Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Micitype Pretty Good

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Eric266 I'm constantly amazed at how well these old movies from the 40s and 50s conveyed mood, time and space. They didn't have the CGI effects we have today to generate backgrounds so they used what they had. I think it looks more genuine than the stuff today. London's Whitechapel is an icky, smoky, dark, dank and shallow place in the 1880s. The narrow streets and sense of everything pushed together gives the whole movie a sense of claustrophobia.Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Sara Allgood play the Bontings, who open their home to Mr. Slade (Laird Cregar), the lodger of the title. He is a pathologist who carries a black medical bag, goes out at odd hours, and is kind of creepy. Merle Oberon is the Bontings' niece, Kitty, who is a stage dancer at a local theater. Lastly, George Sanders (The Saint/The Falcon) plays Scotland Yard detective Warwick.Mr. Slade's behavior becomes more and more suspicious as the Ripper killings continue and the locals are in a frenzy. The Ripper murders are handled pretty gently with only shadows and off camera screams. Nothing on camera (I think its actually more effective to imagine the murders anyway) and they play with a lot of the facts of the murders in terms of timing and level of savagery.The movie is ambiguous as to whether Slade IS the Ripper. Was he the actual Ripper or was he just "working" during the same time as the Ripper. The movie leaves that up to the audience. I preferred that to a tidy wrap up.At a crisp running time of 90 minutes plus, the cast and crew did a marvelous job of conveying the sense of fear and distrust that the ripper murders engendered. The only drawback for me were the tepid musical numbers they shoehorned in for Ms. Oberon. She has an amazing voice, but the dance numbers were so cheeky and lame (by today's standards) that it dragged down the picture for me. I kept imagining Madeline Kahn's Lili Von Schtupp from Blazing Saddles every time Ms. Oberon did one of her two dance numbers.Watch this with the lights out and a storm raging for added effect. Its a fear borne from mood, not on screen scares. Top notch.

Scott LeBrun Adapting the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, 17 years after Hitchcock had done so well with his silent film version, director John Brahm here creates a literate, exciting, spooky Victorian era thriller. During the time of Jack the Rippers' bloody reign of terror, a man who identifies himself as "Slade" (Laird Cregar) rents some rooms from an older couple named the Bontings (Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood). He keeps odd hours, and supposedly needs the space to perform some sort of "experiments". Ellen Bonting (Allgood) comes to suspect that this eccentric gentleman "Slade" might in fact be The Ripper. This new tenant soon develops a fixation on Saras' comely niece Kitty Langley (Merle Oberon), a musical performer.The cast is tremendously good in this kind of setting, and the story, as told by screenwriter Barre Lyndon and director Brahm, is efficient and entertaining. It moves along quite well - even though it gives Oberon an opportunity to strut her stuff in two numbers, these are over fairly quickly. Lyndons' script has some noticeable themes to it, such as the cleansing power of water, and of the supposed "evil" that can be found in the most beautiful of women. The sets, the costumes, and the superior black & white cinematography by the talented Lucien Ballard all add substantial value to the production. It's as wonderfully atmospheric as so many other b & w horror films from the 30s and 40s. Some of the best moments actually take place when the score cuts out and we're left with ambient sound on the soundtrack. Brahm was one filmmaker who really knew how to generate suspense.Cregar is excellent in the title role. Even though we're never in any real doubt as to "Slade"s' identity, he dares to invite some sympathy for this deluded, deranged character. He makes all of his scenes riveting. Oberon is enticing as the young woman who will become his object of desire. The dapper, elegant George Sanders is fun as the Scotland Yard detective in charge of the case. Hardwicke and Allgood are fine as the landlords, and he's the one who urges some calm and reason while her imagination starts going wild. Aubrey Mather, Queenie Leonard, Doris Lloyd, David Clyde, Helena Pickard, and Frederic Worlock are all fine in support.Well worth a look, especially if one is partial to the genre films of this era, and / or they have a fascination for any Ripper-related story.Same story filmed again nine years later as "Man in the Attic", with Jack Palance in the lead.Eight out of 10.

Alex da Silva Mr Slade (Laird Cregar) takes up a temporary residence in the home of Robert Bonting (Cedric Hardwicke). It is Victorian London and Jack The Ripper is murdering his victims. Ellen Bonting (Sara Allgood) suspects that Mr Slade might be the Ripper, while her niece Kitty (Merle Oberon) tries to make it as an actress in the theatre halls. What is Mr Slade's business.....?...The film is set in a smoggy London where Jack The Ripper is at large and it has a claustrophobic atmosphere to it. The cast are good, especially Sara Allgood as the suspicious Ellen. Laid Cregar's character is definitely a misfit - no way would I have agreed to let him share a house with me. Merle Oberon is slightly naive to this complete freak while George Sanders as Inspector Warwick cruises through the film in his usual slick style. The film gets moving from the beginning and Laird Cregar succeeds in making it quite creepy as the Ripper's victims are continually discovered.

revere-7 This is a great thriller that not enough people have heard of, let alone seen, which is a shame, because it is perhaps the most archetypal black and white Jack-the-Ripper film. The plot is simple but effective - during the Jack-the-Ripper scare, a strange gentleman with a mysterious past rents a room in a London boarding house, to the growing suspicion of the other residents.This mid forties version of the novel "The Lodger" is the best movie version ever made - which is high praise when you consider that it's been adapted to the screen almost every decade from the silent era to today (a version was just released in 2009 the year of this review), including one by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock himself. Not to mention it's influence on police procedurals (there's a scene at Scotland Yard's Black Museum) and later Ripper films such as "From Hell".But what makes this version special is that it features strong performances by Laird Cregar as the creepy Mr. Slade, and Merle Oberon as a can-can dancer who comes and goes through the East End at night, just the sort of girl who might fall prey to someone like The Ripper.Furthermore, this film came out when the film noir style was in full swing, and cinematographers were experimenting with new camera angles and especially the use of low key lighting. Whether or not it can be classified as a bona fide noir or not, it certain shows noir influences, with figures frequently silhouetted in the London fog, and a distinct similarity to the "menaced woman" noir sub-genre typified by films such as "Sorry, Wrong Number".