The Brighton Strangler (1945)

Written by John Chard on March 18, 2019

You shall not see in the New year.

During WW II as one of the Luftwafte air raids hits London, Reginald Parker, a successful actor, is knocked out and heavily concussed. Upon awaking he believes himself to be Edward Grey, the notorious Brighton Strangler he has been portraying on the stage!

Clocking in at just 67 minutes, The Brighton Strangler just about has enough time to get in and do it's job excellently.

Something of an under seen gem, it's a film that has enough creepy menace about it to reward the black and white thriller film fan. Boasting excellent sets, some very neat camera work from director Max Nosseck, and a fabulous lead performance from John Loder, I personally feel that it deserves to be seen by more people. Typically it's a picture that rarely gets aired on British TV, and when it does it's sadly tucked away on BBC 2 at some ungodly hour in the AM.

Until films like this get decent exposure from our TV schedulers then they are going to remain criminally under seen. So keep your eyes out for this one, the formula may now be seen as old hat, but transport yourself back to 1945, get out in the London smog and be wary of that hatted man coming towards you... 8/10