Live Cinema: The Lodger

The score of Hitchcock's moody thriller will be recreated in real time.
Stephen Heard
May 23, 2019

Overview

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's annual involvement with the NZ International Film Festival (NZIFF) sees them recreate the score of classic films in real time. This year, for the much-anticipated 20th edition of Live Cinema, the ensemble will take on Alfred Hitchcock's moody, morally ambiguous thriller The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog.

The 1927 film has been described by the legendary filmmaker as "the first true Hitchcock movie". The Lodger takes place in London, a city plagued by a killer who only strangles beautiful young blondes. Ivor Novello plays a mysterious stranger who emerges from the London fog to seek lodgings with the family of Daisy, a beautiful young blonde. When he isn't prowling the city by night, he paces the floor in his upstairs room.

As part of the 2019 NZIFF, the film will feature as a sparkling new 2K restoration with an atmospheric new score by Neil Brand and conducted by Peter Scholes.

NZIFF Programme Manager Michael McDonnell says, "The Lodger is a treat for all Hitchcock fans offering the pleasure of spotting the early occurrences of many of the themes and characteristics of his later classics: dark humour, erotic obsession and a serious lack of faith in the competence and goodwill of the police."

The Lodger will screen for one night at Auckland's The Civic on Sunday, 4 August.

Image: Russell Street.

Information

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