In the news has been the report that documentary filmmaker David Ondaatje will be filming his version of The Lodger. The original 1927 film is most famous as the first British feature by Alfred Hitchcock, and the first film to indicate the kind of films Hitchcock would be most famous for. The adaptation from Marie Belloc Lowndes novel has actually been remade two other times, in 1932 by British director Maurice Elvey, and again in 1944 in Hollywood by John Brahm, a now forgotten thriller specialist. Ondaatje is planning a contemporary update on this fictionalized version of the Jack the Ripper story.

This announcement comes almost on the heels of the previous announcement that Michael Bay will be producing a new version of The Birds. The proclamation that Bay’s production will include an explanation of WHY the birds are attacking people does not sit well with Hitchcock fans. After all, isn’t not knowing scarier?

Obviously Gus Van Sant’s version of Psycho hasn’t disuaded anyone, although the best remake of a Hitchcock film is still Hitchcock’s own remake of The Man who knew too Much. Que sera, sera.

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