Murder and madness loom large in this Gothic melodrama which is loosely based on Patrick Hamilton's 1941 novel and features a very unusual kind of serial killer. Set in the often fog-shrouded London of 1903, it tells the story of a classical musician who's aware that he has periodic blackouts and starts to become increasingly concerned because, after they've passed, he can never recall what has happened.The man in question is well-respected composer and pianist, George Harvey Bone (Laird Cregar) who's working on a new concerto that has been commissioned by Sir Henry Chapman (Alan Napier). Sir Henry is a famous conductor who says that George's new work (which he would like to debut at one of his upcoming soirees), has every chance of turning the composer into an international success and so George has to work hard to be able to produce a concerto of the required quality by the deadline that Sir Henry has set.After reading a newspaper report about an antique dealer in Fulham who was stabbed to death and had his shop set on fire, George becomes alarmed that the timing of the crime coincided with one of his blackouts and to make matters worse, he also has a dagger in his possession and the coat he was wearing that night is blood-stained. After speaking to his girlfriend Barbara (Faye Marlowe), who's Sir Henry's daughter, the couple go to see Scotland Yard psychologist, Dr Allan Middleton (George Sanders), who after having some forensic tests carried out, assures George that there is no evidence to link him to the Fulham murder. He also offers the view that George's blackouts are probably caused by overworking and suggests that he should relax more and get out and meet some ordinary, everyday people.Following this advice, George visits a local music hall where he enjoys a performance by a sexy singer and later, when he meets Netta Longdon (Linda Darnell), her pianist/manager Mickey (Michael Dyne), who's one of George's friends, tells the singer about George's talent as a composer and they spontaneously write a song together. This proves to be such a money-spinner that the singer, who previously had no interest in George, immediately starts flirting with him and does everything she can to get him to write more songs for her act. George tries to concentrate only on his concerto but is won over by Netta's charms and thinking that she's attracted to him, writes further songs for her. When he realises how deceitful she is, George attempts unsuccessfully to strangle both Barbara and Netta's fiancé before he succeeds in strangling Netta and disposes of her body on a Guy Fawkes Night bonfire. As the net eventually starts to close in on him, George's only remaining priority is to ensure that he manages to perform his completed concerto at Sir Henry's soiree and this leads to the movie's spectacular finale.In 1944, 20th Century Fox had scored a big hit with "The Lodger" which was a "Jack the Ripper" film and so, in an effort to repeat that success, studio head Darryl F Zanuck brought cast members, Laird Cregar and George Sanders, director John Brahm and screenwriter Barre Lyndon together again to produce the same magic with a "Jekyll and Hyde" type story. This ploy worked perfectly by enabling budget savings to be made by using some of the sets from the previous movie for this one and also because "Hangover Square" was regarded as the better film by many fans.The serial killer in this movie whose blackouts are triggered by discordant sounds, is a sympathetic and tragic character because he's a victim of both a mental condition over which he has no control and a scheming femme fatale whose actions precipitate a great deal of the mayhem that he causes. Laird Cregar, in a fine performance, portrays the two very different sides of a man who, in his rational state is gentle, polite and friendly but when unbalanced becomes a crazed killer and a pyromaniac. With strong supporting performances from Linda Darnell and George Sanders, some exceptional expressionistic cinematography and a top class score from Bernard Herrman, this movie provides a great deal to enjoy plus a crazy climax that brilliantly incorporates flashbacks, hallucinations and the movie's fire motif, all accompanied by a fantastic rendition of George's powerful "Concerto Macabre".

Following the success of "The Lodger" (1944), Darryl F. Zanuck, never one to miss an opportunity, rushed star Laird Cregar into a sequel of sorts, "Hangover Square". Again Cregar is cast as a schizophrenic dual personality murderer.There's no doubt that he is a murderer as the opening scene has him stabbing an old antique dealer (Francis Ford) to death. Later we see him wandering aimlessly in the turn of the 20th century streets of London. He suddenly regains his senses and has no memory of the past few hours or of the dastardly crime he has just committed.Back at his home we learn that George Harvey Bone (Cregar) is an aspiring composer who is working on a concerto that he hopes will bring him fame. He is working under the tutelage of Sir Henry Chapman (Alan Napier) who just happens to have an attractive young daughter Barbara (Faye Marlowe) who has an attraction to Bone.Bone meanwhile has doubts about his blackouts and seeks the advice of Scotland Yard shrink Dr. Allan Middleton ( a bland George Sanders). Middleton advises him to ease up on his work and go out and have some fun. While watching a music hall revue, he is attracted to alluring showgirl Netta Longdon (Linda Darnell). She sees an opportunity to use George to her advantage by getting him to write songs for her while playing up to him. Unbeknownst to George, Netta has been carrying on with producer Eddie Carstairs (Glen Langan). When George discovers her deception he has another blackout and...........................................One can't help but notice the similarities between the Bone character(s) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both have good girl/bad girl relationships and both have mysterious blackouts where they commit violent acts. And of course there is the inevitable comparison to Cregar's Jack the Ripper character from "The Lodger". I personally didn't find him nearly as frightening in this film, bug eyes notwithstanding.Laird Cregar was apparently afraid of being type cast as a murderous villain. With the success of "The Lodger" he saw himself as a leading man and undertook a crash diet between the two films losing 100 lbs in the process. It is quite shocking to see the difference in Cregar's appearance in the two films. The stress on his heart evidently took its toll and he passed away at age 31 before "Hanover Square" was released.

Hangover Square turned out to be the premature farewell performance of Laird Cregar who starred as the mad composer/pianist who both creates beautiful music, courtesy of composer Bernard Herrmann and strangles people who get on his wrong side.The film if it had to be a farewell was a great one as it is dominated by Cregar's performance who like in The Lodger gets both the pity and revulsion emotions going with the viewer. Cregar is all the more frightening because he seems like an overgrown child.Scotland Yard has put an early version of a forensic psychologist in the person of urbane George Sanders on the case. Oddly enough Cregar comes to him to try and find an explanation for the blackouts he's suffering which occur not coincidentally around the time of another strangulation.His last victim is Linda Darnell who is a saucy vixen of an entertainer in need of new material. So Cregar the classical composer goes to work for her giving her music hall ballads for her act. She's stringing him along toying with some very unstable emotions. She comes to a most interesting end.This is also the only film I know which worked the British holiday Guy Fawkes Day into the plot. As you know those across the pond celebrate it with bonfires and it's certainly an interesting way director John Brahm uses it.The famous Hollywood legend about how Laird Cregar endangered his health by trying a crash diet and then going for surgery to shrink his stomach is supposedly because Cregar wanted to get leading man roles, but his big frame and girth worked against that. After Cregar died another actor who embraced his big frame and girth and played a variety of roles that Cregar might have been considered, came on the scene. That fellow's name was Raymond Burr.Still Hangover Square is a wonderful if premature farewell for a great talent who left us at least an appreciable body of work to gauge his talent.

Character actor Laird Cregar received his first starring role in this exceptionally loose adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's novel about a mild-mannered composer with a latent homicidal streak. In gas-lit London (via Hollywood), Cregar falls hard for Linda Darnell, playing a greedy chanteuse who uses the pianist for his songwriting talents; little does she know, he also harbors a 'Mr. Hyde'-like tendency to go off the beam whenever he hears loud, obtrusive noises. Cregar, who has the hulking frame of a Boris Karloff and the smudgy, pudgy face of a Lee J. Cobb, doesn't deliver a performance with multi-dimensions--but then, the picture itself is rather cut-and-dry. Without cinematographer Joseph LaShelle's swooping camera movements and Bernard Herrmann's scintillating score, the movie wouldn't be much more than another Jack the Ripper variation. A few stand-out moments (such as a bonfire sequence which recalls the German Expressionists, and the frenzied finale which must be seen to be believed) do cause the film to linger in the memory. Cregar died in real-life before the picture was even released; he fills the bill without possessing any actual charisma or evidence of an uncanny grasp of verisimilitude. **1/2 from ****