During WW II as one of the Luftwafte air raids hits London, Reginald Parker, a successful actor, is knocked out and heavily concussed. Upon awaking he believes himself to be Edward Grey, the notorious Brighton Strangler he has been portraying on the stage!Clocking in at just 67 minutes, The Brighton Strangler just about has enough time to get in and do it's job excellently. Something of an under seen gem, it's a film that has enough creepy menace about it to reward the black and white thriller fan. Boasting excellent sets, some very neat camera work from director Max Nosseck and a fabulous lead performance from John Loder, I personally feel that it deserves to be seen by more people. Typically it's a picture that rarely gets aired on British TV, and when it does it's sadly tucked away on BBC 2 at some ungodly hour in the AM. Until film's like this get decent exposure from our TV schedulers then they are going to remain criminally under seen. So keep your eyes out for this one, the formula may now be seen as old hat, but transport yourself back to 1945, out in the London smog and be wary of that hatted man coming towards you.........8/10

The most popular play on the West End is "The Brighton Strangler". It is the last performance for Reginald Parker as he wants a rest from being "a strangler" and to spend more time with his fiancée Dorothy Kent (Rose Hobart). She is also writing a new play for him. Parker is a gentle and kind man, but caught in a bomb blast at the theatre, he literally becomes Edward Grey, the character he played in "The Brighton Strangler". He goes to Victoria Station and meets April (June Duprez) who is going to Brighton to visit her parents for Christmas. The word "Brighton" triggers an association in his brain, so he goes there too.He then sets about recreating the play - killing first the Mayor, who he feels sent him to jail - the Mayor (Ian Wolff) doesn't know a thing about it of course. His next victim is Inspector Allison (Miles Mander). April is to meet her husband (she is secretly married but because her parents have recently lost their son in the war she doesn't want to tell them.) She asks Grey to give her an alibi by going to a concert that she is supposed to be attending. He uses the concert as an alibi for himself so he can kill the Inspector and then get back to the concert without causing suspicion. April's husband is called back to his base so April can go to the concert after all but she doesn't see Grey there.The film ends as the film began - with the final scene from the play "The Brighton Strangler". I really enjoyed this film a lot more than "A Double Life" which I found a bit dull.John Loder is good as always - I just loved him in "Non Stop New York" - he plays Reginald Parker. The beautiful June Duprez's most important film was "The Four Feathers" (1939), the technicolor showing off her dazzling beauty. She plays April. Rose Hobart was an American actress whose most famous role was as Muriel Carew in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1931) - she fitted in well with the English cast as Dorothy Kent.

The was a British film portraying a stage actor who is hit on the head during a bombing in World War II raid on London and then acts the "strangler" in the play he's in, forgetting that he's just an actor. It's an interesting premise. Most of the plot was pretty obvious but there was a twist or two thrown in which kept my attention.However, to be honest, after about 40 minutes my mind started to wander, as the movie just plodded along. A story about a guy with "multiple personalities," so to speak, someone who can't distinguish anymore between fact and fiction, and winds up thinking he's "the Brighton Strangler" should have been a lot more interesting than it was. At 67 total minutes, there is no excuse for this to be a boring movie.John Loder is good in the lead as "Reginald Parker/Edward Gray," but the story doesn't live up to his performance. It just sags, big-time, in that middle section. There are major plot holes in here, too. The guy plays a "famous" actor yet no one recognizes him. I bet if someone re-made this story, it could a chilling one.

Though the film is sometimes hard to take, and had flimsy scenes, Loder is great as the actor overcome by shock, who becomes the character he was portraying on stage, a maniacal strangler! Certainly worth seeing on TV, since it does note seem available on video. And try to catch some of Nosseck's other flics, as he was in interesting german director, and handled noir well, especially with Lawrence Tierney.