dougdoepke RKO's great artistic team of Silvera and D'Agostino, along with stylish director Nosseck and photographer Hunt, lift the visuals to near artistic heights. Even when the story falters, the dream-like atmosphere carries the ball. It appears stage actor Parker's (Loder) head gets conked during a London air raid. Now he has trouble separating his strangler stage role from everyday reality. Needless to say, this causes problems for him and a couple of corpses he leaves behind. On the whole, Loder is excellent as the schizoid Parker. His generally low-key demeanor proves as disturbing as anything more florid. If there's a problem, it's with the script's treatment of the lovely April (Duprez), who seems impossibly naïve. Like when she goes to the dark roof with Parker even after some of his semi-loony behavior. Still, I love that amusing moment when the English maid tries politely to get her head around American slang.I'm impressed with Nosseck's ability to coordinate a spotty narrative into an atmospheric whole. Looks to me like he's in the Edgar Ulmer (Detour, {1945}) category, working artfully and anonymously in Hollywood's lower rungs. His American career appears limited by mostly innocuous programmers-- unlike Brighton-- which may be why he went back to Germany. Nonetheless, he appears to have a real feel for this sort of Gothic material. Overall, the 60- some minutes is close to a sleeper, except for the spotty script. It also helps show why lowly RKO was the studio of record during the post-war 1940's.

fredcdobbs5 John Loder plays an actor named Reginald Parker, who has been starring in a long-running London play, "The Brighton Strangler". After he receives a head injury in a Nazi air raid that destroys the theater, he wanders off and takes on the identity of the character he'd been playing, a serial strangler named Edward Gray, and proceeds to become the real "Brighton Straangler".This is a very slow-moving piece, and Loder's performance is somewhat stiff and unmoving. The picture has a few small plot twists but otherwise it's fairly predictable. The beautiful June Duprez does a serviceable job as the wife of a young American Air Force officer who meets "Edward Gray", not realizing who he really is, and seems to be somewhat attracted to him, but nothing more is made of that. The ending is somewhat imaginative, but you still know what's going to happen.For a murder mystery it really doesn't whip up much tension. It's pretty cut-and-dried, with not a whole lot to really recommend it. If you're a John Loder fan you'll probably like it, but if you're not, there's really not much of a reason to see it.

blanche-2 I love British mysteries, and having a mystery done during wartime makes "The Brighton Strangler" even better.The plot is similar to "A Double Life" from 1947, concerning an actor (Ronald Colman) playing Othello who starts strangling women in real life.In this film, an actor, Reginald Parker (John Loder) plays the Brighton Strangler in a long-running play. After closing night, as he's in his dressing room, there's a bombing. The theater is hit, and he's knocked unconscious. When he comes to, he confuses the play with reality, to the extent that he gives his name as Edward Grey, the name of his character. After boarding the train to Brighton, he meets a young WAC (June Duprez) who sees that he's wounded and helps him. He's invited to her home. Little does anyone know that he's following the script of the play.Atmospheric thriller with a great rooftop set at the end. Lots of references to things like clothing coupons and the war.People here are raving about John Loder; I found him fairly one note. I also didn't find the play he appeared in very well directed. The first scene is from the play, and Edward Grey announces to the young woman he's with that he's the Brighton Strangler. There he is, with silk rope in his hand, and she just stands there. . Oh, well, you can't have everything. Really enjoyable.

Bynovekka1 John Loder plays Reginald Parker, an actor whose portrayal of a serial killer has made him the toast of London's theater district. During the height of the german blitz Parker has tirelessly played the part to sold out crowds seeking diversion from the horrors of world war 2.After nearly two years of constant work Parker is on the brink of exhaustion. When his wife and friends demand he take a break he agrees grudgingly but only after one last performance for on leave military personnel. That night Parker stays late at the theater to review some last minute additions to the script. As he reads german bombers attack London. A stray bomb strikes the theater causing the roof to collapse on the unfortunate actor. He survives but recieves a nasty blow to the head. The blow gives him partial amnesia allowing him to recall nothing save that of the part he has paractically lived for the last two years.Believing the details of the script are actual memories he comes to believe he is the Brighton Strangler. So it is off to Brighton where he begins hunting down those who resemble his victims from the play.The plot is a rather far fetched and the story sags in the middle. But John Loder's tormented transform from kindly actor to maniacal killer makes the film worth a look.