Jack the Ripper

A rather sordid and violent atmosphere prevents this B tale of real life murder and mayhem from becoming something that would have been acceptable for a late 1950's TV anthology show. It obviously doesn't ring any reality bells, but it's entertaining enough and fast paced to become a passable horror programmer. The typical foggy atmosphere, slim gaslit cobblestone streets, and floozy streetwalkers are expected for the 1880's London atmosphere, and the actual attacks (unbloody fortunately) are appropriately horrifying. Typical public paranoia takes over for every stranger on the streets, including American detective Lee Patterson who is actually there by request to aide in the investigation. The ripper is out to find someone named Mary Clark, heard whispering the name before he strikes. This script presumes to solve the cast, but 140 years later, there's no evidence of the real ripper's identity. My favorite ripper story is 1979's "Murder By Decree", with "Time After Time" a close second. 1944's "The Lodger" is also preferable to this which thanks to some good photography and a dramatic music score is just average.

source: Jack the Ripper

Trailer—Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper

In ways pretty tame version of this often told story. A serial killer hides in the shadows of the cobble-stoned streets and alleys of London. The Whitechapel district seems to be vary comfortable for the killer, who brutally rips open women with the precision of a surgeon. Sam Lowry(Lee Patterson)is the American detective who joins Scotland Yard in their troubled search for the elusive ripper. The crisp black and white film is full of atmosphere and at times there is some disturbing images...not enough for me. Plus there is a good assortment of suspects. A very solid cast that also features: Eddie Byrne, Barbara Burke, Betty McDowell, Jack Allen, Garard Green, Ewon Solon and John Le Mesurier.

I wasn't intending on watching this film as it got a bad review in my TV guide. But when I saw John Le Mesurier (whom I most associate with the TV series "Dad's Army") becoming a prime suspect at the start of this Jack the Ripper themed whodunnit, then I just had to watch the rest. The film basically uses the Jack the Ripper case as a excuse for a whodunnit. Jack's identity is pretty easy to guess (not enough suspects!), but the motive for the killings takes a bit longer to figure out. The inclusion of an American policeman in the story does rather pander to an American audience, but it works quite well. I was cynically expecting him to solve the case before the London policeman and have a fight to the death with Jack at the the end of the film. But I was pleasantly surprised with the ending (it was vaguely reminiscent of the endings of a couple of Dario Argento's gialli). Overall it's not a great film, but if you're into whodunnits then it's worth checking out.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater when I was 12 years old in Washington, D.C.,and it scared the hell out of me. It was a wonderful eerie period piece. It was black and white throughout the whole movie until the very end when Jack was crushed under the elevator. As his blood seeped up through the floor boards, the movie changed to glorious color to show the red of the blood, and the horror of the men in the elevator looking down at the floor. Most effective! I bought this video tape from England, but that colorized blood-seeping scene was not included. I don't even think it had the blood seeping up in black and white. I was later to learn that this colorized ending was added to the American release. But as far as I know it is not available in VHS or DVD. I was really disappointed when this novel scene did not appear in my video. At least I have the memory of it as a child and the effect it had on me then.

There appear to be two versions of this film so beware. The colourised ending with the blood seeping out seems to have been done especially as a gimmick for the USA market. In the UK version there is no colorised ending (it's all in black and white) and it also looks as if the ending has suffered from censor cuts. Hopefully, one day we will see a DVD release with both endings included. All screenings in the UK (on TV) have been of the UK version with the black and white ending. Those interested in this film may also care to check out A Study In Terror in which Sherlock Holmes tackles Jack the Ripper in a hammer forror-ish style.

Every once in a while one finds a film that is mostly mediocre but has one redeeming feature. The bright spot of Jack the Ripper is it's beautiful lightning. Some B&W films are just gray when to me the beauty of it is in the strong contrast between light and shadow. All in all this is a very easy film to like. It is beautifully naive in it's portrayal of it's sex murder topic yet at the same time it succeeds in making a powerful point about lynching mob attitude. The characters are rather predictable and bland with one exception: the young American policeman visiting London. With his accent and idealism displayed under a greasy fifties Buddy Holly hairstyle (remember that this is a period piece set in the 19th century)he brings a nice cowboy twist to the legend of Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper (1959) ** (out of 4) Atmospheric and moody version of the infamous serial killer. This isn't quite as good as the version with Klaus Kinski but it remained entertaining throughout. The director does a great job building up the atmosphere of 1888 London but for some strange reason he never pushes the "mystery" surrounding the case. He throws a lot of suspects at us but for some reason he never tries to build up a mystery film as to who the killer is. There's a big twist at the end, which makes one think the film is going to do something with it but it never does. I'm not exactly sure what the filmmakers were going for but the movie still works.