Ah, Jack the Ripper... Media's favorite and most notorious serial killer, and the subject of numerous pulp novels, pseudo-psychological thesis works, mini-series and an excessively wide variety of horror/cult films! If I got $1 for every Jack the Ripper themed movie I ever watched in my life, I would...well, at least be able to treat myself to a medium-large lunch at McDonald's! To keep things reasonably transparent, let's state there exist four main categories of Jack the Ripper film adaptations. The earliest ones are based on the novel "The Lodger" by Marie Belloc Lowndes and narrate from the viewpoint of an elderly couple that rent out a room to a sinister man whom they suspect is the Whitechapel murderer. The most famous version was the silent 1927 classic directed by none other than Alfred Hitchcock, but also the 1944 version by John Brahm or the 1953 film starring Jack Palance are very good. Much later, the persona of Jack the Ripper got linked to other iconic, but entirely fictional characters like Arthur C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes ("A Study in Terror", "Murder by Decree") and Robert L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll ("Edge of Sanity", "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde"). The more absurd but ingenious category of films plucks The Ripper out of 1888, and even London, and time-warp him to present day where he cheerfully continues his murder spree, like in "Time after Time", "Bridge across time" and, to a lesser extent, "Jack's Back". The fourth and last category often claims to be the most factual, although that is debatable, and convincingly claims that Jack the Ripper was a highly intelligent and prominent figure, like a surgeon, an artist or even a member of the royal family! "Hands of the Ripper" and especially "From Hell" are most famous, but also the obscure yet surprisingly "Jack the Ripper" homes in this group.
Although unknown and not doing too well at the box-office around its time of release "Jack the Ripper" is a fascinating little film with several atmospheric & downright unsettling moments, a nifty whodunit structure with a few red herrings, excellent use of settings, decors and shadows and a virulent climax to boot! Unless I'm mistaken, this is also the first film version in which the Ripper wears a long black cape and hat, and these accessories became prototypic since then. In this film, the misogynist killer corners his female victims in dark alleys and ask them if they are "Mary Clarke" before carving them up, anyways. What the film does exceptionally well is giving a face to the ripper's victims and forcing us, viewers, to sympathize with them. The barmaid, for instance, is a semi-heroine and the go-go dancer was an even bigger shock. Of course, there are also defaults in Hammer genius Jimmy Sangster's screenplay, like why was it necessary to drag an American inspector? The climax is phenomenal, and not just because it's a tense and morbid cat-and-mouse race, but also thanks to that one oddly peculiar moment in color, with thick red Jack the Ripper blood coming through the elevator floor.
Although unknown and not doing too well at the box-office around its time of release "Jack the Ripper" is a fascinating little film with several atmospheric & downright unsettling moments, a nifty whodunit structure with a few red herrings, excellent use of settings, decors and shadows and a virulent climax to boot! Unless I'm mistaken, this is also the first film version in which the Ripper wears a long black cape and hat, and these accessories became prototypic since then. In this film, the misogynist killer corners his female victims in dark alleys and ask them if they are "Mary Clarke" before carving them up, anyways. What the film does exceptionally well is giving a face to the ripper's victims and forcing us, viewers, to sympathize with them. The barmaid, for instance, is a semi-heroine and the go-go dancer was an even bigger shock. Of course, there are also defaults in Hammer genius Jimmy Sangster's screenplay, like why was it necessary to drag an American inspector? The climax is phenomenal, and not just because it's a tense and morbid cat-and-mouse race, but also thanks to that one oddly peculiar moment in color, with thick red Jack the Ripper blood coming through the elevator floor.