Saturday night I went to the cinema, guiltily missing Earth Hour in order to watch a Hitchcock film. The Lodger is one of Hitchcock’s nine silent films, and probably the best restored. The BFI are currently trying to raise money to restore the others.

The film was accompanied by The Tippett Quartet, with a brand new score. It was introduced by the composer, Ben Burrows.

I’m going to review the various elements separately, since performances like this are few and far between, and if you do get a chance to see The Lodger it may well be with a different musical accompaniment.

Firstly, the film: even though it’s only his thrid film, it’s stills recognisbly Hitchcock. He described it as his first real film, and it’s certainly shows some of the common themes of his work (The Wrong Man, a Hitchcock Blonde, and a lot of repeating visual motifs) in their early forms.

Hitchcock had recently returned from Germany, and elements of expressionism have seeped into the visual style, especially in terms of shadows. One that really caught my attention was when the window frame cast a cross-shaped shadow across the lodger’s face. Another famous scene involves a glass ceiling and Ivor Novello rapidly pacing back and forth across the floor above the other characters; it’s beautifully done, and still has an impact today.

The plot itself is pretty straightforward: there’s a mysterious man who calls himself The Avenger, killing blonde girls on Tuesdays. A family with a blonde daughter take in a lodger, who goes out on Tuesday nights. Funnily enough, they get a bit suspicious.

I never had any doubt that the lodger, played by Ivor Novello, would turn out to be innocent. Daisy, our blonde heroine, begins the film dating a policeman, Joe, but falls for the enigmatic lodger pretty promptly. To be honest, when her beau says things like “When I’ve put a rope around his [the Avenger’s] neck, then I’ll put a ring around her finger” it doesn’t take a genius to figure out where Daisy’s eventual affections will lie.

The real Avenger is actually caught off screen in the end, he’s that inconsequential. Instead, the suspense comes from the question of precisely what the Lodger is doing. It’s hard to conceive of a rational explanation for his actions until the police raid on his rooms reveals more information. Ivor Novello plays  the role perfectly, managing to inspire both pathos and suspicion with a single look.

I’d be hard put to fault any of the acting, from lighthearted Daisy to bad-boyfriend-good-policeman Joe. Though silent films require a certain lack of subtlety – as the internet offers examples of hourly, tone of voice is massively important in conveying information and silent films found various ways around this – this does not mean the characterisation is a matter of broad brushstrokes. Though the cast is small, each character has their own motivations, personality traits, quirks of expression… They’re realistic in their behaviour and interactions, lifting the film above its ouevre and demonstrating Hitchcock’s yet-to-be-explored talents as a director.

Annoyingly, someone involved with the restoration obviously felt Hitchcock needed a helping hand. They’ve put their own stamp on it by adding colour filters to the originally black and white stock. Interior scenes are yellow, exterior blue, night greyscale and the final scenes are red. It’s more distracting that it is explanatory, and frankly I found it really grated on my nerves. It’s not Hitchcock and it wasn’t necessary.

Being a silent film,  it would have originally been performed with live music, and this was provided by The Tippett Quartet. I really enjoyed it; I’m not the most musically observant, but even I picked up on recurring themes and flourishes. The only thing that caught me out was the famous pacing scene, where the music seemed to ‘pace’ much slower than the Lodger did in the scene. Still, it was interesting to note how much the music could change the tone of a scene, and made me more conscious of the influence the music was having on me. I couldn’t fault a single other scene.

Working backwards, in a way, my final thoughts are on how the film was introduced! The composer was invited to give a few words, but I’m not sure they were the best ones he could have given. Summarising the plot was not particularly helpful (we were already there to watch it!), and I’d have liked more information about the composition process. Still, I suppose that’s little more than a nitpick; I got the impression he wasn’t called on to introduce films often, and I think a Q&A afterwards might have been better for both him and us.

Overall, it’s a film I’d love to see again, and I hope that the BFI can get funding to do the rest of the Hitchcock Nine. The live music was a wonderful addition and I’m glad I had the opportunity to enjoy it.