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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.
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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.
356:, 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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
337:, 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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It was adapted from "Stranglehold", a story which screenwriter Jan Read had written specially for
Karloff, and was shot back to back with producer
465:, 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
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together earned $ 350,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $ 300,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit to the studio of $ 160,000.
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in Surrey. Karloff was paid $ 27,500 for four weeks, with an option to make a second film for
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The agreement with Eros was conditional on
Amalgamated providing a second film, so Gordon arranged to make
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with
Charles Vetters and had started providing U.S. funding and talent for eight pictures shot in Britain.
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Of note, the
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Executive producer Richard Gordon and interviewer Tom Weaver talk about the making of
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rated the film as "average", writing: "Guesome horror film, quite scary."
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In 1860, Edward Styles is accused of being the notorious
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Amalgamated went into partnership with British producer
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686:(288): 143. 1 January 1958 – via ProQuest.
699:British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959
546:British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959
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308:(1958), with both later being released as a
590:The British Independent Horror Film 1951–70
504:DVD, available as part of the 2007 box set
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663:, Bear Manor Media 2011, p. 26-40
661:The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon
647:, Tomahawk Press 2011, p. 410-412
467:National Film Finance Corporation
431:Michael Atkinson as Edward Styles
775:In Praise of Karloff the Uncanny
1087:British historical horror films
500:on the audio commentary of the
16:1958 British film by Robert Day
1107:Films set in the Victorian era
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592:, Hemlock Books 2013, p. 29-34
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1132:English-language horror films
1112:1950s historical horror films
1102:Films set in the 19th century
937:Tarzan and the Valley of Gold
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416:Jessica Cairns as asylum maid
67:an original story by Jan Read
1137:English-language crime films
1117:1950s English-language films
1092:Films directed by Robert Day
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401:Diane Aubrey as Lily Rankin
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1127:Films scored by Buxton Orr
1009:The Man with Bogart's Face
945:Tarzan and the Great River
413:as Newgate Prison Governor
248:$ 650,000 (on double bill)
1082:1950s serial killer films
921:Tarzan's Three Challenges
873:Life in Emergency Ward 10
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679:The Monthly Film Bulletin
561:Boris Karloff filmography
537:The Monthly Film Bulletin
407:as Newgate Prison turnkey
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344:Rankin next goes to the
1001:The Initiation of Sarah
697:Quinlan, David (1984).
674:"The Haunted Strangler"
620:"The Haunted Strangler"
606:The Eddie Mannix Ledger
452:Amalgamated Productions
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352:Rankin is committed to
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149:Amalgamated Productions
1041:The Quick and the Dead
897:Tarzan the Magnificent
386:as Superintendent Burk
265:and originally titled
1025:Beyond Witch Mountain
849:The Haunted Strangler
764:The Haunted Strangler
753:The Haunted Strangler
742:The Haunted Strangler
731:The Haunted Strangler
498:The Haunted Strangler
489:The film was shot in
398:as Dr. Kenneth McColl
262:Grip of the Strangler
256:The Haunted Strangler
203: (United Kingdom)
184:11 May 1958
57:(as "John C. Cooper")
24:The Haunted Strangler
969:The Reluctant Heroes
865:First Man into Space
784:Criterion Collection
524:Fiend Without a Face
475:Fiend Without a Face
305:Fiend Without a Face
271:) is a 1958 British
192: (United States)
1122:1950s British films
1097:Films set in London
506:Monsters and Madmen
435:Peggy Anne Clifford
160:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1049:Celebration Family
857:Corridors of Blood
841:Strangers' Meeting
819:Films directed by
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703:B.T. Batsford Ltd.
1077:1958 horror films
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212:Running time
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114:Lionel Banes
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75:John Croydon
55:John Croydon
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273:horror film
72:Produced by
41:Directed by
1072:1958 films
1066:Categories
1033:Love, Mary
821:Robert Day
701:. London:
567:References
517:Box office
463:Eros Films
442:Production
396:Tim Turner
335:music hall
277:Robert Day
245:Box office
216:80 minutes
199:1958-10-11
188:1958-05-11
167:Eros Films
141:Production
134:Buxton Orr
51:Written by
45:Robert Day
905:The Rebel
881:Bobbikins
629:6 January
512:Reception
502:Criterion
422:as Hannah
372:Jean Kent
326:Haymarket
285:Jean Kent
120:Edited by
96:Jean Kent
78:executive
747:AllMovie
555:See also
531:Critical
392:as Pearl
390:Vera Day
229:Language
130:Music by
88:Starring
64:Based on
59:Jan Read
782:at the
767:at the
437:as Kate
240:£80,000
232:English
221:Country
197: (
186: (
143:company
1052:(1987)
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1028:(1982)
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291:, and
237:Budget
170:(U.K.)
163:(U.S.)
736:IMDb
707:ISBN
631:2024
360:Cast
320:Plot
929:She
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544:In
314:MGM
312:by
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