 Ivor Novello (qv) (played by Jeremy Northam (qv)) was a well  known London matinée idol, singer and composer who starred in Alfred  Hitchcocks silent classic The Lodger (1927). He had a good voice  and starred again in the successful sound remake (1932). In  Gosford Park, set in November 1932, Countess Constance (Maggie  Smith) refers to the remake as a flop.