A minor film about Jack the Ripper who, in this instance, is named Slade and played with unrelenting intensity by Jack Palance. It's not bad. The two Jacks are a little more sympathetic here than usual, though no less suspicious.
It's essentially a remake of Laird Cregar's "The Lodger" and, if I remember, Alfred Hitchcock's silent movie. Since much of the film's impact depends on our not knowing for certain whether Palance is the Ripper, we can't see him committing any crimes. That's just as well, considering the nature of the crimes. The near absence of violence leaves the weight of the movie on the increasing number of incidents suggesting that Palance is in fact the man that his landlady suspects him of being. (And the husband, Rhys Williams, does not.) But what a clumsy Jack he is. If the Ripper was seen carrying a brown bag, Palance must burn his in his attic and stink up the place. If the Ripper was seen wearing a certain kind of coat, Palance must sneak down to the kitchen in the middle of the night and stuff his into the kitchen stove. And he gets caught every time! Palance, possibly as the result of an airplane accident during WWII, has a face that looks chiseled out of marble. It's spooky as hell without being ugly. So, while Laird Cregar might not have elicited any interest from his hosts' niece, a "showgirl", Palance conceivably could, and does.
The saucy babe is played by a pretty young woman decked out in period clothes, period grooming, singing period songs. The period is the early 1950s. "Ohh la la!" she chirps while attempting a chaste cancan at the local club.
Well, she may be attracted a little to Palance, but her true love is some blandly handsome greasy detective who could benefit from a bit of Jack the Ripper's attention without doing irreparable damage to the movie. A couple of botched nips and tucks might have made him more engaging. Alas, the course of true love never does run smooth. The attraction is asymmetrical. Palance may love her but she's frightened to death when he hits on her too forcefully. There is a chase and Palance is sent up the river. ("So cool, so clean," he says earlier about the Thames. In 1875 you could get cholera just by looking cross-eyed at it.) I enjoyed it, and you might too. Slickly done.
It's essentially a remake of Laird Cregar's "The Lodger" and, if I remember, Alfred Hitchcock's silent movie. Since much of the film's impact depends on our not knowing for certain whether Palance is the Ripper, we can't see him committing any crimes. That's just as well, considering the nature of the crimes. The near absence of violence leaves the weight of the movie on the increasing number of incidents suggesting that Palance is in fact the man that his landlady suspects him of being. (And the husband, Rhys Williams, does not.) But what a clumsy Jack he is. If the Ripper was seen carrying a brown bag, Palance must burn his in his attic and stink up the place. If the Ripper was seen wearing a certain kind of coat, Palance must sneak down to the kitchen in the middle of the night and stuff his into the kitchen stove. And he gets caught every time! Palance, possibly as the result of an airplane accident during WWII, has a face that looks chiseled out of marble. It's spooky as hell without being ugly. So, while Laird Cregar might not have elicited any interest from his hosts' niece, a "showgirl", Palance conceivably could, and does.
The saucy babe is played by a pretty young woman decked out in period clothes, period grooming, singing period songs. The period is the early 1950s. "Ohh la la!" she chirps while attempting a chaste cancan at the local club.
Well, she may be attracted a little to Palance, but her true love is some blandly handsome greasy detective who could benefit from a bit of Jack the Ripper's attention without doing irreparable damage to the movie. A couple of botched nips and tucks might have made him more engaging. Alas, the course of true love never does run smooth. The attraction is asymmetrical. Palance may love her but she's frightened to death when he hits on her too forcefully. There is a chase and Palance is sent up the river. ("So cool, so clean," he says earlier about the Thames. In 1875 you could get cholera just by looking cross-eyed at it.) I enjoyed it, and you might too. Slickly done.