jamesraeburn2003 1888: Whitechapel in the East End of London: Inspector O' Neill (Eddie Byrne) is coming under intense pressure from the Yard, the Home Secretary and the terrified local population to bring to book a serial killer known as Jack The Ripper who murders and mutilates street women. His close friend, a visiting American policeman called Sam Lowry (Lee Patterson), is keen to help him track down the Ripper since his own force has a deep interest in the case too. The Mercy Hospital for Women falls under great suspicion of the local people who are developing a lynch mob tendency. A mute employee at the hospital, Louis Benz (Endree Muller), drops a medical bag he is carrying at the scene of a crime spilling all its surgical contents on to the pavement. Assuming him to be the Ripper, the locals pursue him through the cobbled streets arming themselves with the scalpels and surgical knives and it is only by chance that O' Neill and Lowry happen to be passing that he is saved from being hacked to pieces by the mob. O' Neill puts Benz in protective custody and the assistant chief commissioner of the Yard is keen to charge him for the murders, but O' Neill thinks that it is too easy and does not believe that the unfortunate Benz is his man. But who is the elusive Jack The Ripper and what are the motives behind his frenzied, bloody and insane killings?There has been countless films and documentaries made and numerous books written about the world's most famous unsolved case about the mysterious serial killer who terrified London's East End during 1888. Naturally, there has been countless suspects and theories behind the motives of the Ripper murders. Anybody who has even just a passing interest in the case will see the solution in this British b-pic from Monty Berman and Bob Baker coming from some distance off. Yet, the identity of the culprit is well enough concealed until the film reaches its shocking denouement. Jimmy Sangster, Hammer's regular screenwriter whom Berman and Baker hired for their copy of that studio's gothics, The Blood Of The Vampire (1958), teases us with a number of red herrings and possible suspects. Berman and Baker, here multitasking as cinematographers/directors and producers admirably rise to the occasion in generating the tension; sometimes to very high levels. The climax, for instance, where O' Neill and Lowry trap the killer in the hospital tricking him into thinking that the porter he has just stabbed to death is still alive and on the brink of regaining consciousness and could reveal his identity. As they intended, he breaks and tries to make a run for it hiding at the bottom of a lift shaft. But, the mortuary attendants use the lift to take the porter's body down to the morgue and he is crushed to death in a suitably effective and lurid moment. My DVD, an Italian import, used an American print in which that scene turns into Technicolor to reveal the Ripper's blood seeping through the floorboards of the elevator. That gimmick was not seen in UK prints of the film although it still got an 'X' certificate. The murders are fairly shockingly staged combining just the right amount of graphic horror and leaving the rest to the imagination, which is so much more effective. Effective set design and b/w cinematography succeed in creating a chilling atmosphere and convincingly recreates the fog shrouded, cobbled streets and dank alleyways of Whitechapel in the Ripper era. It has to be said as well that the picture's low budget is pretty well concealed. Berman and Baker also capture quite well the effect that the murders have on the community transforming it from a happy thriving place into one where decent people live in fear and develop a mob mentality. Performances are generally good all round with Eddie Byrne offering a good down to earth portrayal as the dogged and frustrated police inspector and John Le Mesurier is noteworthy as a surgeon whom we are teased and lead on to believe is the Ripper throughout the film sustaining the suspense. Film buffs will recognise Lee Patterson, the imported American leading man, who was a 'B' picture stalwart in Britain at this time. Many of the low budget programmers he appeared in were largely forgotten after they were first screened to fill the lower half of the double bill, but many are enjoying a resurgence in the age of DVD.All in all, Jack The Ripper's solution behind the killings can be seen coming from some one way off, but it is still a highly enjoyable atmospheric and sometimes shocking fictionalised account of the world's most famous unsolved cases.

Spikeopath The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper is loose in London, 1888. As the police frantically search for the maniac through the East End smog, a whole bunch of suspects hone into view...Murder by person or persons unknown.Surprisingly little known, this Jack the Ripper picture belies its obvious budget limitations to produce an atmospheric and suspenseful piece. This is not in any way an accurate account of the actual story, so interested newcomers should be aware of that fact. It is basically an interpretation of Jolly Jack, a serial killer mystery to be solved.There's plenty of cobbled streets and smog, dim gas lamps, top hats, tails and medical bags et al. The more severe parts of the story come with tilted camera perception, and the narrative embraces ladies of the night workings and vigilante justice. Which all builds to an absolute beaut of a finale.Well worth a look by fans of Ripper period fare. 7/10

Michael_Elliott 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.

Maringo 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.