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Grip of the Strangler

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Grip of the Strangler - 1958 | 78 mins | Thriller, Mystery | B&W

The Production Team

Director: Robert Day.
Producer: John Croydon.
Script: John Croydon. (from the story Stranglehold by Jan Read)
Cinematography: Lionel Banes.
Film Editing: Peter Mayhew.
Production Design: John Elphick.
Costume Department: Anna Duse.
Makeup Department: Barbara Barnard and Jim Hydes.
Sound: H.C. Pearson.
Original Music: Buxton Orr.
Music Direction: Frederick Lewis.

The Cast

Boris Karloff - James Rankin/Dr. Tenant
Anthony Dawson - Superintendant Burk
Tim Turner - Dr. Kenneth McCall
Dorothy Gordon - Hannah
Elizabeth Allan - Barbara Rankin
Jean Kent - Cora Seth
Desmond Roberts - Dr. Johnson

Plot Synopsis

A vintage Boris Karloff chiller, with an ambience straight out of the London Dungeon. James Rankin (Boris Karloff) is a philanthropist and novelist reopening the 20-year-old case of five grisly murders in 1880s London. A poor sailor, Styles (Michael Atkinson), was found guilty and hanged of being the serial killer known as the "Haymarket Strangler". Rankin suspects the surgeon Dr. Tenant, who did the post-mortems, was the culprit and hopes to prove the executed mans innocence. Rankin has Style’s grave exhumed and discovers the murder weapon, a doctor's missing scalpel, in the grave. However, when he comes into contact with the scalpel, Rankin becomes possessed with the brutal and guilt-ridden thoughts of the doctor. Suddenly, Rankin realises that he is Tenant, and that amnesia has erased the murders memory. Now overcome by the spirit of the doctor – he resumes his murderous spree amongst the inhabitants of London.