Can anyone ID this Alfred Hitchcock film music? (1 Viewer)

[Brent Reid]

I'd love to know the title of the music accompanying a version of Alfred Hitchcock's silent film The Lodger (1926). It's a well-edited needle-drop of a pre-existing recording on the "Vintage Films" sound reissue (c. 1930–1950), which now appears on many bootlegs. There are a couple of particularly memorable cues two and five minutes in, which you can hear on YouTube.

I'll be grateful and amazed if anyone knows it, as all my enquiries so far have drawn a blank!

 

[Thomas Newton]

You posted elsewhere that this movie has at least five different scores. That ought to make the job of finding the right one really "interesting".

https://www.brentonfilm.com/article...-lodger-a-story-of-the-london-fog-1926-part-2

IMDB has some soundtrack credits, but they're for a later version of the film. Still, maybe they could suggest some avenues to explore.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037024/soundtrack

Along the same lines, there's a "new soundtrack" for The Lodger on Amazon and at:

https://silvascreenmusic.greedbag.com/buy/alfred-hitchcocks-the-lodger/

 

[Thomas Newton]

A suggestion: If you have the "Shazam" app (mobile or desktop), play the recording for it. Something that is that old and obscure probably is not in the database, but it only takes a few seconds to give it a try.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Here's another score, again, possibly not the right one:

https://redblueblacksilver.bandcamp...score-by-redblueblacksilver-and-phog-masheeen

 

[Brent Reid]

Hi Thomas, thanks for your replies. I know about all The Lodger's custom scores over the years (I wrote the article in the link you posted!) but the answer won't be found there. This music is a needle-drop score, which means it's just some random old piece, likely public domain, which has been slapped onto the silent print willy-nilly. For all that though, it happens to fit the film quite well and I like it for its own sake!

I've tried Shazam but it didn't yield any useful results. There are more apps listed here; if anyone has any and wants to give them a go, please feel free. I'm not very hopeful though...

It's maddening: this music seems very familiar yet at the same time is quite obscure!

 

[Thomas Newton]

Some of it sounds a bit like classical music – although not music with which I am familiar. Maybe someone here who is into that type of music would have better luck identifying it?