Hot Picks

- Prescott Place 2010

- As We Were 2007

- 15-05-08 2013

- Mold 2012

- Paranormal Asylum 2013

- Zombie Dust 2012

- Teen Ape vs the Monster Nazi Apocalypse 2012

- The Secret of the Magic Mushrooms 2009

- Ax 2013

- Silver Case 2011

- Bruised Bottom 2006

- For Clearer Skies 2012

- Attack of the Tromaggot 2008

- Slasher House 2012

- Mister White 2013

- The Days God Slept 2013

- The Formula 2013

- Alien Agenda: Project Grey 2007

- Good Virus

- The Experiment 2012

- House of Good and Evil 2013

- Easter Casket 2013

- Terror Vortex 2012

- American Mary 2012

- The G-String Horror 2012

- Sick 2012

- Barbazul 2012

- Dry Spell 2013

- House of Bad 2012

- Words Like Knives 2013

- Lady of the Dark 2011

- My Name is A by anonymous 2011

- Trantastic 2011

- Lesbian Seduction 1 2005

- Dead Hooker in a Trunk 2009

- Deep Above 1994

- Star Crash 1979

- Gladiator Eroticus 2001

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

The Gaunt Stranger
The Phantom Strikes

UK 1938
produced by
Michael Balcon for Ealing, CAPAD, Norwood
directed by Walter Forde
starring Patrick Barr, Alexander Knox, Sonnie Hale, Wilfrid Lawson, Patricia Roc, John Longden, Peter Croft, Louise Henry, Charles Eaton, Arthur Hambling, George Merritt
screenplay by Sidney Gilliat, based on the play The Ringer by Edgar Wallace, music by Ernest Irving

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Available on DVD !

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility !!!


Maurice Meister (Wilfrid Lawson), a lawyer who has his hands in all kinds of illegal operations, receives a message from the Ringer, a serialkiller who has dedicated his life to only kill criminals who can't be brought to justice for whatevr reason. With Meister, the Ringer has some personal beef, though, because Meister drove his sister to suicide.

The police are on the job to guard Meister's life soon enough, but there are two major problems with the whole affat: 1) the Ringer is supposed to be dead, and 2) nobody knows what the Ringer looks like. The policemen investigating the case, Wembury (Patrick Barr) and Doctor Lomond (Alexander Knox), soon find a way to circumvent these problems, by getting the only man who has ever seen the Ringer, petty criminal Hackett (Sonni Hale), out of prison to help them identify the man, and they get hold of the Ringer's wife Cora Ann (Louise Henry) to find out whether or not the Ringer actually is dead.

All of this of course helps very little, nor does Inspector Bliss (John Longden), a cop from Australia who is said to have shot the Ringer but who behaves very suspiciously, or the fact that while Meister's house is heavily guarded, he has neglected to tell the police about a secret passageway he uses for his smuggling operations, through which whoever wants can enter or leave the house undetected.

At the time Meister is supposed to be murdered, Wembury and Lomond pay him a personal victim with a few cops to make sure nobody else gets hold of him - but then the light goes out, and when it comes on again, Meister is dead. And the killer is ... Doc Lomond to everyone's surprise, who has planned his operation to the t ... but then Bliss is able to identify him because he has received a telegram that the real Lomond has been found dead. To escape arrest, Lomond takes a pill to kill himself ... but  later somehow gets away with his wife in a stolen ambulance ...

 

Fun little murder mystery that is pretty good at keeping one guessing without throwing too many red herrings into the mix, and without pulling a killer out of the hat in the finale - actually, the solution of the movie makes sense for a change, which isn't the case too often with Edgar Wallace-mysteries.

That all sait, The Gaunt Stranger is not a great movie, not even a genre classic, just good entertainment.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky ?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results ?

The links below
will take you
just there !!!

Find The Gaunt Stranger
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports ?
Find The Gaunt Stranger here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty ?
(Must be over 18 to go there !)

x-rated  find The Gaunt Stranger at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

Stell Dir vor, Deine Lieblingsseifenoper birgt eine tiefere Wahrheit ...
... und stell Dir vor, der Penner von der U-Bahnstation hat doch recht ...
... und dann triffst Du auch noch die Frau Deiner (feuchten) Träume ...

 

Und an diesem Tag geht natürlich wieder einmal die Welt unter!!!

 

Bauliche Angelegenheiten
ein Roman von
Michael Haberfelner

 

Jetzt kaufen bei
Lulu.com