Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

bsmith5552 Following the success of "The Lodger" (1944), Darryl F. Zanuck, never one to miss an opportunity, rushed star Laird Cregar into a sequel of sorts, "Hangover Square". Again Cregar is cast as a schizophrenic dual personality murderer.There's no doubt that he is a murderer as the opening scene has him stabbing an old antique dealer (Francis Ford) to death. Later we see him wandering aimlessly in the turn of the 20th century streets of London. He suddenly regains his senses and has no memory of the past few hours or of the dastardly crime he has just committed.Back at his home we learn that George Harvey Bone (Cregar) is an aspiring composer who is working on a concerto that he hopes will bring him fame. He is working under the tutelage of Sir Henry Chapman (Alan Napier) who just happens to have an attractive young daughter Barbara (Faye Marlowe) who has an attraction to Bone.Bone meanwhile has doubts about his blackouts and seeks the advice of Scotland Yard shrink Dr. Allan Middleton ( a bland George Sanders). Middleton advises him to ease up on his work and go out and have some fun. While watching a music hall revue, he is attracted to alluring showgirl Netta Longdon (Linda Darnell). She sees an opportunity to use George to her advantage by getting him to write songs for her while playing up to him. Unbeknownst to George, Netta has been carrying on with producer Eddie Carstairs (Glen Langan). When George discovers her deception he has another blackout and...........................................One can't help but notice the similarities between the Bone character(s) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both have good girl/bad girl relationships and both have mysterious blackouts where they commit violent acts. And of course there is the inevitable comparison to Cregar's Jack the Ripper character from "The Lodger". I personally didn't find him nearly as frightening in this film, bug eyes notwithstanding.Laird Cregar was apparently afraid of being type cast as a murderous villain. With the success of "The Lodger" he saw himself as a leading man and undertook a crash diet between the two films losing 100 lbs in the process. It is quite shocking to see the difference in Cregar's appearance in the two films. The stress on his heart evidently took its toll and he passed away at age 31 before "Hanover Square" was released.

bkoganbing Hangover Square turned out to be the premature farewell performance of Laird Cregar who starred as the mad composer/pianist who both creates beautiful music, courtesy of composer Bernard Herrmann and strangles people who get on his wrong side.The film if it had to be a farewell was a great one as it is dominated by Cregar's performance who like in The Lodger gets both the pity and revulsion emotions going with the viewer. Cregar is all the more frightening because he seems like an overgrown child.Scotland Yard has put an early version of a forensic psychologist in the person of urbane George Sanders on the case. Oddly enough Cregar comes to him to try and find an explanation for the blackouts he's suffering which occur not coincidentally around the time of another strangulation.His last victim is Linda Darnell who is a saucy vixen of an entertainer in need of new material. So Cregar the classical composer goes to work for her giving her music hall ballads for her act. She's stringing him along toying with some very unstable emotions. She comes to a most interesting end.This is also the only film I know which worked the British holiday Guy Fawkes Day into the plot. As you know those across the pond celebrate it with bonfires and it's certainly an interesting way director John Brahm uses it.The famous Hollywood legend about how Laird Cregar endangered his health by trying a crash diet and then going for surgery to shrink his stomach is supposedly because Cregar wanted to get leading man roles, but his big frame and girth worked against that. After Cregar died another actor who embraced his big frame and girth and played a variety of roles that Cregar might have been considered, came on the scene. That fellow's name was Raymond Burr.Still Hangover Square is a wonderful if premature farewell for a great talent who left us at least an appreciable body of work to gauge his talent.

vincentlynch-moonoi There are two remarkable actors in this film. Laird Cregar -- whom I had never heard of -- is brilliant here. This movie belongs to him...his performance is scintillating! And, so that the heavy could play a romantic, yet murderous part, he quickly lost 100 pounds before making the film, and died before it was released! The other remarkable performance in this film is by Linda Darnell...in my opinion, remarkably bad. I had just seen her the previous night opposite Tyrone Power, and she was quite good. But here, stinko! And that's the remarkable thing about this film. Cregar is soooooo good, that you easily overlook the poor performance by Darnell. It's a gripping film that is not unlike "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde", but perhaps even better. Here, Cregar plays a composer who has amnesia attacks during which he often kills someone. A wonderful girl is in love with him, but he falls for a cheap pop singer who only wants to use him. Of course, we all know where this is going. And, indeed, he does kill Darnell...and the viewer is glad of it. Cregar is able to gain incredible sympathy while playing a serial murderer! The other performance worth watching here is by George Sanders, who is excellent as a detective from Scotland Yard. You can't help but wish that he was on screen more.This rates a very high, solid 7 for me, and is well worth a watch and a place on your video shelf, particularly if you like old thrillers.

Scarecrow-88 A concert pianist is plagued with a mental illness where a specific sound triggers a murderous impulse, this time when he commits murder remains buried in the back of his mind, not understanding the sequence of events which arise, awakening remembering nothing..fragments emerge as time goes by which leave him puzzled, wondering if he may've committed the murders reported.Laird Cregar's phenomenal performance as the haunted pianist, superb sets recreating the Victorian era of London, sweepingly gorgeous camera-work, and a magnificent score from Bernard Hermann all add to what is another masterwork from John Brahm. 20th Century Fox gave Brahm the right tools to bring to life a time and place that feels so incredibly authentic. Unlike The Lodger, Brahm's other masterpiece(..or in my mind anyway), the film is solely focused on Cregar, he gets the entire film. The Lodger provided the great George Sanders with a more lucrative role, but even in Hangover Square, he still impresses(..when does he not?)as a police psychiatrist who suspects Cregar might be the person responsible for the murder of a crooked antique dealer, and behind an attempted strangling of Barbara Chapman(Faye Marlowe). Linda Darnell has a juicy part as Netta Longdon, a dance hall girl who uses George Harvey Bone's(Cregar)affection for her to gain success, secretly wooing a theater producer, Eddie Carstairs(Glenn Langan). Barbara adores Bone and pleads with him to continue a concerto which could bring him the fame and fortune he deserves, knowing that his talent is better utilized elsewhere besides preparing music for Netta, who doesn't love him. We watch as Netta manipulatively goads Bone into providing her with a concerto that will push her over into stardom, playing on his adoration for her, understanding that once he gives her what she so desires, she can dump him for Carstairs. This will undoubtedly seal her fate, as Bone, after entering into another lapse, strangles her, placing her corpse in a bonfire.I think maybe it's a bit unfair to compare Hangover Square with The Lodger since both are infinitely different films(..and Cregar, to his credit, is able to create two distinctively different characters), but I think what set the latter apart was the star power, with not only Sanders having a much richer part, but the likes of a Merle Oberon and Cedric Hardwicke included, it has advantages in this area alone. I still think Hangover Square benefits because Cregar has the central core of the film based around him, not having to share with other stars. It's a tragedy such a talent as Cregar didn't have longer to live, taken far too early, I can't help but ponder all those future performances we'll never get to admire and appreciate. His overwhelming power on screen, the way he can grip you without uttering a word, this kind of skill isn't manufactured, but a gift so few really have and others covet dearly. And, Cregar had one of the most fantastic voices I've ever heard, and the levels in performance he could achieve with the few characters he presented us before his untimely death will stand the test of time. I consider it a privilege to experience such performances as Cregar gave us in The Lodger and Hangover Square. The fiery finale as the concert hall burns around Bone as he continues to play his concerto is unforgettable, a finale curtain call to an icon.