The Lodger (1944)
A mysterious and suspicious man rents a room in London during the days of Jack the Ripper.
Director John Brahm may perhaps allow a little too much bourgeois daylight to invade his otherwise fogbound blood and thunder, what with music hall numbers from an overdubbed Merle Oberon and George Sanders as a detective love interest, but still overall great fun. Besides the spooky atmosphere, the real star is Laird Cregar, in his penultimate role, as the title character. The original Hitchcock version is probably the slightly better film, but Cregar’s bravura performance helps push this film more solidly into horror territory, and thus, suitable for the season.