Strangler of the Swamp *** (1946, Rosemary La Planche, Robert Barrat, Blake Edwards, Nolan Leary, Charles Middleton, Virginia Farmer, Frank Conlan, Effie Laird) – Classic Movie Review 3738

In German director Frank Wisbar [Franz Wysbar]’s spooky, atmospheric low-budget 1946 black and white horror movie, townspeople mourn the death of a number of swamp land men by strangulation.

Some believe they have died as a result of their own lack of care in the swamp. Others suspect that the Strangler of the Swamp, the ghost of an innocent man the townsfolk hanged, is seeking revenge on all of the male descendants of those responsible for his death.

Robert Barrat and Nolan Leary as Christian Sanders and Pete Jeffers.

Rosemary La Planche, the 1941 Miss America, stars as Maria Hart, granddaughter of the guilty deceased ferryman, who arrives at the town and decides to take over as operator of the ferry service. Blake Edwards also stars as Chris Sanders Jr, son of one of the men who did the hanging. The two fall in love and, when The Strangler seizes Chris, Maria offers her own life if he is spared.

It is renowned as the Producers Releasing Corporation [PRC] studio’s best film, one of the small number of their films critically regarded as achieving B-movie cult status. That idea was promoted through its inclusion in William K Everson’s influential book Classics of the Horror Film (1974), in which he praises Wisbar’s work.

The screenplay is written by Frank Wisbar, with additional dialogue by Harold Erickson from an original story by Wisbar and Leo J. McCarthy. It is based on the German film Fahrmann Maria [Ferryman Maria], also directed by Wisbar. It is therefore one of the rare times the same director has helmed a film’s American and foreign language versions. A remake was on the cards in 2015.

Producers Releasing Corporation is one of the less prestigious Hollywood film studios that made up what became known as Poverty Row. It lasted from 1939 to 1947, making low-budget B-movies.

Also in the cast are Robert Barrat, Nolan Leary, Charles Middleton, Virginia Farmer, Frank Conlan, Effie Laird (as Effie Parnell) and Therese Lyon.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3738

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