Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing jumping for joy for his upcoming big broadcast of a classic mammoth Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)/Richard Gordon horror masterpiece.
“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) with Boris Karloff
Original Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)/Richard Gordon U.S. theatrical release trailer for “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) with Boris Karloff.
“King of the Monsters!” “Their wild beauty marked them for death by.. ‘The Haunted Strangler’!” Original 1958 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Richard Gordon theatrical poster art for “The Haunted Strangler.”
The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth horror feature film masterpiece host will present his big broadcast of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958), this Sat., July 29 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.
The classic mammoth 1956 horror-thriller masterpiece was directed by veteran camera operator-turned feature film and TV series director Robert Day. “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) marked Robert Day’s third feature film in his feature film & TV directorial career. Day also worked on the latter “Tarzan” feature film and TV production adaptations inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan” adventure novels, including “Tarzan the Magnificent” (1960, with Gordon Scott, released through MGM), “Tarzan’s Three Challenges” (1963, with Jock Mahoney, released through MGM), “Tarzan and the Valley of Gold” (1966, released through Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures with Mike Henry), the 1966 episode of the “Tarzan” TV series, “A Life for a Life” (1966, with Ron Ely) and “Tarzan and the Great River” (1967, released through Paramount Pictures with Mike Henry reprising his role of Tarzan).
Day would later focus on directing numerous TV programs and made-for-TV movies throughout the remainder of his film career. He later directed six episodes of the classic mammoth British spy masterpiece series, “The Avengers” with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg in 1967- one of Day’s first “Avengers” episodes that he directed that year was titled “From Venus with Love” featuring Hammer horror legend Barbara Shelley and British TV legend Jon Pertwee of BBC’s “Doctor Who” fame. Day later directed nine episodes of the classic mammoth long-running Quinn Martin-Warner Bros.-ABC television crime drama masterpiece series with Efrem Zimbalist Jr., “The F.B.I.” from 1968-69. He also directed one episode of the classic mammoth Universal Studios/NBC TV detective masterpiece series production of “Ironside” with Raymond Burr (of TV’s “Perry Mason” fame), Don Mitchell, Barbara Andersen and Don Galloway (Day directed the 1970 episode “Good Will Tour”). To paraphrase Sven, “Robert Day directed an episode of another series that featured TV’s.. Raymond ‘Perry Mason’ Burr!” -C.H. One of his final works was directing the series pilot made-for-TV episode of the classic mammoth legal drama masterpiece series with Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Benjamin Matlock, “Matlock” (the 1986 feature-length made-for-TV movie pilot episode, “Diary of a Perfect Murder;” “Matlock” ran on NBC from 1986-93 and on ABC for the remainder of the series from 1993-95.
Robert Day’s classic mammoth masterpiece production of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) was produced by producer screenwriter John Croydon. Croydon also wrote the screenplay for the 1958 production of The Haunted Strangler” under the pseudonym of John C. Cooper, according to IMDB.
Original 1933-34 Gaumont British exhibitors’ trade ad for the North American theatrical release of “ The Ghoul ” (1933) with Boris Karloff .
25 years before the production of the classic mammoth Robert Day-Richard Gordon-MGM horror/thriller masterpiece production of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958), Boris Karloff had an earlier encounter with co-producer John Croydon. According to IMDB, Croydon previously worked as a production assistant for T. Hayes Hunter’s classic mammoth horror-thriller masterpiece adaptation of Dr. Frank King’s horror novel with Karloff in the role of Prof. Henry Morlant with Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Dorothy Hyson and Ernest Thesiger; “The Ghoul” (1933). Produced and released by the British production unit of pioneering French film studio Gaumont, Gaumont British; Karloff’s 1933 appearance in “The Ghoul” was one of the earliest British sound feature film horror productions.
Croydon/Cooper’s screenplay for “The Haunted Strangler” was adapted from veteran screenwriter Jan Read’s original novel /story treatment for “The Haunted Strangler,” titled “Stranglehold.” Croydon/Cooper also served as the producer for Ian Curteis’s cult classic mammoth sci-fi/horror masterpiece production with Mary Peach and Norman Wooland, “The Projected Man” (1966), which was released theatrically one year later in the United States through Universal Studios in 1967.’
Veteran producer/distributor Richard Gordon served as executive producer of Day’s production of “The Haunted Strangler (1958), which was produced under the Amalgamated Productions moniker. His brother, Alex Gordon was also a prolific film producer. Richard Gordon also helped veteran horror legend Bela Lugosi return to the United States after the abrupt ending of his 1951 British stage tour of Hamilton Deane‘s stage adaptation of Bram Stoker‘s “Dracula” by encouraging Lugosi to appear John Gilling‘s production of “Vampire Over London” (released in Britain in 1952, released by Columbia Pictures in the United States under the title of “My Son, The Vampire” in 1963 to capitalize on Allan Sherman‘s title 1963 comedy recording that was released on the record label of rival/competing studio Warner Bros.); which was an entry in the “Old Mother Riley” comedy film series with Arthur Lucan for Britain’s Renown Pictures (Renown was known as the British production-distribution company that co-produced Brian Desmond Hurst‘s classic mammoth 1952 Holiday feature film masterpiece adaptation of Charles Dickens‘ “A Christmas Carol/Scrooge” with Alastair Sim), according to IMDB.
Gordon later served as executive producer of Lindsay Shonteff’s cult classic thriller feature masterpiece production of “Devil Doll” (1964) with Bryant Haliday (who was one of the original co-founders of independent art-house producer/distribution firm Janus Films, the company behind The Criterion Collection line of critically-acclaimed feature film masterpieces from Janus and productions leased from other studios/production firms for Blu-Ray, DVD and select streaming platforms ), Yvonne Romain, William Sylvester and the vocal stylings of Sadie Corre. The Shonteff/Gordon production of “Devil Doll’ (1964) was later famously riffed on “Mystery Science Theater 3000” in 1997.
According to Maitland McDonagh’s 2007 retrospective article on Boris Karloff’s appearance in the Robert Day-Richard Gordon production fo “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) for Janus Films’ Criterion Collection home entertainment imprint, the veteran producer considered Boris Karloff as one of his screen heroes when he watched his classic mammoth monster, horror and thriller film masterpiece appearances in his childhood. When Richard Gordon established Gordon Films in 1949, he kept in touch with Karloff and wanted the classic screen horror-thriller-monster feature film legend to appear in one of his upcoming film productions.
During a 1956 meeting between the veteran actor and veteran producer, Karloff was interested in Jan Read’s original story treatment for the future production, titled “Stranglehold,” since the original story treatment was written for the veteran horror/thriller/monster feature film legend. Richard Gordon made the promise to Karloff that the production would be filmed in Great Britain and the veteran actor showed up for filming when the project was secured in 1958. Released in Great Britain under the title of “Grip of the Strangler” and re-titled by MGM for distribution in the United States under the title of “The Haunted Strangler,” the 1958 production was filmed at the now-defunct Nettlefield Studios in the town of Walton-on-Thames, England. The Nettlefield studio complex was established by pioneering British filmmaker/producer Cecil Hepworth in 1899 and closed in 1961; according to British classic film network Talking Pictures TV.
The classic mammoth Robert Day/Richard Gordon horror masterpiece production of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) was released theatrically throughout Great Britain via Eros Films Ltd., the British production-distribution firm was founded by Phil and Sid Hyams; according to IMDB. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) handled the North American theatrical distribution/releasing rights to “The Haunted Strangler.” Complete theatrical re-issue, latter television syndication and home entertainment licensing rights to “Fiend Without a Face” (1958) would later revert to Richard Gordon’s Gordon Films, Inc. (under the estate of Richard Gordon since Gordon’s death in 2011); according to veteran film distributor Kit Parker’s retrospective on veteran film producer Gordon. Parker also recalled that Gordon’s Gordon Films also represented the international distribution rights for classic feature film masterpieces owned by the art-house film distribution firm Janus Films for numerous years. Veteran film historian Tom Weaver noted that Gordon operated his own production company from 1949 until his death; according to Dennis McLellan’s Los Angeles Times retrospective article on the life and career of Richard Gordon.
Charles F. Vetter, a longtime associate and collaborator for Richard Gordon’s classic horror-thriller/sci-fi and fantasy feature film productions; also served as executive producer on the classic mammoth 1958 Robert Day-Richard Gordon horror/thriller masterpiece. One year after the production of “The Haunted Strangler,” Vetter also produced Robert Day’s classic mammoth Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) British sci-fi masterpiece production of “First Man Into Space” (1959) with Marshall Thompson, Marla Landi and Bill Edwards.
This will mark Sven’s second big broadcast of the classic mammoth Robert Day-Richard Gordon-MGM horror masterpiece production of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) on the airlanes of Me-TV. He previously showcased “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) as a big broadcast premiere back in Jan. 2022.
Who was in the classic mammoth 1958 Robert Day/Richard Gordon/MGM sci-fi masterpiece?
The players who appeared in the classic mammoth Robert Day-Richard Gordon MGM horror masterpiece production of “The Haunted Strangler” (1958) were Boris Karloff (as James Rankin), Jean Kent (as Cora), Elizabeth Allan (as Barbara Rankin), Anthony Dawson (as Supt. Burk), Vera Day (as Pearl), Tim Turner (as Dr. Keneth McColl), Leslie Perrins (as the Newgate Prison Governor), Dorothy Gordon (as Hannah) and Desmond Roberts (as Dr. Johnson).
Silver Screen Reflections 