Return of a Stranger – 1961 | 63 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Creepy yet risible Brian Clemens scripted quota-quickie thriller from low-budget specialists the Danziger Brothers and directed by b-movie helmer Max Varnel, son of Gainsborough regular Marcel. This was one of a number of second features shot in England starring Canadian actor John Ireland, who was often a villainous supporting actor in Hollywood.

Advertising executive John Allen (John Ireland) and wife Pam (Susan Stephen) live a quiet existence with their son Tommy on a modern suburban housing estate. A shadow begins to loom over their life in the shape of a mysterious stalker that is seen by various friends of the family. Pam confesses that when she was a teenager living at an orphanage, an oddjob man named Homer Trent (Cyril Shaps) became besotted with her and forced himself on her. Trent is subsequently sent to prison, but now lives in a boarding house nearby the Allen’s. The police have no evidence with which to detain Trent, and the sinister stalker’s nuisance behaviour soon affects both their work and family life.