Monsters and Madmen Part 2: The Haunted Strangler and Corridors of Blood
Studio: The Criterion Collection #367 (The Haunted Strangler); #368 (Corridors of Blood)
Rated: No rating noted
Aspect Ratios: 1.33:1
Audio: English DD 1.0
Subtitles: English
Time: The Haunted Strangler:79 minutes; Corridors of Blood: 87 minutes
Disc Formats: 1 DVD-9 each
Case Style: Keepcases in cardboard slipcase
Theatrical Release Dates: The Haunted Strangler: 1958; Corridors of Blood: 1959
DVD Release Date: January 23, 2007
Criterion has released four films by B-movie producers Richard and Alex Gordon in the new, four disc box set, Monsters and Madmen. The second two I’m reviewing, The Haunted Strangler and Corridors of Blood share a similar madman theme, as well as two great Boris Karloff performances, so I thought I’d split the reviews accordingly between the more sci-fi themed part of the set. The whole box set carries the Criterion Library number 364, and then each two disc set has the dual numbers noted above. The reviews for the other part of this box set, First Man Into Space and The Atomic Submarine can be found here.
The promo material for these pictures warns you up front: “More shock and fright than you’ve ever seen!” so I will warn you prior to viewing these pictures: you must have nerves of steel to make it all the way through both stories as they are not for the faint of heart or easily frightened!
Boris Karloff plays crusading social reformer and author, James Rankin in The Haunted Strangler. The picture starts out with the hanging of the infamous Haymaker Strangler, a man who has been convicted of crimes similar to those of Jack the Ripper. Several years later, Rankin believes the man accused of the crimes was actually innocent, so he begins his own investigation into the matter. As his quest continues, Rankin learns while his search may be righteous and correct, the spirits it awakens will have personal rather than social consequences and the demons he faces are more his own than anyone else’s!
Corridors of Blood was certainly not going to be outdone by the previous picture: after the opening credits, we are told “London, 1840 – Before the discovery of anesthesia”. With this frightening prospect in mind, we know immediately we are in for a grueling and grisly show. Karloff appears in this picture as Dr. Thomas Bolton, a doctor who is in high demand since he can do surgery quicker than anyone else. Since science of the day has yet to discover anesthetic, the doctors believe it is more humane to do surgery quick to limit the length of time the patient is in pain. They believe “pain and the knife are inseparable”, but Bolton, being the humanitarian he is, knows there must be a chemical way to stop the patient’s pain. Bolton begins doing tests in his basement lab to mix the chemicals in just the proper way to achieve a pain free state. However, he is soon seduced by the drugs potent combinations, and his addictions may cause him and his patients more problems than pain free solutions!
These two pictures are B-movie classics, not so much for the stories (which are quite entertaining) but for the fine performances in both pictures by Karloff. The extras tend to focus on Karloff and the point he was in his career when he did these movies. Karloff does well in portraying these madmen as righteous and good but they just get seduced by their weaknesses (madness and addiction, respectively). I was amazed at how good Karloff is at switching between the normalcy of characters and into the “haunted” modes, sometimes even introducing changes to his physical appearance to drive home the change. There is a great supporting role by Christopher Lee in Corridors of Blood. The movies introduce elements of social criticisms in medical treatments and the legal system and then using Karloff’s characters as gross examples of what can happen when these systems fail.
Video:
Both pictures are framed at 133:1. Criterion is good enough to provide us with more information about the transfers themselves, so I will pass this along: “This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from the 35mm fine-grain prints. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.” The black and white pictures exhibit excellent contrast and very good shadow detail. Grey scale was accurate as well. Both foreground and background detail is good and sharp. Edge enhancement was very minimal and there were no compression artifacts.
Audio:
I watched the discs with the Dolby Digital 1.0 track engaged. The tracks are free of any damage and they are very smooth and natural. Bass effects were not noticed. I’m glad we have these mono tracks as I couldn’t imagine any type of upgrading: this would tend to distract from the creepiness of the sound effects and music. As with the video, Criterion notes the following about both soundtracks: “The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the 35mm optical soundtrack negatives, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle.”
Bonus Material:
Audio commentary on both discs with Richard and Alex Gordon and writer Tom Weaver: The commentaries spend a significant amount of time on Karloff, his career and his contributions to the film medium. Weaver keeps the Gordon’s moving along, but there are some pauses in the tracks from time to time. Regardless, the tracks are entertaining and informative from a historical perspective of the film industry and monster films in particular.
The Haunted Strangler’s extras are under the heading King of the Monsters. There is a mini-documentary, Haunted Memories (12:15) with director Robert Day, screenwriter Jan Reed and co-stars Jean Kent and Vera Day. This mini-doc, like most of the extras, is focused on Karloff. The trailer, and some radio spots (with Fiend bonus) are included, and there is a section called Exploitation! that features still photos and publicity material.
Corridors of Blood’s extras are under the heading Bloodcurdling Experiments. The mini doc, CorridorGossip (14:39) has interviews with Robert Day and co-star Francis Matthews as they discuss, again, Karloff and a few other aspects of the picture. We also get three deleted scenes that were cut to satisfy a certain British rating, and an audio interview Yvonne Romaine that covers this picture and her career in general. This disc contains the trailer and similar Exploitation! items found on the other disc.
There is a twenty page booklet featuring an excerpt from John Croydon’s article in Fangoria, and an essay from author and film editor Maitland McDonagh. The art on the box and the individual discs is by comic and animation artist Darwyn Cooke, a real favorite of mine, so I’ll plug his new book at DC, The Spirit and the collection of his incredible The New Frontier.
Conclusions:
The second half of this new box set give us some B-movie scares to make those cold, lonely nights that much more ominous. Criterion’s extras are fairly light compared to their other releases, but the commentaries are quite enjoyable at times giving us a great historical perspective of movies in general, horror pictures in particular and the career of Karloff.
