The Lodger (1944)

In 1888 London, the serial killer known as Jack The Ripper is terrorizing the local population. When a mysterious medical researcher (Laird Cregar) rents a room in a London home, the wife (Sara Allgood) suspects the new lodger may be the man known as Jack The Ripper but her husband (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and her niece (Merle Oberon) disparage the idea. Based on the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes which was previously made as a silent film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and directed by the undervalued John Brahm. Rich in atmosphere with a marvelous production design by James Basevi and John Ewing and shrouded in foggy black and white cinematography by Lucien Ballard, the film is a showcase for Laird Cregar who makes for a disturbing psychopath. Cregar doesn't overdo it. In fact, he's almost repressed which makes his sudden outbursts all the more terrifying. Even that scene stealer George Sanders as a Scotland Yard detective pales beside him. Oberon is lovely and projects fear very well. The score is by Hugo Friedhofer. With Queenie Leonard, Doris Lloyd and Helena Pickard.