Strangler of the Tower, The Whipping and Torture of Miss Austria

Christa Linder, Miss Austria of 1962, is the star of today's feature, 1966's "Strangler of the Tower" (aka Der Wurger vom Tower). The beautiful Austrian actress will be brutalized, stripped, whipped, tortured and humiliated by a crazed cult operating in London. Just like last month's review of "Monster of London-City" (see my review http://zisiemporium.blogspot.com/2015/09/monster-of-london-city-jack-ripper.html ) this is a German film set in London.  This film is also stylish, erotic, and has a jazzy score. 

Jane (Linder) arrives in London after her mother is strangled for a valuable emerald.  Unfortunately for Jane, her mom wore a copy of the jewel, and Jane wears the original.  A cult called Brothers of the Holy Order of Righteousness have begun operation Strike it Rich.  They soon find out that Jane possesses the genuine stone.  They abduct her and bring her to a secret lair where they whip and torture her and force her to sign over her inherited estate to them.  Just for good measure, they continue the beatings.  Our cult desires to reacquire five more emeralds which they believe rightly belong to some mysterious goddess.  Most of these stones are worn by glamorous Londoners.  The fiends find these lovely women and murder them.  In the case of London's most famous mystery writer, the lovely Grace Harrison (Kai Fischer), they also con her into signing over her entire estate to them before they strangle her.

With Jane's disappearance, Scotland Yard is on the case.  Inspector Harvey (Hans Reiser) has traced the stolen jewels to a mysterious jeweler in London.  All of the emeralds were either sold or set by Mr. Clifton (Charles Regnier). Time is short as more lovelies are strangled to death and the cult readies Jane for some barbaric sacrifice. Uh oh, the good inspector believes a strangler, still on the loose, who disappeared in the Tower of London many years ago, is involved.  Will Scotland Yard put enough clues together in order to rescue Jane before the cult cuts her into pieces?  What connection does the cult have to the monster strangler still on the loose?

Quirky and quick moving, "Strangler of the Tower" is a good looking thriller.  The performances are great, especially by Linder and Reiser.  Lots of beautiful damsels in much distress and some nifty roof-top police chases enhance this work.  Many will die tortuous deaths before the film ends, but we really pull for Jane to survive....after all...she is Miss Austria.