‘Girls in love… beware! The strangler is on the loose’
Strangler of the Swamp is a 1946 American horror film, produced and distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). It was written and directed by German filmmaker Frank Wisbar and is a remake of his Fährmann Maria (1936). It stars Rosemary LaPlanche, Robert Barrat and Blake Edwards (later a director of the Pink Panther films).
Plot:
A ferryman who was wrongly hanged for a murder is now a ghost, and he’s more than a little perturbed. He wants revenge, and he’s inflicting strange, violent deaths on the townsfolk responsible for his execution…
Reviews:
“In terms of mood and atmosphere, Wisbar’s imaginative vision evokes the subtle terror of RKO producer Val Lewton, who revolutionized the horror genre with “B” classics such as Cat People (1942) and I Walked With a Zombie (1943). The fact that Strangler of the Swamp was produced at a small fraction of Lewton’s $150,000 budget makes Wisbar’s accomplishment all the more remarkable.” Scott T. Rivers, World Cinema Paradise
“While it’s not as overtly stylish and expressionist as early German horror, Strangler of the Swamp is bathed in shadows, mist, and moonlight and feels like a spectral dream not unlike The Vampyr. The persistent presence of the ferry recalls Charon and the River Styx, and it’s almost as if viewers are transported to a dismal underworld inhabited by the spirits of the living and the dead.” Brett Galman, Oh, the Horror!
“The opening scenes are particularly effective, not least because no special effects are used for the spectre’s appearances” Middleton simply seems to melt in and out of the shadows. The one real weakness, probably imposed on the film, is a crashingly insensitive score by Alex Steinert.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
Cast and characters:
- Rosemary La Planche as Maria Hart
- Robert Barrat as Christian Sanders
- Blake Edwards as Christian ‘Chris’ Sanders Jr.
- Charles Middleton as Ferryman Douglas
- Effie Laird as Martina Sanders
- Nolan Leary as Pete Jeffers
- Frank Conlan as Joseph Hart
- Therese Lyon as Bertha
- Virginia Farmer as Anna Jeffers
