Grip Of The Strangler

''The Haunted Strangler'' (also known as ''Grip of the Strangler'' and originally titled ''The Judas Hole'') is a 1958 British horror film directed by Robert Day. It was adapted from "Stranglehold", a story which screenwriter Jan Read had written specially for Boris Karloff, and was shot back to back with producer Richard Gordon's ''Fiend Without a Face'', with both later being released as a double feature by MGM.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011, p. 410-412

Plot

In Victorian era-London, Edward Styles is accused of being the notorious Haymarket Strangler, the brutal killer of five women. He is tried and executed for these crimes. As he is being buried, an unknown person slips a knife into his coffin.

Twenty years later, James Rankin (Boris Karloff), a novelist and social reformer, launches an investigation to prove that Styles was innocent. His search for clues leads him to the sleazy Judas Hole music hall, where the Strangler picked his victims from the can-can dancers and loose women. Rankin comes to believe that the real murderer was a doctor named Tennant, who was institutionalized after Styles was executed, then disappeared with a nurse from the hospital. He sets out to find Tennant. Rankin goes to Newgate Prison cemetery, where Styles was buried and disinters his body. He finds the knife in the coffin and holding it causes a physical transformation: his face is distorted and his left arm is paralyzed. He is now a crazed murderer, and he returns to the Judas Hole where he kills a dancer. Alternating between himself and the killer, Rankin kills others, finally coming to realize that he is, in fact, Tennant, the person he's been looking for. His wife confirms this, telling him that she spirited him away from the hospital twenty years earlier because she had fallen in love with him. Again taking up the knife, he kills her and escapes his house. When he returns, as Rankin, he confesses that he is the killer, but no one believes him. Thinking he has gone insane, the authorities commit him to an asylum. There he again assumes the persona of the killer and escapes. He returns to his house and attempts to kill his daughter, but stops himself and becomes Rankin again. Confronted by the police, he leaps out a window and goes back to Newgate cemetery to put the knife back into Styles' grave. The police find him there and kill him.

Cast

* Boris Karloff as James Rankin
* Jean Kent as Cora Seth
* Elizabeth Allan as Barbara Rankin
* Anthony Dawson as Superintendent Burk
* Vera Day as Pearl
* Tim Turner as Dr. Kenneth McColl
* Diane Aubrey as Lily Rankin
* Max Brimmell as Newgate Prison Turnkey
* Leslie Perrins as Newgate Prison Governor
* Jessica Cairns as Asylum Maid
* Dorothy Gordon as Hannah
* Desmond Roberts as Dr. Johnson
* Michael Atkinson as Edward Style
* Peggy Anne Clifford as Kate

Production

The film was originally going to be called ''Stranglehold'' and was written by Jan Read, a friend of Boris Karloff's. He gave the script to producer Richard Gordon, who was looking to make a horror movie in the U.K. Gordon set up Amalgamated Productions with Charles Vetters and had started providing U.S. funding and talent for eight pictures shot in Britain.

Amalgamated went into partnership with British producer John Croydon and negotiated a deal with distributor Eros Films who agreed to guarantee 70% of the film's budget after delivery of the final product. The remaining 30% of the budget was provided by the National Film Finance Corporation.John Hamilton, ''The British Independent Horror Film 1951–70'', Hemlock Books 2013, p. 29-34

The agreement with Eros was conditional on Amalgamated providing a second film, so Gordon arranged to make ''Fiend Without a Face'' back to back with a different cast and director. MGM picked up both films for release. Gordon later estimated the cost of the two movies together was approximately £80,000 exclusive of the costs of imported American stars.

Read's script was rewritten by John Croydon, who brought in the idea of making the killer a Jack the Ripper-style murderer and having the transformation be physical (in the original draft, Rankin was only possessed by the killer's spirit).

The film was shot in Walton Studios in Surrey. Karloff was paid $27,500 for four weeks, with an option to make a second film for Amalgamated.Tom Weaver, ''The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon'', Bear Manor Media 2011, p. 26-40

Executive producer Richard Gordon and interviewer Tom Weaver talk about the making of ''The Haunted Strangler'' on the audio commentary of the Criterion DVD, available as part of the 2007 box set ''Monsters and Madmen''.

Reception

According to MGM records, this film and ''Fiend Without a Face'' together earned $350,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $300,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit to the studio of $160,000.

See also

* Boris Karloff filmography

References

External links

*
*
*
*
''In Praise of Karloff the Uncanny''
an essay by Maitland McDonagh at the Criterion Collection

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haunted Strangler, The
1958 horror films
1950s serial killer films
British historical horror films
1958 films
Films directed by Robert Day
Films set in London
Films set in the 19th century
Films set in the Victorian era
1950s historical horror films
1950s English-language films
1950s British films