THE HAUNTED STRANGLER

By the time Boris Karloff achieved stardom as the star of 1931’s “Frankenstein”, he was already 44 years old and had appeared in 81 prior films. When most stars best days were behind them, Karloff was just getting started. He was truly a working actor and being established as a horror movie icon provided him with plenty of work even in his middle years.

It is true that not all of Boris’ films were top of the line material. Never did I see him deliver a performance that was less than good and often he was able to turn mediocre roles in parts full of feeling and emotion. Take a look at any of the mad doctor films he did in the 1940’s for proof, like “The Devil’s Command”, “Before I Hang” and even “The Ape”. This was a quality that many other horror icons like Peter Cushing and Vincent Price also possessed. 

In 1958, Karloff was 71 years old and physically was feeling the weight of his years. But the desire to perform...and perform well,,,was still there. By the 50’s, the horror landscape had changed greatly from his heyday of classic monsters and mad scientists. Atomic mutants and invaders from space had taken over. The few period horrors made were more lurid and explicit than the character-focused days of Universal. The genre was on the verge of an explosion of graphic gore and sex, but not there yet.

Karloff was a man between eras, but still eager to act and not afraid of the new wave of horror. When he was offered the title role of a low budget film called “The Haunted Strangler”, he saw a part he could really sink his teeth into. In fact, the part of James Rankin was written specifically for Karloff by the British screenwriter Jan Read. Read had done his homework well. The movie was set in the late Victorian period and gave Boris a strong role to work with.

“The Haunted Strangler” was released on a double feature with the cult classic “Fiend Without A Face” and it did make an impression. What it didn’t make was money and the film virtually disappeared from view until the VHS boom of the 1980’s. Even then, it wasn’t particularly easy to find. It suffered the fate of many low budget B-movies of the time and it was very rarely discussed in connection with Karloff’s career.

The film deserves a better fate. At age 71, Boris Karloff delivered what I consider his best film performance of the 1950’s, one full of range and vigor. Despite its budget, the film was well directed by Robert Day and featured an assortment of good supporting performances. The plot itself brought together aspects of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “Jack The Ripper” and “The Body Snatcher” into one coherent tale. It had the feel of a film made by an English production outfit that was just starting to take off at this same time...Hammer Films.

In discussing the movie’s plot, the elephant in the room will be the true identity of “The Haymarket Strangler”. That was given away by every single poster and trailer for the movie. Which is unfortunate, because if you go into this movie completely blind, the Strangler’s identity would be a shock. But since  so many images of a grisly looking Boris carrying a knife were out there, there’s little element of surprise left. So I won’t even bother issuing a spoiler alert...everybody pretty much knows who the Strangler is.

The film’s opening is a grim one and shows right away that this is no feature designed for kids necking at the drive-in, but a serious historical horror film. A man named Edward Styles is on his way to the gallows at the infamous Newgate Prison. He is accused of being the notorious Haymarket Strangler, a one armed fiend who tries to strangle women to death with his single hand but who must resort to the knife to finish them off. Styles is a one-armed man and everybody is convinced of his guilt, even though he strenuously proclaims his innocence.

The hanging is a nasty affair, as Styles is brought before a jeering crowd. The movie shows a cynical touch as pickpockets are shown easily plying their trade in the crowd and prostitutes try to drum up new customers. Some people have brought their young children to the execution...a common enough occurrence in those days. A piteously protesting Styles is quickly hung in front of the roaring crowd. His body is later shown in a cheap coffin, which is taken to the prison graveyard for a pauper’s burial. But before the coffin is nailed shut, we see a gloved hand secretly place a knife next to Styles’ corpse…

It is now 1880 and there is new interest in the case of the Haymarket Strangler. The famous writer James Rankin (Karloff) is convinced that Styles was innocent and has gone to the police to examine evidence in the case. Police chief Burke is hesitant, but Rankin’s excellent reputation moves him to let the writer continue his investigation. In these opening scenes, we see Rankin as a kindly, well-mannered man with an attractive wife Barbara, and an even more attractive daughter Lilly. He seems loved and respected by all.

Rankin uncovers some interesting facts, most emanating from the Strangler’s murder of a lascivious young dancer named Martha Stuart at a den of ill repute with the unlikely name of The Judas Hole. This was the only one of the murders where the Strangler was seen by multiple witnesses, including the bawdy singer Cora Seth. Cora and the others noted the killer’s left arm was useless.

A young doctor named Tennant performed Martha’s autopsy as well as the others victims, all women of dim reputation. The resemblances to the actual Jack the Ripper case are blatantly obvious. It was noted that the knife used by the Strangler was never found. When Tennant attended Styles’ burial, he was seen to leave in a state of great agitation.

Rankin draws a bead on Tennant and looks further into his background. The doctor was not a well man himself and was known to suffer from a nervous disorder so severe that he was scheduled to be put in a sanitarium. But before this took place, Tennant and a young nurse who assisted him completely dropped out of sight and were never located. Rankin also finds Tennant’s doctor’s bag, which contains all of his equipment...except for one knife which is missing.

Rankin pays a visit to the Judas Hole, which is still going strong. This is your old school Victorian “bawdy house” full of well-dressed drunks and barely dressed females. We get some scenes of can-can girls doing their thing on the stage, which was considered a steamy sight back in the 50’s but which could be in a PG rated movie today. Rankin makes his way to the back, where he finds an older Cora, who is now the “house mother” for the dancing girls. 

Cora never got a clear look at The Strangler’s face but heard from others that it was “hideous”. She did remember that his left arm was useless but that he otherwise seemed pretty vigorous. Rankin also learns that Dr. Tennant was a regular customer at The Judas Hole in those days and seemed to be especially interested in popular dancer Martha Stuart, who was killed by the Strangler right at the bar.

Rankin is now sure that Tennant is the actual Haymarket Strangler. But where did he disappear to? And how can he get physical proof that Tennant was the guilty man? Perhaps the grave of Edward Styles holds the clue. After all, the last place Tennant was seen was at Styles’ coffin just before burial. Rankin heads to the bleak locale of Newgate Prison and with the reluctant help of an unscrupulous guard, he gets access to the shabby prison graveyard where Styles is buried.

The graveyard scene is full of great spooky atmosphere, enhanced by stark lighting and almost noir like black and white. Rankin finally digs up the shabby coffin of Styles and opens it to reveal the man’s skeletal remains. There amidst the bones is a knife...the original murder weapon. Rankin grasps it...and becomes possessed. In a great scene of physical transformation, kindly James Rankin’s left arm shrivels up, he bites his lower lip and his left closes in an evil squint. We realize that the criminologist has become possessed by the spirit of the Haymarket Strangler! 71 year old Karloff flawlessly pulls off the transformation from good to a bestial evil.

The Strangler picks up where left off 20 years ago. He makes his way to the Judas Hole and tries to murder Cora Seth. Instead, he attacks Cora’s pretty young starlet Pearl, trying to choke her with his good arm and then brutally stabbing her with the knife. Although we don’t see much blood, the Strangler’s stabbings are full of physical brutality...something Karloff didn’t engage much in even in his glory days. Cora sees the murder and screams...the Strangler escapes, but Cora recognizes him as the same ruthless killer from years ago.

Rankin now has a kind of Jekyll and Hyde existence, alternating between his normal persona and the animalistic Strangler. More women die at his hands, but he retreats to his home as Rankin. In a state of near hysteria, he confesses all to his wife Barbara and makes the conclusion that he is actually Dr. Tennant. Barbara confirms that he is indeed Tennant...and she was Tennant’s nurse who ran away with him after Styles was wrongly hung. She was in love with Tennant and believed she could help him find a new life. She succeeded in helping to create the James Rankin personality. With the greatest of irony, Rankin’s interest in the Strangler murders brought him full circle back to being Tennant, who suffered from homicidal schizophrenia.

Barbara’s revelation proves costly to her...Rankin reverts to the Strangler right then and there and viciously murders her. Her love for Tennant has led to her own doom. The Strangler runs off into the street. When Lilly Rankin and her fiance Dr. Kenneth McColl find Barbara dead, they bring Superintendent of Police Burke into the search for James. But the search is short, as a disheveled Rankin returns home and confesses that he killed Barbara. In yet more irony, no one believes him because of Rankin’s saintly reputation. They think he has had a nervous breakdown due to recent events.

Karloff really cuts loose here, as Rankin goes completely around the bend. It’s an emotional and very physical bit of acting...we can feel Rankin’s agony as his world crumbles. Dr. McColl has him committed to the local madhouse, where he’s placed in isolation...a situation that only makes him more mentally unstable.

James Rankin the erudite writer and kind-hearted family man really no longer exists. Now there is only Dr. Tennant and his terrible alter ego the Haymarket Strangler. Eventually one of Tennant’s guards gets careless and the Strangler brutally kills him and escapes. Before he leaves the sanitarium, he takes the time to kill a maid. His destination now is Rankin’s home...where he plans on killing his own daughter Lilly as well as anybody who gets in his way. The police under the leadership of Superintendent Burke are now hot on his trail, with orders to kill if they have to…

This leads to the movie’s ultimate conclusion, which I will not divulge here. You can probably figure it out yourself. I will say that things come full circle in more than one way.

“The Haunted Strangler” is a brisk B-movie, with no pretensions to be anything but. That doesn’t mean it has to be second-rate. There are some big holes in logic here and a couple of scenes that are just plain hard to swallow. But everything is handled with the utmost seriousness and everybody in the cast gives it their best shot.

Nobody was better at that than Boris Karloff. Boris puts every ounce of emotion into his portrayal of James Rankin and his evil other self. There’s real anguish in his performance and the fact that Rankin is such a good fellow makes it even more poignant. In contrast, the Strangler is a barely human beast incapable of speech. What made Tennant go so badly around the bend? Was the Strangler always in him? We never really find out.

Elizabeth Allan, a very accomplished actress with major roles in “The Tale of Two Cities” and “The Lodger”, was well cast as Barbara, Rankin’s wife. They say the best women fall for the worst men and that was certainly the case here. She was so much in love with the schizophrenic Tennant that she created a whole new identity for him and helped him escape justice for 20 years. For as much good as that did her. Also notable were Anthony Dawson (later to play the evil Marquis in “Curse of the Werewolf”) as Superintendent Burke and Jean Kerr as Cora Seth.

The direction of Robert Day is not at Hitchcock level, but is very acceptable. This is one of those movies that simply looks better in black and white...it captures the grimness of the tale a lot better. Day went on to have quite a successful career, directing other shockers like “First Man Into Space” and “Corridors of Blood” as well as quite a few 60’s Tarzan movies and even American TV movies like “The Initiation of Sarah”.

“The Haunted Strangler” made a modest profit on its initial run with “Fiend Without A Face”. That would have been a double feature I’d love to see in the theater. Critical response was mixed, but few critics ever gave a B-movie horror an honest shot. In recent years, people have begun to look more favorably upon the movie and especially the vigorous performance of Boris Karloff, who could have easily phoned in his role but instead took the opposite approach.

If you can find “The Haunted Strangler” on Tubi or Youtube, give it a shot! Even if you know the “twist” in advance, it’s still an enjoyable film that gets the Dr. Mality bloody thumbs up!