

 

[Matt Hough]

Thanks, Mark.

Any time a commentary offers information I wasn't aware of or privy to, I want to celebrate it, and, like you, go off to do research of my own. When commentators are obviously sitting there talking without having done any preparation or have nothing distinctive to say, I always feel like I've wasted my time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks, Mark.

Any time a commentary offers information I wasn't aware of or privy to, I want to celebrate it, and, like you, go off to do research of my own. When commentators are obviously sitting there talking without having done any preparation or have nothing distinctive to say, I always feel like I've wasted my time.

I've listened to both commentaries and though the commentary you're referencing isn't ground-breaking with any new information, I can't agree with some of your comments about it. Furthermore, the Mank commentary was completed recently while the Silver and Ursini commentary is about 10 years old and perhaps they were out of their film noir expertise. Mank, clearly had more information due to his recent Cregar biography.

The second commentary track by Alain Silver and James Ursini carried over from the DVD release is a very lacking off-the-cuff set of comments by the two noir historians who haven’t done much homework on the movie and don’t seem really to admire it very much.

I don't agree with your comment in bold!

 

[Matt Hough]

Sorry, Crawdaddy, we'll just have to agree to disagree about this one. The age of the original commentary has nothing to do with the amount of research (or lack thereof) that the two commentators put into their track. The character actors they failed to identify or give credence to were certainly researchable had they taken the time to do it. It's to me a slapdash effort.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Sorry, Crawdaddy, we'll just have to agree to disagree about this one. The age of the original commentary has nothing to do with the amount of research (or lack thereof) that the two commentators put into their track. The character actors they failed to identify or give credence to were certainly researchable had they taken the time to do it. It's to me a slapdash effort.

You got that right! However, you still didn't address the example I noted as I read your review before I watched the commentary, thus, was looking at whether they gave enough praise to this film. IMO, they certainly did and I just can't agree with your assertion that they didn't fully appreciate this film.

 

[Matt Hough]

You got that right!

It happens.