RARA-AVIS: Re: Bill S. Ballinger and "The Strangler"

From: chrisaschneider@earthlink.net
Date: 03 Aug 2003


-------Original Message-------
> From: JIM DOHERTY < jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com>
> Sent: 08/01/03 09:20 PM
> To: rara-avis@icomm.ca
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Bill S. Ballinger

> Ballinger was a prolific screenwriter, credited with scripts for eight feature films and over 150 teleplays. He won an Edgar in the TV category for his adaptation of the Stanley Ellin short story "The Day of the Bullet," which was shown on ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. The mid-50s noir PUSHOVER, in which Fed MacMurray portrays a crooked cop, was partially based on Ballinger's novel RAFFERTY (the other credited source material was Thomas Walsh's THE NIGHT WATCH).
__________________________________

A glance at IMDb reveals that Ballinger also wrote the script for a low-budget thriller that's been known to generate some enthusiasm: "The Strangler" (1964), with Burt Topper as director and a just-post-"Baby Jane" Victor Buono as the killer of the film's title.

"Victor Buono brought a certain class to this compelling tawdry exploiter as an obese mother-fixated lab technician who murders nurses," writes Nigel Floyd for Time Out. Director Topper gained himself a listing in the back of Andrew Sarris' "American Cinema" book, which is usually a good excuse for at least *one* viewing. The film also has the same art-director as Renoir's "Bete Humaine" (Eugene Lourie) as well as the same director-of-photography as "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" (Jacques Marquette).

Sounds like enough to whet *my* curiosity ...

Chris

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