Reviews & Ratings for
Jack the Ripper More at IMDbPro »

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

19 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
AMC sucks!!, 30 July 2006
Author: jackgriffin1-1 (jackgriffin1@comcast.net) from london, england

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This film was on the other night on American Movie "Classics". I was waiting for the last shot when the ripper is crushed by the elevator to see if AMC showed the color shot. Not only was it not in color-they cut the whole scene. All you see is a reaction shot of the two guys in the elevator looking at the floor in horror, but you never see what they're looking at. The only place to see this film is on AMC and they butcher it. Is there any reason on earth to watch AMC? They pan and scan, cut for commercials, speed up films, show previews during closing credits, and censor. That's it. I haven't watched this disgrace of a channel in years and I never will again. Who the hell watches it anyway? Thank God for TCM. If anyone reads this post, please tell every film fan you know to boycott this station. It has no reason to exist.

13 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
The ultimate lady-killer strikes, 2 April 2005

Author: violencegang from Worcester, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

One of the strange things about Jack the Ripper movies is that, as we get further away in time from the events of 1888, filmmakers seem much more concerned with providing a 'real', historically accurate solution to the mystery. This is in marked contrast to earlier movies about the Ripper, which only used the name as a framework for Gothic horror tales, and the 1959 version is no exception. Absolutely nothing in this movie really happened, but, this actually makes the film more entertaining; I always find it irritating when a director claims to have made a historically accurate Ripper movie, and then falls down on minor details. The makers of this film clearly had no such intentions, something clearly demonstrated by star Lee Patterson's 1950's Elvis quiff, unless his character was seriously ahead of his time where fashion was concerned.

As for the story itself, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster (who wrote several of Hammer's best movies) seems to have based his script very loosely on the 'Doctor Stanley' theory put forward by Leonard Matters in his 1929 book 'The Mystery of Jack the Ripper'. In this book, Matters alleged that the murders were committed because Stanley's son caught syphilis from Mary Kelly, the last of the five Ripper victims, and the not-so-good doctor went out looking for her, asking (and then killing) the other four victims for info about Kelly. In the film, Jack the Ripper is looking for a woman named Mary Clark, and he murders women after asking them if they either are, or know the whereabouts of, Mary Clark. The main difference, other than the name of the woman he's looking for, is that the Ripper's son committed suicide (sexually transmitted diseases being a no-no as far the BBFC were concerned at the time).

The film is generally pretty good, with decent performances from its two imported American leads (the producers were clearly taking no chances when it came to getting the film a U.S release), with Patterson making a likable hero, and Eddie Byrne (probably best known for playing a similar role the same year in Hammer's 'The Mummy') being suitably dogged as the Inspector on the Ripper's trail. There are maybe too many obvious red herrings, notably the mute, hunchbacked assistant who carries knives around and is nearly lynched by a mob, and John Le Mesurier's doctor who always comes into a room after a murder dressed in the stereotypical Ripper garb, but the revelation of the killer's identity is actually quite surprising, and the end sequence, with the Ripper crushed by a lift in a brief colour sequence, is suitably melodramatic (even if it does look like what it was, that is to say red paint squirted through a hole).

12 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Ripper?, 15 July 2002

Author: Maringo from Lowestoft, England

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.

10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
The best ripper flick, 21 June 2002

Author: dunsuls from ny

Maybe it was the black and white film,maybe the ending,don't know,I just liked this version the best so far.For a 50's flick it was bloody,but not as much as later versions.The story plot takes a twist toward the ending giving a different view of the killer and a ending leaving no questions.

10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Be afraid Jack, the cowboy has arrived!, 9 November 2000

Author: Sorsimus from Surrey

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.

9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
What happened to the colorized ending?, 10 December 2002

Author: pdavideastburn from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

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.

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Reasonably effective chiller loosely based on Whitechapel murderer, 31 October 2006

Author: mlraymond from Durham NC

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie would probably be more fun to watch in its original British presentation, before American distributor Joseph Levine got hold of it and added a gimmicky prologue and different music. The basic story holds up, and there are some effective performances by a typically solid English cast. Eddie Byrne is good as the no nonsense police inspector, and George Rose has a brief scene as the father of one of the victims.The scenes of the Ripper stalking his victims are suspenseful, and the murders more violent than any cinematic Ripper killings had been portrayed before. The settings are adequate at showing 1888 London's Whitechapel and the Victorian atmosphere is reasonably well shown. The one incredible flaw in the version most Americans have seen is the startling and totally inappropriate use of a modern jazz score to accompany the stalking and killing scenes. Every time we see the mysterious figure of a man in a cape and top hat, carrying the little black bag, emerging from a foggy alley to pursue a victim, our ears are suddenly assaulted with a blaring, brassy Fifties jazz theme that would have been appropriate to an episode of Peter Gunn or Mike Hammer, but is utterly out of place in the Victorian England of the story. It is such a jarring, incongruous effect, that it takes away from the otherwise effectively sinister visuals. Whoever thought this was a good idea and why is beyond me. Compare this misplaced music with the brilliantly ominous score by Hugo Friedhofer for The Lodger (1944) and you'll see what I mean.The movie is adequate , but there are far more compelling and better done Ripper films, for those interested in the grim history of Jack and his prostitute victims.

6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Jack the Ripper Versions, 20 March 2007

Author: 35541m from London, England

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.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Jack the Ripper, 23 October 2007
Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Okay little crime thriller is a rather studio-driven interpretation on the White Chapel assassin.

Jack the Ripper is haunting the dark-cornered streets of London, searching for a woman named Mary Clarke. Those he encounters, even though they are not the woman he asks about, die at his hand, stabbed expertly with a surgical knife several times in an appropriately placed spot. Most of the women who perish at the hands of the Ripper are dance-hall girls and prostitutes. A growing mob of frightened, frustrated citizens in the area are demanding better work from the police force, aimed mostly a5 Inspector O'Neill(Eddie Byrne), and begin forming a mob pursuing anyone they believe could fit the profile of the Ripper with chaos ensuing. American cop Sam Lowry(Lee Patterson)comes to London supposedly on vacation to assist his friend O'Neill. Meanwhile, O'Neill is encountered by the likes of the Assistant Commissioner(a blustery Jack Allen)demanding more satisfactory police work as it seems the Ripper commits his crimes right under their noses. Sir David Rogers(Ewen Solon)runs the local women's hospital and is in charge of the post-mortem of the females murdered by the Ripper who claims that the killer must have skills with surgical equipment as the methods are committed by a man with medical knowledge on how to use knives properly placing his stab wounds. The film provides a rather open idea that Dr. Tranter(John Le Mesurier)might be behind the murders as he appears late for a emergency surgery shortly after the Ripper brutally stabbed another victim in an alley. There's a hunchback surgical assistant who works at the hospital named Louis Benz(Endre Muller)who seems to be an ideal choice as a candidate(..like Tranter, though, Benze might be too obvious)for being the Ripper. Even Doctor Urquhart(Garard Green)who works for the hospital, often aiding either Tranter or Rogers, could be a logical suspect. Tranter has a niece named Anne(Betty McDowall)who comes to work as a secretary at the hospital, obviously set-up by the screenplay as a possible woman in peril at the end..also, the film provides a little possible relationship between Anne and Lowry. Also, interesting enough, a woman named Kitty(Barbara Burke)has a sub-plot of her own who received the emergency operation at the beginning of the film. She informs Anne that her past was quite corrupt and that a young man she loved committed suicide. What does Kitty have to do with the Jack the Ripper killings? Hmmm..

We do get an inside look at the seedy side of the dance-hall show business in the film displaying the back stage behavior of the staff..and, better yet, we see how the local wealth desire extra pleasures which, in actuality, pays the music-hall manager more than his show business and liquor itself.

I thought it was paced rather well and stylishly directed with a great climactic death sequence which is quite an interesting way of explaining the whereabouts of the vanished Jack the Ripper who was never caught on record. Rather adult script by scribe Jimmy Sangster as well. Probably not that particularly memorable, though.

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Fair, 12 March 2008
Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY

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.

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Add another review

Related Links