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(1959, Anamorphic Widescreen) Karl-Arne Holmsten, Annalisa Ericson, Gunnel Broström, Bengt Brunskog, Nils Hallberg, Gio Petré, Björn Bjelfvenstam, Mona Malm. Rider in Blue is part of a series of five detective thrillers directed by the incomparable Arne Mattsson and featuring Holmsten as detective John Hillman. The plot here is pretty straightforward, while Hillman is tackling an assignment in London, his wife (Ericson) visits an Army riding school in Sweden. She soon finds herself embroiled in a real whodunit. Who is the mysterious “the Blue Rider?” The rest of the film features numerous suspects who are all embroiled in a variety of perilous situations. The deserted house and rushing rapids scenes are a couple of great moments, but the high point is the nail-biting climax inside a darkened pipe organ loft, which offers some genuine chills. Hallberg offers up his usual grins here and there; his bathtub encounter is a nice bit of light-hearted contrast to the rest of the sinister goings-on. There are also some thunderous horseback riding scenes. All in all this is a terrific Swedish thriller. Offered now with new English subtitles. Beautiful color, from 35mm.
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