cinema history class: the lodger

Session: Saucy Jack, Week 1
Movie: The Lodger (1944)
Directed by John Brahm

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
A mysterious lodger has developed quite an obsession with a showgirl. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

The true shame of this is learning about the short career of Laird Cregar, who played the titular lodger. Tall and heavyset, Cregar was a natural to portray heavies -- something which he did wonderfully. But he wanted to be a leading man, and literally died pursuing that dream. The extreme dieting and surgery that he hoped would turn him into a svelte romantic lead killed him at age 31. He is one of those performers who died tragically young and make you wonder "what if?"

I had never heard of Cregar, but found out this information during Joe's introduction. Joe missed Bring Your Own Movie month last year and this was one of the movies he was considering bringing. So Keith let him present. He chose to focus on Cregar, and even showed us a 20-minute documentary, The Tragic Mask: The Laird Cregar Story.

And Cregar lived up to the hype. He was part of an excellent cast, but this show was him. Over the course of the story we see him slowly transform from a relatively controlled man struggling to be proper to a crazed maniac. The essence of this transformation was captured in one particular scene that places him in a cabaret, watching the object of his affections, Kitty Langley (played wonderfully by Merle Oberon). He starts out looking well enough. But each time the shot changes to the stage where Kitty is performing and then back to Mr. Slade (Cregar's character), he looks more and more disheveled. Someone, I forget who, noted similarities between that and a scene in The Night of The Hunter (which we saw recently), but this was done better. I was thinking that he seemed to be turning from Jeckyll to Hyde. And that was capped by his appearance in Langley's dressing room, looking like he's lost his grip on sanity.

Director John Brahm did a great job using Cregar's size to advantage. Many camera shots emphasize just how big he is, as the camera shoots down over his shoulder, looming over other characters, or contrasting him with smaller actresses.

What if?

Ratings

Me: 9.8

Bob-O: 9.7

Christina: 9.2

Dave: 9.7

Ethan: 10

Joe: 10