# The Haunted Strangler > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Haunted_Strangler > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Haunted_Strangler.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Strangler > Source revision: 1346824424 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|1958 British film by Robert Day}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = The Haunted Strangler | image = Posterhauntedstrangler.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [Robert Day](/source/Robert_Day_(director)) | writer = [John Croydon](/source/John_Croydon) (as "John C. Cooper")
Jan Read | based_on = an original story by Jan Read | producer = John Croydon
''executive''
[Richard Gordon](/source/Richard_Gordon_(film_producer)) | starring = [Boris Karloff](/source/Boris_Karloff)
[Jean Kent](/source/Jean_Kent)
[Elizabeth Allan](/source/Elizabeth_Allan)
[Anthony Dawson](/source/Anthony_Dawson) | cinematography = [Lionel Banes](/source/Lionel_Banes) | editing = [Peter Mayhew](/source/Peter_Mayhew_(film_editor)) | music = [Buxton Orr](/source/Buxton_Orr) | studio = [Amalgamated Productions](/source/Amalgamated_Productions) | distributor = [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer](/source/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) {{small|(U.S.)}}
[Eros Films](/source/Eros_Films) {{small|(U.K.)}} | released = {{Film date|1958|05|11|United States|1958|10|11|United Kingdom|df=y}} | runtime = 80 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = £80,000 | gross = $650,000 (on double bill){{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}} }} '''''The Haunted Strangler''''' (also known as '''''Grip of the Strangler''''' and originally titled '''''The Judas Hole''''') is a 1958 British [horror film](/source/horror_film) directed by [Robert Day](/source/Robert_Day_(director)) and starring [Boris Karloff](/source/Boris_Karloff), [Jean Kent](/source/Jean_Kent), [Elizabeth Allan](/source/Elizabeth_Allan), and [Anthony Dawson](/source/Anthony_Dawson).{{Cite web |title=The Haunted Strangler |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150177909 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}} It was adapted from "Stranglehold", a story which screenwriter Jan Read had written specially for Karloff, and was shot back to back with producer [Richard Gordon](/source/Richard_Gordon_(film_producer))'s ''[Fiend Without a Face](/source/Fiend_Without_a_Face)'' (1958), with both later being released as a [double feature](/source/double_feature) by [MGM](/source/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).Jacobs, Stephen, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011, p. 410-412 ==Plot== In 1860, Edward Styles is accused of being the notorious [Haymarket](/source/Haymarket%2C_London) Strangler, who brutally killed five women by partially strangling them with one hand before stabbing them to death. Styles, who lacks the use of one arm, is tried and executed for these crimes. As his coffin is nailed shut, an unknown onlooker slips a knife into it. Twenty years later, James Rankin, a novelist and social reformer, launches a private investigation to prove that Styles was innocent and would not have been convicted if adequate legal representation had been provided for him at trial. Police official Burk permits Rankin to examine the case evidence. Of note, the Strangler murdered his fifth victim, a dancer named Martha Stuart, at the sleazy Judas Hole [music hall](/source/music_hall), where singer Cora Seth and other witnesses noticed his disabled left arm as he fled the scene; the Strangler's knife was never recovered; and a doctor named Tennant conducted the autopsies on all five Strangler victims as well as Styles, and then fell ill during Styles' burial. Tennant becomes the focus of Rankin's inquiry. At the hospital where Tennant was brought, Rankin learns the doctor had been diagnosed with a severe nervous breakdown and was going to be institutionalized, but he and his nurse both vanished without a trace. Rankin takes possession of Tennant's abandoned personal effects, which include a journal containing unusually detailed descriptions of the Strangler's victims and a surgeon's kit with a missing knife. At the Judas Hole, Rankin gleans from Cora that she never saw the Strangler's face, and that Tennant was a regular patron who made unwanted advances towards Martha Stuart. Rankin deduces that Tennant was the real Haymarket Strangler, and suspects that his breakdown was precipitated by him disposing of his knife, the symbol of his homicidal compulsion, in Styles' coffin in a lucid moment when he was overwhelmed by guilt. Rankin next goes to the [Newgate Prison](/source/Newgate_Prison) cemetery and surreptitiously exhumes Styles' body. Finding the knife amid the bones, he takes hold of it and undergoes a transformation that contorts his face, paralyzes his left arm, and alters his personality. Rankin returns to the Judas Hole and kills Cora's protege, and as he departs, Cora recognizes him as the Haymarket Strangler. Alternating between himself and the Strangler persona, Rankin murders other women before finally coming to realize that he was Tennant all along. His wife Barbara confirms this, revealing that she was his nurse and fell in love with him. Believing that Tennant had been misdiagnosed, Barbara absconded with him and helped him build a new life as the writer James Rankin. Distressed by these revelations, Rankin reverts into the Strangler, kills Barbara, and runs off. When he returns home the next day to the news that his wife was murdered, Rankin confesses that he is the killer, but no one believes him and he becomes hysterical. Rankin is committed to [Coldbath Fields](/source/Coldbath_Fields_Prison), a traumatic experience that exacerbates his instability. He again assumes the Strangler persona and escapes after disfiguring a guard and murdering a kitchen maid. Back at his house, Rankin regains his senses before he can kill his daughter Lily. Confronted by the police, he leaps out a window and makes his way to Newgate Prison, where he tries to rebury the knife. The police pursue Rankin there and shoot him. In his last moments, Rankin declares that he and the knife both belong in the cemetery. ==Cast== {{cast listing| * [Boris Karloff](/source/Boris_Karloff) as James Rankin * [Jean Kent](/source/Jean_Kent) as Cora Seth * [Elizabeth Allan](/source/Elizabeth_Allan) as Barbara Rankin * [Anthony Dawson](/source/Anthony_Dawson) as Superintendent Burk * [Vera Day](/source/Vera_Day) as Pearl * [Tim Turner](/source/Tim_Turner) as Dr. Kenneth McColl * Diane Aubrey as Lily Rankin * [Max Brimmell](/source/Max_Brimmell) as Newgate Prison turnkey * [Leslie Perrins](/source/Leslie_Perrins) as Newgate Prison Governor * Jessica Cairns as asylum maid * [Dorothy Gordon](/source/Dorothy_Gordon_(British_actress)) as Hannah * [Desmond Roberts](/source/Desmond_Roberts) as Dr. Johnson * Michael Atkinson as Edward Styles * [Peggy Anne Clifford](/source/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 UK. Gordon set up [Amalgamated Productions](/source/Amalgamated_Productions) with Charles Vetters and had started providing U.S. funding and talent for eight pictures shot in Britain.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} Amalgamated went into partnership with British producer [John Croydon](/source/John_Croydon) and negotiated a deal with distributor [Eros Films](/source/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](/source/National_Film_Finance_Corporation).Hamilton, John, ''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](/source/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, excluding 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](/source/Jack_the_Ripper)-type 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](/source/Walton_Studios) in Surrey. Karloff was paid $27,500 for four weeks, with an option to make a second film for Amalgamated.Weaver, Tom, ''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](/source/The_Criterion_Collection) DVD, available as part of the 2007 box set ''Monsters and Madmen''. ==Reception== ===Box office=== According to MGM records, this film and ''[Fiend Without a Face](/source/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. ===Critical=== ''[The Monthly Film Bulletin](/source/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin)'' wrote: "This ludicrously improbable plot, which peters out into a series of tediously repetitive chases, is used as an excuse for the now familiar ingredients of the current horror trend. Karloff and Jean Kent play with well-intentioned earnestness, and Vera Day is as bright as ever in her brief sequences."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1958 |title=The Haunted Strangler |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305824840 |journal=[The Monthly Film Bulletin](/source/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin) |volume=25 |issue=288 |pages=143 |id={{ProQuest|1305824840}} }} In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' [David Quinlan](/source/David_Quinlan_(film_critic)) rated the film as "average", writing: "Gruesome horror film, quite scary."{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=[B.T. Batsford Ltd.](/source/Batsford_Books) |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=317}} ==See also== * [Boris Karloff filmography](/source/Boris_Karloff_filmography) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * {{IMDb title|0051706}} * {{TCMDb title|77477}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|haunted_strangler}} * [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2025-in-praise-of-karloff-the-uncanny ''In Praise of Karloff the Uncanny''] an essay by [Maitland McDonagh](/source/Maitland_McDonagh) at the [Criterion Collection](/source/Criterion_Collection) {{Robert Day}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Haunted Strangler, The}} Category:1958 horror films Category:1950s serial killer films Category:British historical horror films Category:1958 films Category:Films directed by Robert Day Category:Films set in London Category:Films set in the 19th century Category:Films set in the Victorian era Category:1950s historical horror films Category:1958 English-language films Category:1958 British films Category:Films scored by Buxton Orr Category:English-language horror films Category:English-language crime films Category:English-language historical films Category:British black-and-white films --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Haunted Strangler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Strangler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Strangler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.