05/13/2026
"The Lodger was the first true 'Hitchcock' movie," Alfred Hitchcock stated in 1962 as he looked back over his illustrious career. By the 1960s, the director was a long-established 'Master of Suspense,' and he felt that The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) was the film that set his course for the top. 🎞️
The Lodger (1927) was Hitchcock's third feature and his first foray into the thriller genre. Heavily influenced by German expressionist films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Nosferatu (1922), the young director experimented with unexpected angles, eerie tension, and plot twists - all signatures of his later blockbuster hits. 🔍
This was also the first film in which Hitchcock made a wordless cameo, this time as a newsroom editor (picture 2), and he went on to appear in 39 more of his films over the coming decades. In 1962, he explained that his cameo in The Lodger (1927) “was strictly utilitarian” because the actor they cast didn’t show up to set, but that "later on, it became a superstition, and eventually a gag.”
Experience Alfred Hitchcock's self-proclaimed directorial debut in Vancouver's stunning Orpheum theatre, while a soundtrack is played live on the theatre's rare Wurlitzer organ - an instrument created to accompany silent films and the last in Canada still performing in its original home. 🎶
🎥 VCT Presents Silent Movie Mondays: The Lodger (1927) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
📅 May 25, 2026 at 7:30pm (Doors at 6:30pm)
📍 The Orpheum (601 Smithe Street)
🎟️ Tickets start at $18! Buy Now: bit.ly/3Hq4aQf
