Having completed the British TV series COLONEL MARCH (1952-1956), Boris Karloff was approached by writer Jan Read to do a screenplay he had written for the actor called STRANGLEHOLD. Karloff read the script and readily agreed as it gave him the opportunity to continue working in England. American producer Richard Gordon set up Amalgamated Productions in the U.K. and that’s how THE HAUNTED STRANGLER (originally GRIP OF THE STRANGLER) began. It was designed to be a double feature with the sci-fi/horror movie FIEND WITHOUT A FACE starring Marshall Thompson. Both movies were released by MGM in 1958 and were successful enough to warrant follow-ups.
Karloff plays a research novelist in Victorian London who is interested in social reform. He seizes on the case of a one armed murderer known as the Haymarket Strangler who was executed 20 years before. Karloff theorizes that because he was poor and had no access to a proper defense and that is the reason he was hung. Believing him to be innocent, Karloff then begins a series of investigations in the hopes of clearing the Strangler’s name and then using the case as a classic example of Victorian social injustice. His research eventually leads to a whole new series of murders in the same locale and a startling though not surprising revelation involving his wife (Elizabeth Allan) and himself.
The STRANGLER screenplay is a clever amalgamation of DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE and of Jack the Ripper. It gives Boris the opportunity to really sink his teeth into a role at the age of 70. Not only is his part well written but it involves a great deal of physical activity At this point in his career, he was still in surprisingly good shape. His serious health issues didn’t emerge until 1963 when he was 75. The Victorian atmosphere is well conveyed despite the low budget and there are a couple of truly startling scenes along the way. The biggest drawback is the inordinate amount of time devoted to a group of Can-Can dancers at the local music hall. They were big in the 1950s thanks to the movie MOULIN ROUGE.
This review is based on the 1998 Image release which uses the original American poster art on the cover. The print used for the DVD transfer is good and doesn’t have the contrast issues I remember from the ones I saw on TV in the 1960s. The sound is also clear although captions or subtitles would have been appreciated. That oversight was corrected when STRANGLER was re-issued in 2007 as part of Criterion’s expensive box set MONSTERS & MADMEN. The M&M set also includes Karloff’s follow-up film for Richard Gordon, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD as well as Amalgamated’s FIRST MAN INTO SPACE and brother Alex Gordon’s ultra low budget cult sci-fi movie, THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE.
The Capsule Critic 