cinema history class: "the haunted strangler"

Session: Karloff in the Age of Aquarius, Week 2
Movie: The Haunted Strangler (1958)
Directed by Robert Day

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A novelist is investigating the twenty-year old serial killer case in which the murderer was hanged. He won't like what he figures out. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:

In the past two sessions we've seen two 1958 movies that show Karloff in reasonably subtle roles wherein his character is somewhat sympathetic. It has given me new respect for his acting abilities. In this Jeckyl and Hyde kind of role, Karloff did a great job of displaying his "man of a thousand faces" skills. Without makeup he contorted his face into a twisted caricature of a murderous animal.

That said, while I enjoy these movies, I can't shake the feeling that they're largely nonmemorable fluff. There have been other movies that I didn't think highly of when we saw them, but that stuck with me and forced me to keep revisiting them in my mind. By contrast, when we saw this I thought that it was very good. But a few days later I had to struggle to remember what I'd seen. And I don't think I thought about it at all since the morning after.

Sorry, Keith...  

Ratings:

I can't find my notes, so I'm not sure what everyone gave it. There was a general consensus that this movie was better than last week's. I disagreed with that consensus. Joe missed this session, but he would have given the movie a 10. You can deny it, but you know I'm right.