The Brighton Strangler
1945 | 67m | English
Popularity: 1.0 (history)
| Director: | Max Nosseck |
|---|---|
| Writer: | Max Nosseck, Arnold Lipp |
| Staring: |
| After suffering a head injury during the London Blitz, theatre actor John Loder comes to believe himself to be the Brighton Strangler, the murderer he was playing onstage. | |
| Release Date: | May 10, 1945 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Max Nosseck |
| Writer: | Max Nosseck, Arnold Lipp |
| Genres: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Keywords | new year's eve, world war ii, head injury, brighton, england, memory loss, reality vs fiction, strangler, life imitates art, assumed identity, nightmare becomes reality, stage performance, london blitz, dissociative identity disorder, amnesiac, play a role, theatre actor |
| Production Companies | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $0
Budget: $0 |
| Updates |
Updated: Jan 29, 2026 Entered: Apr 26, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| John Loder | Reginald Parker / Edward Grey |
| June Duprez | April Manby Carson |
| Michael St. Angel | Lieutenant Bob Carson |
| Miles Mander | Chief Inspector W.R. Allison |
| Rose Hobart | Dorothy Kent |
| Gilbert Emery | Dr. Manby |
| Rex Evans | Leslie Shelton |
| Matthew Boulton | Inspector Graham |
| Olaf Hytten | Banks |
| Lydia Bilbrook | Mrs. Manby |
| Ian Wolfe | Lord Mayor Herman Brandon R. Clive |
| Milton Owen | Inspector (Uncredited) |
| Norman Ainsley | First Passenger (Uncredited) |
| George Atkinson | Bellboy (Uncredited) |
| Frank Baker | Inspector (Uncredited) |
| Frank Benson | Bellboy (Uncredited) |
| Lillian Bronson | Hotel Maid (Uncredited) |
| George Broughton | Bellboy (Uncredited) |
| Tom Burton | Policeman (Uncredited) |
| Wheaton Chambers | Clerk (Uncredited) |
| Robin Sanders Clark | English Pilot (Uncredited) |
| Harry Clay | Pilot (Uncredited) |
| Robert Cory | Chauffeur (Uncredited) |
| Alec Craig | Vacuuming Bellboy (Uncredited) |
| Victor Cutler | Pilot (Uncredited) |
| Herbert Evans | Manby's Butler (Uncredited) |
| Ellen George Ferguson | Mrs. Shackleton (Uncredited) |
| Sherry Hall | Hotel Desk Clerk (Uncredited) |
| Alec Harford | Ticket Clerk (Uncredited) |
| Joy Harington | London Waitress (Uncredited) |
| Lilyan Irene | Emily (Uncredited) |
| Colin Kenny | Inspector (Uncredited) |
| Connie Leon | Mrs. Clive (Uncredited) |
| Stanley Mann | Inspector (Uncredited) |
| Audrey Manners | Cashier (Uncredited) |
| Frank Mayo | Policeman (Uncredited) |
| Tom McGuire | Barman (Uncredited) |
| Mary McLeod | Pamela (Uncredited) |
| Gavin Muir | Captain Perry (Uncredited) |
| Joseph North | Second Passenger (Uncredited) |
| Robert R. Stephenson | Inspector (Uncredited) |
| Doris Stone | Dorothy's Maid (Uncredited) |
| Gus Taillon | Newsie (Uncredited) |
| David Thursby | Fireman (Uncredited) |
| Alan Ward | Policeman (Uncredited) |
| Eric Wilton | Luggage Clerk (Uncredited) |
| Steve Winston | Policeman (Uncredited) |
| Florence Wix | Mrs. Kent (Uncredited) |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Leigh Harline | Original Music Composer |
| Albert S. D'Agostino | Art Direction |
| Vernon L. Walker | Special Effects |
| Renié | Costume Design |
| Roy Meadows | Sound |
| Max Nosseck | Screenplay, Director |
| Hugh Gray | Additional Dialogue |
| Arnold Lipp | Screenplay |
| J. Roy Hunt | Director of Photography |
| Les Millbrook | Editor |
| Ralph Berger | Art Direction |
| Harley Miller | Set Decoration |
| Darrell Silvera | Set Decoration |
| Lloyd Richards | Assistant Director |
| James G. Stewart | Sound Re-Recording Mixer |
| Harold Palmer | Editorial Services |
| Gil Grau | Orchestrator |
| Lawrence Morton | Orchestrator |
| Frank Tours | Additional Music |
| C. Bakaleinikoff | Music Director |
| Franz Waxman | Additional Music |
| Roy Webb | Additional Music |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Herman Schlom | Producer |
| Sid Rogell | Executive Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
| 2024 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| 2024 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | 8 | 5 | 14 | 1 |
| 2024 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 2024 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 2024 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 2024 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 2025 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Trending Position
You shall not see in the New year. 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 film 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 films 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, get out in the London smog and be wary of that hatted man coming towards you... 8/10
This is a rather better effort than I'm used to from John Loder. He's a successful actor who has wowed the audiences with his eponymous portrayal for 300 nights but has now had enough. Planning to head to the seaside for a break with his fiancée "April" (June Duprez) they get caught up in the blitz ... and next thing he has quite a bandage on his head. Meantime, people start turning up dead, strangled, and he begins to wonder if there isn't something of the "Jekyll" and "Hyde" to his post bump-on-the-head character? There's quite a fun dynamic between the two and a few familiar faces pop up now and again to shore up their leading roles and bring a bit of Transatlantic box-office (Michael St. Angel) to this cheap and cheerful, but perfectly watchable and sometimes quite creepily produced, wartime film noir that has an entertaining twist in it's tail at the end, too.