Themes: Ghosts, Out For Revenge, Miscarriage of Justice
Main Cast: Robert H. Barrat, Rosemary La Planche, Blake Edwards, Charles B. Middleton
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 58 minutes
Plot
In this low-budget thriller, a ferry captain named Douglas (Charles Middleton) is accused of a murder he did not commit and is eventually executed for the crime. Douglas' ghost begins to walk the marshlands he once called home, searching for revenge against those who wronged him. Beautiful Maria (Rosemary LaPlanche) looks like she could be the ghost's next victim, and her boyfriend Christian (Blake Edwards) must rescue her before it's too late. Film buffs will recall that Charles Middleton played Ming the Merciless in the classic Flash Gordon serials, while Blake Edwards would turn to directing several years later, achieving international success with The Pink Panther and its many sequels. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
German émigré director Frank Wisbar (formerly Wysbar) was reportedly awarded a paltry 20,000 dollars to complete this remake of his most famous film, the German Fahrmann Maria (1936). The less than generous studio was the infamous PRC, in its day nicknamed Pretty Rotten Crud, but Wisbar, like that other PRC legend Edgar G. Ulmer, made the most with what he had been given. Aside from character actors Robert Barrat and Charles Middleton, the cast consisted of virtually unknowns, and, again like Ulmer, Wisbar filled a small rental stage with enough smoke to camouflage the threadbare sets. The result may not be in a class with Fahrmann Maria -- PRC was not interested in lyrical horror -- but good enough to have awarded the film cult status. Former Miss America of 1942, Rosemary LaPlanche, is surprisingly effective in the role formerly played by Gothic legend Sybille Schmitz, and although he is given far too many lines to speak, Middleton is properly frightening in the title role. Released on DVD, Strangler of the Swamp remains the most visible of Frank Wisbar's films, and, along with Ulmer's Detour (1945), has come to exemplify what a creative director could do even with a miniscule budget when given a free hand. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Edward C. Jewell - Art Director, Frank Wisbar - Director, Hugh Wynn - Editor, Alex Steinert - Musical Direction/Supervision, James S. Brown, Jr. - Cinematographer, Raou' Pagel - Producer, Glenn Thompson - Set Designer, Leo J. McCarthy - Screen Story, Frank Wisbar - Screenwriter, Harold Erickson - Screenwriter
