The Brighton Strangler

Readily do I admit my complete ignorance about German-born Director Max Nosseck. Certainly, you can detect touches of the famous German expressionist school in this film, and Loder too provides a quality expressionist performance, all backed up by splendid B&W cinematography from Roy Hunt.

It stands to reason that a 6/10 rating must perforce reflect a number of weaknesses, the screenplay being most obvious one. Though it opens with an interesting premise, that of a play becoming more real than life itself to actor Reginald Parker after suffering concussion in the wake of an air raid on London, I found it highly improbable that the main character had such a good memory of the play but not of the rest of his life, notably his relationship with his beloved.

An unusual finale with applause provides a clever conclusion but by no means reduces the viewer's need to suspend disbelief.

All told, it deserves a watch but not a rewatch. 6/10.

The was a British film portraying a stage actor who is hit on the head during a bombing in World War II raid on London and then acts the "strangler" in the play he's in, forgetting that he's just an actor. It's an interesting premise. Most of the plot was pretty obvious but there was a twist or two thrown in which kept my attention.

However, to be honest, after about 40 minutes my mind started to wander, as the movie just plodded along. A story about a guy with "multiple personalities," so to speak, someone who can't distinguish anymore between fact and fiction, and winds up thinking he's "the Brighton Strangler" should have been a lot more interesting than it was. At 67 total minutes, there is no excuse for this to be a boring movie.

John Loder is good in the lead as "Reginald Parker/Edward Gray," but the story doesn't live up to his performance. It just sags, big-time, in that middle section. There are major plot holes in here, too. The guy plays a "famous" actor yet no one recognizes him. I bet if someone re-made this story, it could a chilling one.

In 1945 London a kind, gentle actor Reginald Parker (John Loder) is performing in a play called "The Brighton Strangler". During an air raid he's hit on the head. When he regains consciousness he has amnesia and begins playing out his character from the play.

The plot is old now but was probably new in 1945 and it is extremely well-done. The script is fast, there's good quick direction and there are some very creepy sequences. The acting by Loder is just great--he let's you see the confusion and hatred hiding behind his very gentle exterior. He reminded me of Laird Cregar who played similar roles in "The Lodger" (1944) and "Hangover Square" (1945). My guess is that this was made to cash in on the Cregar movies (both were huge hits).

The sets are just gorgeous and there's some truly funny comic relief -- both intentional and unintentional (it's hard to keep a straight face when one character keeps saying "swell" all the time). The only bad thing is June Duprez--she's beautiful but a very poor actress.

Well worth seeing if just for Loder. Why wasn't he more well known?

Though the film is sometimes hard to take, and had flimsy scenes, Loder is great as the actor overcome by shock, who becomes the character he was portraying on stage, a maniacal strangler! Certainly worth seeing on TV, since it does note seem available on video. And try to catch some of Nosseck's other flics, as he was in interesting german director, and handled noir well, especially with Lawrence Tierney.

In 1947 Ronald Colman won an Oscar for Best Actor by portraying an actor who becomes obsessed with the role he is playing .This was Othello ,in Shakespeare's play of the same name .The obsession turns into violence and insanity .It was an A movie production featuring the acclaimed Colman and with the prestigious A list director George Cukor behind the camera . The Brighton Strangler was made 2 years earlier and deals essentially with the same theme but has more modest ambitions .It aims merely to be a neat little chiller and it achieves this ambition with some distinction .John Loder plays an actor in the West End of London during the German blitz on the city in World War 2 .He is playing a strangler in a long running play ;when the theatre is levelled by a German bomb he is rendered unconscious but survives .On waking he is an amnesiac and begins wandering the London streets in a dazed condition .He finds himself at Victoria railway station where he overhears a chance remark from a stranger that is an exact duplicate of one from the play .Convinved that he is really a strangler he boards a train for the seaside resort of Brighton where he begins to re-enact his stage role by embarking on a string of strangulation murders ,his steps dogged by the police. Loder is good and Max Nosseck directs with due skill aided by a good script. The supporting cast is capable and the movie will pass an hour or so with some pleasure for the viewer . Its not a major work but is a good study of dual personality along Jekyll and Hyde lines