Edgar Wallace Presents: The Gaunt Stranger (1938) (DVD)

An atmospheric adaptation of The Ringer - the play that earned global fame for English master of suspense Edgar Wallace and remains his best-known story - this classic whodunit combines taut direction and inspired characterisation, with Patrick Barr starring as a beleaguered Scotland Yard investigator, John Longdon his hawkish superior and, in an early film role as a particularly haughty secretary, Patricia Roc. Also notable as the first film produced at Ealing by Michael Balcon, The Gaunt Stranger is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Detective Inspector Alan Wembury teams up with Lomond, a police doctor, to try to find 'The Ringer' - a mysterious, revenge-driven serial killer and master of disguise. When a lawyer receives a bouquet with a note informing him that he'll be dead in forty-eight hours, Wembury and his men embark on a frantic quest to uncover the killer's identity...

Image gallery
Set design image gallery