Man in the Attic (1953)

After an enigmatic, self-described pathologist rents the attic room of a Victorian house, his landlady begins to suspect her lodger is Jack the Ripper.

Director:

Hugo Fregonese

Writers:

Robert Presnell Jr. (screenplay), Barré Lyndon (screenplay),

Stars:

Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Byron Palmer

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jack Palance	...	Slade
Constance Smith	...	Lily Bonner
Byron Palmer	...	Insp. Paul Warwick
Frances Bavier	...	Helen Harley
Rhys Williams	...	William Harley
Sean McClory	...	Constable #1
Leslie Bradley	...	Constable #2
Tita Phillips	...	Daisy (the maid)
Lester Matthews	...	Chief Insp. Melville (as Lester Mathews)
Harry Cording	...	Detective Sgt. Bates
Lisa Daniels	...	Mary Lenihan
Lilian Bond	...	Annie Rowley
Isabel Jewell	...	Katy

Storyline

London, 1888: on the night of the third Jack the Ripper killing, soft-spoken Mr. Slade, a research pathologist, takes lodgings with the Harleys, including a gloomy attic room for "experiments." Mrs. Harley finds Slade odd and increasingly suspects the worst; her niece Lily (star of a decidedly Parisian stage revue) finds him interesting and increasingly attractive. Is Lily in danger, or are her mother's suspicions merely a red herring?

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Plot Keywords:

pathologist | jack the ripper | attic | suspicion | serial killer | 

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Taglines:

He loved her and hated her!

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der unheimliche Untermieter

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Panoramic Productions, Leonard Goldstein, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Thames River as seen in the film is obviously a studio tank. It has no current, and when the police enter it to find Slade's body at the conclusion, the depth doesn't rise above their thighs.

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Goofs

In the opening and closing shots which include London Bridge at night, anachronistic cars and buses clearly can be seen crossing the Thames.

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Quotes

Lily Bonner: Is there anything I can do?
Slade: We must each live with ourselves.

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Connections

Version of The Lodger (1944)

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Soundtracks

"COME AND DO THE NEW PARISIAN TROT"
Written by Lionel Newman, lyrics Eliot Daniel
Sung and danced by Constance Smith and chorus

User Reviews

Not as good as Hitchcock's version

This is a frustrating movie although worth a watch if you have the time to spare and the subject interests you. For me it isn't a patch on Hitchcock's early The Lodger which also starred the divine Ivor Novello and is thrilling let alone Novello is a feast to the eyes and so is the charming heroine and the whole movie is compulsive viewing. I very much want to see the slightly different talkie version that Novello made a few years later but it seems unobtainable.

Palance does a good take on the Lodger in Man in the Attic and is far nearer to the original book than Hitchcock's movie, but Palance has a hard time with the general lack of excitement in the movie. It lacks tension and drama although it tries hard. Difficult to say where the problem lies but making the heroine a successful and famous vaudeville star admired by the Prince of Wales really is a disaster, it doesn't work at all, let alone the original heroine Daisy has become just a parlourmaid and there's a new heroine, niece Lilly. The heroine's musical numbers really jar - they are completely irrelevant, and worse, they are rather vulgar, being can-can style dance - great fun in the right kind of movie but quite unsuitable for this one and I fastfowarded through those scenes. The policeman who fancies Lilly isn't as good as he should be somehow.

Given that this movie seems to have been made in Hollywood - the confusion of accents - it does indeed have a good East London feel about it. So worth watching but better if you haven't already seen Hitchcock's excellent and famous movie.

By the way, the book by Marie Belloc-Lowndes is very good reading.