'The Boston Strangler'

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grabs like a hand

By Peter Bellamy, Entertainment Editor

NEW YORK Millions of yards of human flesh will creep and crawl with the showing in Cleveland Nov. 6 of the terrifying, supremely adult film "The Boston Strangler."

The screen treatment of Albert DeSalvo, who murdered 13 women in Greater Boston between June 14, 1962, and March 9, 1963, could have been a penny dreadfui or cheap B picture.

It is anything but that. It is a distinguished example of photo journalism in reguard to the greatest mass murderer of women since Jack the Ripper, Bluebeard and the Hatchetman of Dusseldorf.

Its realism and horror drain the emotions completely. It leaves one limp.

WHILE it is hardly entertainment in the lighter sense of the word, it is a chilling reminder that our cities have within them sadistic maniacs like the Boston Strangler who many never be arrested unless they are found in the commission of an overt act.

There are several possible Academy Awards to be won by "The Boston Strangler."

Those who have thought of Tony Curtis as a pretty boy without much dramatic talent will change their minds when they see this shattering portrayal of DeSalvo.

The brief moment in which Curtis subtly indicates the killer's sexual satisfaction in murder is hair-raising.

Curtis's face does not appear on the screen until one hour after the film has been under way. But the menace of his walk and his gestures are frightening.

The period over which he is mentally broken down to confess his ghastly deeds suggests the cross examination of Capt. Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny."

Another aspect of the "The Boston Strangler” which may well bring Academy Award consideration is Director Richard Fleischer's use and refinement of multiscreen image photography.

IN SOME sequences there are as many as seven different images on the screen. One will show a strangler's victim going about ner prosaic household chores.

A second will picture DeSalvo plodding up a flight of apartment stairs to kill her. A third will depict frantic detectives and

'The Boston Strangler'

Not for the queasy. Mingled realism and horror mark the trail to the man who set Boston on edge for years.

police checking out literally thousands of clues.

A fourth screen image will show press, radio and TV reporters in the hoopla attendant to the desperate manhunt. There are shots of the morbidly curious and of perverts and peeping toms being rounded up by the scores in Boston.

There are women who report faithless lovers as the strangler out of spite. There are nuts who have an eager compulsion to confess to anything. All this on one screen showing many images.

REPORTING the facts as they were. the film chronicles the desperate use of extra-sensory perception, truth serum and even hypnotism in an effort to track down a killer who had an entire city on the verge of hysteria.

The ESP expert is played by the distinguished actor George Voskovec, who appeared at the Cleveland Play House during World War II after he had escaped from Czechoslovakia.

That fine actress Eve Collyer, who appeared at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival this past season, plays the role of a lesbian who informs upon a madam she hates.

THERE IS a scene of violence involving the strangler's victim who survived that is sickening.

"The Boston Strangler" is not for the queasy. It makes the psychiatrist involved look very bad. I don't think I could stand to see it again. But I'm glad I saw it once. Here is total repertorial screen involvement. The critics with whom I saw it broke a habit of years and applauded.

Directed by Richard Fleischer, screenplay_bv. Edword Anhcit based on a book by Gercid Frank. Froduced by Robert Frver. A 20th Century-Fox release. Albert DeSalvo.............

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