Jack the Ripper

This made-for-TV Emmy and Golden Globe-winning dramatisation boasts a star-studded cast led by Michael Caine as Inspector Abberline. Released in 1988 for the Jack the Ripper centenary, it was originally screened on British television in autumn of that year to coincide with some of the dates of the gory events.

The production team were granted unprecedented access to Home Office files on the Ripper case – the resulting two-part miniseries winning Caine a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of the dogged Scotland Yard detective Frederick Abberline. Really, it was pretty obvious that for 1988 someone was going to come up with a film marking the centenary of the notorious and to this date still unknown serial killer known to millions by the soubriquet of Jack the Ripper. This epic, conceived and directed by David Wickes (and co-written with Derek Marlowe), was originally shown in two parts – here you have two options as the film is available in a 2-part restored Blu-ray version in the original aspect ratio (DISC 1), and also in widescreen (DISC 2). Although the restored version is incredibly sharp and crisp to look at (and the blood of a particular vibrant red) at times the whole affair simply doesn’t look ‘gritty’ and dirty enough to convince us we are in London’s notorious and poverty-stricken East End of 1888… where are the pea-soupers?

Top actor Michael Caine replaced initial choice Barry Foster because the U.S. backers wanted a bigger star. The irony is that Caine’s character Inspector Frederick Abberline has a bit of drink-problem, whereas Foster had a bit of a drink problem in real life… Abberline is ably assisted by Sergeant George Godley (Lewis Collins - sporting a fedora that may have looked better on a contemporary of Al Capone's). After the first grim murders of some unfortunate East End prostitutes, Abberline has a very large array of suspects to investigate and it is only by chance that he eventually hits upon the right candidate. Stephen Knight's seminal book 'Jack the Ripper-The Final Solution' supplies some answer, as it did in the considerably more atmospheric 'fictional' film 'Murder by Decree' (1977) and later still in the Johnny Depp (as Abberline) vehicle 'From Hell'.
Quite a few liberties have been taken in this ostensible 'Whodunnit' - for example, prostitutes and Whitechapel murder victims Liz Stride and Catherine Eddowes apparently knowing each other and drinking in the same pub the night they were both murdered. Also, unlike in this version, both of Eddowes’ ears were not removed. The prostitutes are, as usual in these adaptations, far too clean and wholesome looking and nothing like the gin-sodden, scruffy wretches that they were. Eddowes, as played by Susan George, sports an excellent set of teeth with not even one blacked out whereas final murder victim, the tragic and considerably younger Mary Jane Kelly, as portrayed by Lysette Anthony, also looking far too wholesome for the part! Kelly’s butchered beyond belief remains were discovered in her ramshackle room on 9th November 1888.

The highlight for many will be American actor Armand Assante's (here cast as American theatre actor Richard Mansfield) amazing transformation on stage from Dr. Henry Jekyll into Mr. Hyde - at the time some theatre-goers really did faint and left the Lyceum in a panic! Shame we don't actually see a great deal of Mr. Assante. Michael Caine is invariably Michael Caine with his South London working class accent to the fore and Lewis Collins supplies solid support. Jonathan Moore gets his teeth truly into the role of STAR reporter Benjamin Bates, who many think was responsible for the never to be forgotten nickname and may have even written the 'Dear Boss' letters attributed to the Ripper. This was, of course, scandal mongering by a left-wing newspaper to discredit the police Force(s). A mention also for Michael Gothard as pushy vigilante leader George Lusk (who did receive a gin soaked kidney - 'From Hell, Mr. Lusk’ - that many Ripperologists believe to be genuine). Ray McAnally is suitably deceiving as Royal physicist Sir William Gull and Ken Bones strikes the right chords as troubled Robert James Lees, Queen Victoria’s psychic medium. Jane Seymour portrays Emma Prentiss, an independent spirit and glamorous painter moving in society circles who may or may not have had a romantic dalliance with Abberline.

Despite claiming that filming took place in Belper, Derbyshire is does remain a bit of a mystery as quite a few of the streets resemble more of an East European city. You would expect the street urchins to be selling their newspapers in far less salubrious places. Alan Hume's photography can not be be faulted though composer John Cameron's score would seem more fitting for a grand period piece sans the gritty content. Director Wickes has clearly put a lot of effort and investigation into this project and the film lays claim to actually naming the real identity of the killer, though of course the candidates keep changing as the decades go on. Patricia Cornwell's favourite suspect, the Victorian painter Walter Sickert, makes no appearance here and we have no mention of The Freemasons or the Royal connection ('evry one knows the ripper woz royalty wannae'). For the uninitiated, JACK THE RIPPER is well worth watching and Wickes keeps it going at a good pace.