Strangler of the Swamp (1945)

German émigré director Frank Wisbar (formerly Wysbar) was reportedly awarded a paltry 20,000 dollars to complete this remake of his most famous film, the German Fahrmann Maria (1936). The less than generous studio was the infamous PRC, in its day nicknamed Pretty Rotten Crud, but Wisbar, like that other PRC legend Edgar G. Ulmer, made the most with what he had been given. Aside from character actors Robert Barrat and Charles Middleton, the cast consisted of virtually unknowns, and, again like Ulmer, Wisbar filled a small rental stage with enough smoke to camouflage the threadbare sets. The result may not be in a class with Fahrmann Maria -- PRC was not interested in lyrical horror -- but good enough to have awarded the film cult status. Former Miss America of 1942, Rosemary LaPlanche, is surprisingly effective in the role formerly played by Gothic legend Sybille Schmitz, and although he is given far too many lines to speak, Middleton is properly frightening in the title role. Released on DVD, Strangler of the Swamp remains the most visible of Frank Wisbar's films, and, along with Ulmer's Detour (1945), has come to exemplify what a creative director could do even with a miniscule budget when given a free hand. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide