STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP (Classic)

[Jimbo]

Strangler of the swamp- (1945) Image ent.
Director - Frank Wisbar

Frank Wisbar came to the United states after leaving is native home of Germany and remade his 1934 Fahrmann Maria (Ferryboat Pilot Maria) Into the Producers Releasing Corporatin (PRC) Strangler of the swamp.

SYNOPIS: A wrongly accused ferryman (Charles Middleton) who was hung for a crime he did not commit comes back from the dead to seek revenge on those who sentanced him.Joseph (Frank Conlan)Who has now taken over the position as ferryman soon meets his death by the strangler.Soon his daughter Maria (Rosemary la Planche) after being away returnes home only to inherit the job.Maria soon falls in love with Christian Sanders (BLake Edwards) who is not taking to her current posistion very well and is scared for her very life.The strangler soon sets out for Christian who is the son of one of the men responsible for his violent death.

With the elements of a dark setting and back drops,This movie has a lot of atmosphere.Lot's of fog and creepyness.I can recomend this movie to anyone who is a fan of classic horror or universal monster movie.But for everyone else they might want to give it a rental.

The image quality appears to be quite soft in most of the movie.While some of the dark scene's are very dark.
The mono Audio track is good givin the sorce of material.Everything comes through quite clear.

Movie B
Image C
Sound B-
Supplements N/A

[dwatts]

And this sucker retails at like $6 on DDD too! Gonna move this one up my wishlist - thanks!

ps: another paragraph on why you liked it would have been useful ;)

[Jimbo]

I did forget that.I like it because of the Atmosphere.With the black and white print and the dark fog it just gives it a creepy look and feel.And you are right on the money with the $6 price tag.You can not go wrong with that at all.

[Hammerfan]

I am a big fan of "Poverty Row" flicks and this is among my absolute favorite. Foolishly, in a moment of complete insanity, I sold my copy. I will be replacing it soon. Rosemary LaPlanche is very appealing. She died in 1979. I wonder how she would feel about this movie's resurgence onto DVD? For that matter, the "classic" awfulness of "Devil Bat's Daughter"! Its also a kick seeing a young Blake Edwards. I highly recommend this too. Video Kart will be offering this on DVD once the Image release goes out of print, according to their site.

[Hammerfan]

I am wondering if Video Kart will have a better print of this when they get around to releasing it? The one Image uses looks like it has been through many trips through the telecine over the decades. The print damage is such that massive restoration would have to be done to save this transfer. I'm not sure if Image used the original negative or not. Many PRC titles, released by other companies, have seen better days as well. Alpha has a beautiful print of FOG ISLAND. I tend to believe that a lot of PRC titles don't have the original master negative and the titles we see are using the best prints possible. I don't think anyone would have imagined these films would be revered and even studied so many years later.

[dvdasia62]

This little PRC quickie is definitely a favorite of mine. The appropriately eerie opening credits set the tone for a very cool and atmospheric film drenched in mist and fog. I love the way the spectre of the hanged ferryman just seems to appear and disappear out of the fog which I have read was simply done by proper camera work and without the use of any special effects. Nice little film.