Movie lovers around the world have reacted with outrage after learning that one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous films has been reimagined in a vertical “micro-drama” format designed for smartphones.
According to Deadline, Hitchcock’s 1927 thriller The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog has been transformed into a series of two-minute episodes for the British app Tattle TV — a platform that specialises in vertical mini-dramas.
Micro-dramas are short, two-minute episodes filmed vertically specifically for mobile viewing. The concept is meant to cater to shrinking attention spans, as audiences increasingly struggle to watch full-length films or traditional TV series.
To adapt The Lodger, Tattle reportedly split the 90-minute film into dozens of short clips that can be watched on a phone. The company said it is “one of the first known cases of a classic feature film being fully reimagined for a vertical format and mobile consumption.”
Tattle also used “advanced AI tools” to adapt the black-and-white silent film for modern iPhones.
However, many film purists have viewed the move as “an insult to a classic.” Negative reactions have flooded social media, including comments such as:
“If you can’t watch a 90-minute film — I feel sorry for you.”
“This is very sad.”
“Reformatting Hitchcock into a micro-drama isn’t innovation, it’s proof that we’ve lost our attention spans.”
The Lodger is considered Hitchcock’s first major thriller and laid the foundation for his signature style. The story follows a family who begins to suspect their new tenant is a serial killer resembling Jack the Ripper.
The film was a major success and received glowing reviews from critics. In 1927, the British magazine Bioscope called it “the best British film of all time.” Hitchcock later admitted he would have liked to remake it in colour in 1942.
After The Lodger, the director went on to create legendary films such as Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, Rebecca, Rope, and many others.
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