Man in the Attic
1954  NR  SUSPENSE  1h 22min
CAST— Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Byron Palmer, Frances Bavier, Rhys Williams, Sean McClory, Isabel Jewell, Leslie Bradley
MUSIC— Hugo Friedhofer  DIRECTOR— Hugo Fregonese  BASED ON— The Lodger (novel), by Marie Belloc Lowndes

     This remake of The Lodger (1927) leaves a lot to be desired in the way of story development, characterization, and just plain old entertainment. Jack Palance plays a new boarder at the home of a quiet family held in the grips of London’s mass panic over the Jack the Ripper slayings (forsaking “The Avenger” moniker this time around). Their new boarder seems mysterious enough; perhaps he’s the Ripper… The film chugs along at a snail’s pace until finally reaching a conclusion unlike the original version (just in case you’re keeping score). Still worth viewing if you want to see Aunt Bea in a freak out over Jack the Ripper.
OUR RATING— * ½
ORIGINAL— The Lodger (1927/1944)
REMADE AS— The Lodger (2009)