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Arne Magnus Tranum
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 1:40 pm: |       |
What effect has Jack the Ripper had on the 20th century TV- and film-industry, given the massive media coverage the case recieved? |
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 84
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 3:30 pm: | |
Arne,
There was a very pleasant woman who was posting on the old boards earlier this year. I remember she had a website with an extensive listing of Ripper-influcenced films and TV shows. Anybody remember her name or bookmark her site?
Dave |
Alexander Chisholm
Sergeant
Username: Alex
Post Number: 19
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 10:05 pm: | |
Hi Dave & Arne
The very pleasant woman’s name was Cindy. Her website can be reached at:
http://www.hollywoodripper.com
Best Wishes
alex
|
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 85
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 10:33 pm: | |
Thanks, Alex! |
Cindy Collins Smith
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2003 - 5:22 pm: | |
Hi Dave, Alex, etc.,
Thanks for the kind words about me and my website. I hadn't been posting since the old boards came down because I thought you couldn't post without re-registering, and I'm just not very good with postal mail. :-)
The next thing I'm going to say is not an advertisement for the website, but a question. On my website, I have begun a pretty-much daily blog about Ripper film & pop culture. I'm trying to use it more for educational purposes than just to hear myself speak. There's only so much you can do on each individual film page. The blog gives me a chance to tie things together, provide background info, etc.
For example, I have discussed why the Ripper case lends itself to supernatural interpretations in fiction/film (while the Ed Gein case does not). The other day, I listed my top Ripper actors, and yesterday the best Ripper movies.
Anyway, when my blog includes things of general interest (like best movies, actors, etc.), would you like me to re-post over here or post here and include a link to the blog?
I'm not trying to draw traffic away from Casebook, which is the coolest Ripper site on the web. I just think that the blog might be informative and interesting to people over here who would like to know more about the impact of the Ripper on film/tv.
Thanks!
--Cindy |
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 88
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 1:47 pm: | |
Hi, Cindy
I think your site and Casebook complement each other. If Stephen doesn't mind, I hope you'll let us know about any updates you make.
Cheers,
Dave |
Cindy Collins Smith
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 11:54 pm: | |
Thanks Dave. Yes, I think there's enough room on the web for Casebook and Hollywood Ripper!
I've had at least a few readers everyday for the blog, which is encouraging to me, since it's a brand new feature.
Latest topics covered:
The "Bad" and the "Ugly" JtR movies.
Faux Ripper 101: New York Ripper. (This is actually a re-posting, with a few additions, of something I posted on the old boards).
The blog address is:
http://www.hollywoodripper.com/blog/ripperlady.html
I'm going to be publishing the blog on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I think I'll post those film and actor lists over here as well, though, because they might actually provoke some discussion!
Now I have a question: Alex, you're the guy who corresponded with me on Jekyll/Hyde, correct? My husband and I were talking this afternoon about THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (in which Jekyll/Hyde appears).
You know how you can "know" something, but then suddenly a light goes on and you KNOW it? Well, that happened to me this afternoon: within a period of 3 years, 3 of the most iconic figures (two fictional, one factual) to come out of Victorian England appeared: Jekyll/Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, and Jack the Ripper.
That's an idea that could really be played with. Anybody have any thoughts on that conjunction, aside from the fact that it's an interesting coincidence?
What was it about the late 1880s that lent itself towards creating figures that fascinated the 20th century (and now the 21st century) imagination? Simply its nearness to the modern era? Or what?
--Cindy |
Cindy Collins Smith
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 12:05 am: | |
Okay, this has slipped off the Ripper Lady main blog page and into the archives. And it's a topic that I think would be of general interest, so I'm posting it here:
Best Performances as Jack the Ripper
10. Jack Palance in The Man in the Attic (1954)--Probably the most controversial choice on the list. Some people call Palance's performance "somnambulistic." I disagree. His performance in this film is generally low-key... but that serves as good contrast for the moments when his character becomes intense and threatening. In those moments, Palance is superb. In addition: The rest of the cast is so mediocre that Palance may have keyed down his on-screen interaction with them in order to avoid seeming "over the top." He doesn't have to worry about that, of course, when his character shifts more into his Ripper persona.
9. Charles Regnier in Lulu (1962)--Regnier does not have a large role, but he does have an important one. His Jack the Ripper dispatches Lulu in the final sequence. But in between "Acts," he also serves as a sort of "Greek Chorus" on Lulu's behavior. Having Jack the Ripper provide the moral voice of the citizenry is a rather ironic choice, and Regnier does a fine job with it. Also, he provides a Ripper who seems more like a bureaucrat than a homicidal maniac. Good casting. Interesting interpretation. Unfortunately, this Austrian interpretation of the Lulu story is not readily available in English (or even in German).
8. Sir John Mills in Deadly Advice (1993)--Once again, the role is not large, but it is significant. And Mills provides an ironic flair to the character, as he instructs an "up-and-coming" serial killer in how best to remain undetected. Excellent black comedy. And wonderful casting for Jack the Ripper. Mills plays the Ripper as a quiet, unassuming man who would be the last person anybody would suspect... which is precisely the point.
7. Peter O'Toole in The Ruling Class (1972)--O'Toole does not technically play Jack the Ripper in this "False Sighting" film. He plays a schizophrenic aristocrat who comes to think he's Jack the Ripper. But his performance is so chilling that any "Best of" list would be incomplete without it. By today's standards, the film's commentary on British class structure and the aristocracy seems a little heavy-handed. But none of that undermines O'Toole's magnificent performance as Jack Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney.
6. David Warner in Time after Time (1979)--This is the first film mentioned so far that nearly everybody has heard of. You probably know the concept: H.G. Wells uses his Time Machine to track down Jack the Ripper, who has fled into the 20th century. Warner is... well, Warner. He's always good at playing detached, ironic, sociopathic characters. His interaction with Malcolm McDowell (as his former friend Wells) is excellent. He also delivers that great line that From Hell quotes as coming straight from Jack the Ripper: "I am the 20th century." So far as I can tell, that line is actually by the makers of Time after Time and has been put into the mouth of their Jack the Ripper. But that's a small quibble, since at this point in history, Jack is more myth than man anyway.
5. Sir Ian Holm in From Hell (2001)--Okay, the film may have some problem areas, but Sir Ian Holm is not one of them. He is excellent both as the mild-mannered Sir William Gull, and as the maniacal Jack the Ripper. In fact, his part requires tremendous range, and he delivers it. But then, he also makes a great Bilbo, a great Ash, a great Polonius... I mean, the guy can act.
4. Gustav Diesel in Pandora's Box (1929)--The absolute finest Ripper cameo ever committed to film. This movie belongs to Louise Brooks, who plays Lulu. But in the few minutes he's on screen, Diesel provides a wrenching and haunting pathos to his Jack the Ripper. He and Brooks together electrify the screen. Absolutely brilliant.
3. Valentine Dyall in Room to Let (1949)--This film, unfortunately, is one of those long-forgotten Ripper programmers from the beginning of the television era. In its full 68-minute version (not the 55-minute version that sells on Movies Unlimited), it is a complex and multi-layered re-working of The Lodger. In either version, it features a fabulous performance by Dyall as Dr. Fell--a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper. Dyall's Fell/Ripper is a controlling lodger who begins to dominate the lives of his landladies and dictate what they will and will not do. If nothing else, it is a chilling portrait of a man who must always be in control. Dyall, though, also plays Fell/Ripper as a haunted man, longing for something unattainable. Great job.
2. Laird Cregar in The Lodger (1944)--Surprised that I ranked Cregar so "low"? I know, he is generally accepted as having given The "Best Ripper Performance." There's no question, really, that Cregar's performance belongs in either the #1 or #2 slot. He is iconic as Jack the Ripper, and the entire film is dependent on Cregar's performance, and he and his co-stars (Merle Oberon and George Sanders) all deliver the goods. Cregar's interaction with Merle Oberon (as potential victim Kitty), though, is what really "makes" this film a classic.
1. Wayne Alexander in "Comes the Inquisitor" (Babylon 5) (1995)-- American actor, Wayne Alexander, beat out a regiment of British actors to win the role for this B5 episode. When you watch it, you can see why. His Inquisitor/Ripper is utterly chilling. All he has to do is walk off the Vorlon ship he has travelled on, and the hair on the back of your neck stands on end. No other Ripper actor has ever created such terror before ever saying a word. I know this choice for #1 Jack the Ripper goes against the common wisdom. But the writing for this episode is outstanding, and Alexander makes the most of it--in both his silence and his dialogue. All I have to say is that, IMHO, it's "Sorry, Laird. You have to move over for Wayne." In his performance, Wayne Alexander brings us the most menacing Jack the Ripper Ripper ever put on screen.
A challenge: Watch as many of these performances as you can and see how you would rank them. Then write me and let me know how your list matches with mine.
Regnier's peformance will be nearly impossible to find. Cregar's is not commercially available, but it does play on American cable (don't know about British). All the others are either commercially available, have been commercially available (and therefore probably available on Ebay), will be commercially available, or are at least available through Movies Unlimited.
Happy hunting.
|
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Detective Sergeant
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 84
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 9:14 pm: | |
Hi Cindy,
A fascinating list. Sorry poor Laird got bumped to second position, but time changes all lists.
Interestingly, compare THE LODGER with Cregar's
last film (alas) HANGOVER SQUARE, which was also
set in the late Victorian Period, and where he is
thinner to an extent due to his tragically misguided crash dieting. Cregar knew he was one
hell of an actor (he consistantly stole movies from leading men like Tyrone Power - see his Sir
Henry Morgan opposite Power in THE BLACK SWAN), so
he decided to get out of those neat character parts he played and into leading men parts. If he
had dieted properly he might have succeeded, but
it undermined his health. Cregar died age 28 in
1944, just after he finished HANGOVER SQUARE.
His performance is good, and in its way more
engrossing than THE LODGER. Here he's a talented
composer who has black outs when he hears a cacophany of noises or dischords. It turns it into a homicidal maniac...for awhile until after he returns home. The pathos of this part is his
gradual realization that something is amiss, and
his determination to still play his concerto, which will cement his future reputation. He does,
in one of the most bizaare conclusions of a horror
treat from Hollywood's golden era: he is playing
his concerto in a raging fire in the theatre,
looking like he is playing it in hell.
I always liked HANGOVER SQUARE. Critics have not
been too kind to it ("Florid" has been one of the
more polite comments made about it). I might add
that until eight years ago, it was making me drift into an erroneous area of research.
You see (and may this be a lesson to all of you:
observe Sherlock Holmes' caution of never reaching
a theory without all the evidence), I reasoned that if THE LODGER was based on the story and novel by Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, who based parts of it on the actual rumors and stories of 1888, HANGOVER SQUARE might be similarly based on some
character of the period. I found one. A promising young composer named Arthur Goring Thomas lived at the tale-end of the 19th Century,
and was looked at as the long-promised savior of
English Grand Opera. England had a dismal musical
century in terms of Grand Opera. It's best composer (Sullivan) had done well with operetta
with Gilbert, but flopped with his one excursion
into opera: IVANHOE (1891). Thomas had composed
at least two operas, one being ESMERALDA (based
on THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME). More was expected of him. But in March 1892, Arthur Goring
Thomas committed suicide by throwing himself under
a train. His death was due to a growing insanity.
Naturally, I began putting "facts" together, and
creating in my mind the slim possibility that
Goring Thomas (a great name for a potential suspect) might have been Jack. I kept thinking of
Mary Kelly singing before being slaughtered. Could I possibly have hit upon something?
Yes, I hit my normally good sense into a brick
wall. A British friend told me that HANGOVER
SQUARE was originally a fine novel, but it was
not set in the late 19th Century: The novel is
set in the weeks of the last summer before the
start of World War II. Because of the success
of THE LODGER, 20th Century Fox decided to "backgrade" the age of the story to fit into
Laird Cregar's balliwick (insane late Victorians).
Therefore, the author of the novel did not base
George Bone (Cregar's character) on Arthur Goring
Thomas. He probably had no notion that there
was ever a composer named Arthur Goring Thomas,
as few people wanted revivals of THE LOTOS EATERS
or ESMERALDA in 1939. So a small degree of research was cut short, and I grew a little more
cautious (I hope).
Still I recommend watching HANGOVER SQUARE - especially to catch that concluding set of shots.
One final point: Regarding the comment made by
David Warner (a.k.a. Dr. Lionel Stevenson) that
he is the 20th Century. The film was based on a
Nicholas Meyer novel...I never read it, so I don't know if the line is in the novel. But
I am aware of another writer who came to a similar
conclusion. Richard Brautigan (TROUT FISHING IN
AMERICA) published a small book in the late 1970s called THE MAYOR OF THE 20TH CENTURY. I thumbed
through a copy once (I should have bought it - I
have not seen another copy since). An essay in
it explains that the Mayor of the 20th Century is
Jack the Ripper.
Best wishes.
Jeff |
Robert Charles Linford
Inspector
Username: Robert
Post Number: 350
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 7:59 am: | |
Hi Cindy, Jeff
I agree that "Hangover Square" is a fine film. It also has one supremely funny moment.
This is during a scene when some kids ask Bone for a penny for the Guy. For some reason I'll never understand - maybe I missed something - the director decided that an upper-class kid would be hanging out with Cockney kids. Bone gives them some money, and we get the usual stuff - "Gorblimey gov" etc - but we also hear an extremely plummy voice exclaiming "Let's go and buy some fireworks, before they're all gone!"
Re the extreme dieting, didn't the late great Oliver Hardy once do something similar?
Robert |
Mark Andrew Pardoe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Picapica
Post Number: 90
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 5:52 pm: | |
Whatho all,
I'm sorry to sound like an out-of-touch high court judge but what is a blog?
Cheers, Mr Justice Mark |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Detective Sergeant
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 85
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 9:44 pm: | |
Hi Robert,
As per Oliver Hardy, he never went on a crash diet, until his later years (when his doctor had him watch his weight). From what I recall from
John McCabe's book, MR. LAUREL AND MR. HARDY,
Ollie enjoyed cooking as well as eating, and even
made a nice spaghetti sauce. I might add that his
behavior (in accepting his bulk) was wiser career
wise than Cregar's. Hardy is still a remembered
figure by most of the public, watching his films
with his skinny partner (who was the creative half of the team). And there is an international
L & H society, THE SONS OF THE DESERT (named after
their best full length comedy). As far as I know,
there is no Laird Cregar Society. Had he lived
longer, there might have been one.
The only other male performer with such an odd
weight problem (that I can recall) was Mario Lanza, who ballooned preposterously during the
filming of one of his films (he is thin in some
scenes and fat in others).
As far as I know Sidney Greenstreet and Francis
Sullivan never had problems remaining fat - but
both had longer careers than poor Cregar. By the
way, if you ever wish to juxtapose a third film
with THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE, watch Greenstreet's performance (as Superintendent Grodman) in THE VERDICT (with Peter Lorre as his
friend). Based on Israel Zangwell's locked room
mystery novella, THE BIG BOW MYSTERY, there are
certain hints of the Whitechapel Tragedy in it
too. In particular, after a murder committed in
a locked room with a knife (shades of Mary Kelly)
there is a newspaper illustration of a phantom
fiend who has not been caught, that reminds one
of a similar cartoon of Jack from 1888. Also the
inter-department rivalries of Greenstreet/Grodman
and George Coulouris/Superintendent Buckley, reminds one of the clash of personalities in 1888
Scotland Yard (Warren v. Monro, Anderson, etc.).
I haven't forgotten Orson Welles, who began putting on the pounds in the late 1950s...but he
made more movies, as actor and director, than Cregar did, and fit the roles to himself.
Best wishes,
Jeff
P.S.
I don't know what a blog is either. Is it a bog
with blood on it?
Jeff |
John V. Omlor
Detective Sergeant
Username: Omlor
Post Number: 102
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 7:37 am: | |
Hi Jeff,
Watch three films in a row -- On the Waterfront, Apocalypse Now, and The Score. Can that be the same guy? By the last one, Marlon looks like he should be flying over Macy's on Thanksgiving.
All the best,
--John
PS: A blog is a sort of online diary, a web page you can check every day for the thoughts of (and updates by) the writer. The web is now full of them, some are interesting, some are creative, some historically important (like the one kept by the young man in Baghdad this year), most are just boring.
|
John V. Omlor
Detective Sergeant
Username: Omlor
Post Number: 103
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 8:13 am: | |
Hi all,
Incidentally, has anyone seen the film Bad Karma? It was on my cable TV last night and my info screen described it this way:
"A mental patient (Patsy Kensit) stalks her psychiatrist (Patrick Muldoon), believing he is a reincarnation of Jack the Ripper."
I've not seen it, so I was wondering whether it was actually worth watching.
The IMDB says it's a 2002 release by John Hough. It also has a fairly nasty review there as well.
I notice that it'll be on Showtime-B twice this weekend.
Just wondering,
--John
|
Robert Charles Linford
Inspector
Username: Robert
Post Number: 354
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 6:05 pm: | |
Hi Jeff
Thanks for pointing out the Sidney Greenstreet film. I'll keep an eye open for it.
Thanks John. I didn't know what a blog was, either.
Robert |
Mark Andrew Pardoe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Picapica
Post Number: 93
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 6:08 pm: | |
Thanks John.
Cheers, Mark |
Cindy Collins Smith
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Thursday, August 07, 2003 - 5:12 pm: | |
Hello Jeff and All...
Sorry I haven't posted back recently! Thanks for the comments on HANGOVER SQUARE. I've tried to watch the film, but the copy I got from a dealer has a horrid loud buzz persisting throughout the tape. I just learned, though, that a friend has a watchable copy that he can lend me. I did like the opening sequence.
Thanks also for the note on the origins of the JtR/20th century quote.
Enjoyed the anecdote on your research re: HANGOVER SQUARE. I was writing on PSYCHO about 7 years ago and was tempted to dismiss Robert Bloch's claims not to have known about Ed Gein's mother, esp. since he lived only about 40 miles from Gein when he wrote the novel. Thankfully, I researched Bloch's claim... looked in the local newspapers that Bloch was reading at the time, etc.... and discovered that his claim was not so readily dismissed. In fact, I got a whole new "If Bloch is telling the truth, then how did this happen?" angle to my project, which was actually much more fun to play with.
--Cindy |
Zahir al-daoud
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Friday, October 17, 2003 - 1:13 pm: | |
Hello,
Although I've been visiting this site for quite some time, this is my first post. I'll admit several of the performances listed here are unseen by yours-truly, I fully agree what's been written by those I've viewed.
In particular, I was very impressed by both Sir Ian Holm and Wayne Alexander. While the theories behind each of their "Rippers" is absurd, that doesn't mitigate away form their performances. The latter, in particular, moved me to something I found startling--pity. Sebastian came across as not only a dangerous psychopath, but also someone who doesn't want to be, and longs for an oblivion as the only escape from being himself.
In fact, when I decided to use Jack The Ripper for an online rpg, one of the hardest things to do was find a "solution" that didn't rework what had been done a thousand times before. But "Comes The Inquisitor" convinced me it could be done.
Anyways, thanks for listening...er, reading. |
Sarah Long
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 6:07 am: | |
I was watching "Gosford Park" the other day and I found it interesting that one of the characters in the film was one Mr Ivor Novello the same person who starred in "The Lodger" and he mentioned saying that it had been a flop. Does anyone know if that was true? Just curious. |
Robert Clack
Detective Sergeant
Username: Rclack
Post Number: 146
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 2:32 pm: | |
Hi Sarah
I believe 'The Lodger' was quite succesful when it was released in 1926. Ivor Novello remade the film in 1932 ('The Phantom Fiend' if I remember correctly) and I think that didn't do very well, although I am not 100% certain.
All the best
Rob |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 1212
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 4:46 pm: | |
Hi Sarah, Rob
Yes, Ivor Novello made two Lodger films. I can't find any reference to "The Phantom Fiend" in my Leonard Maltin guide. Maltin reviews the 1926 version and says that Novello remade it in 1932 but, curiously, doesn't review the second version.
According to "Ivor Novello" by Peter Noble, both films were extremely successful.
Robert |
Robert Clack
Detective Sergeant
Username: Rclack
Post Number: 148
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 5:44 pm: | |
Hi Robert, Sarah
I did some checking in Dennis Meikle's 'Jack the Ripper the Murders and the Movies', and the 1932 'The Lodger' was re-released in an abridged form in 1935 as 'The Phantom Fiend', but I think that was in the U.S only. There isn't apparently to much difference between the two versions. I did see a beautifully restored tinted version of the 1926 movie but I have only seen a clip from the 1932 one. Jack Hawkins had a part in the 1932 version.
Rob |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 1213
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 6:17 pm: | |
Hi Rob
It's a sad thought that towards the end of his life Jack Hawkins would have welcomed a remake of the 1926 version!
Robert |
Robert Clack
Detective Sergeant
Username: Rclack
Post Number: 149
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 7:04 pm: | |
Hi Robert
Yes indeed, a very fine and underrated actor.
Rob |
Sarah Long
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 7:16 am: | |
Gosford Park is set in 1932 so it couldn't have been the 1935 version plus he called it "The Lodger". Wonder why they stated that it flopped when it actually didn't. Strange. |
Anthony Dee
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 10:29 pm: | |
Hi Everyone. I got interested in the Ripper when my parents were watching an old movie called The Lodger. I was about 8 years old and it scared the crap out of me when my Dad explained the movie is about Jack the Ripper. The only thing I remember about the movie was at the end, he jumped off some platform or something and landed in the river. I was interested in JTR ever since that time, and I'm making a reporton him now. |
Jennifer D. Pegg
Inspector
Username: Jdpegg
Post Number: 230
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 2:48 pm: | |
Hi,
does anyone know if Murder by decree is available in the Uk.
(nearly put this country but that wouldn't have been v. clear)
I would like a little look at it because robert lees is in it. i hope that this is now more than twenty and five words!
Jennifer D. Pegg
|
Robert Clack
Inspector
Username: Rclack
Post Number: 209
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 3:04 pm: | |
Hi Jennifer
I know it is available on dvd. It was available on video, but I think it has been deleted.
It is one of my favorite movies. Robert Lees is played by Donald Sutherland.
All the best
Rob |
Richard Brian Nunweek
Chief Inspector
Username: Richardn
Post Number: 691
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 3:44 pm: | |
Hi
If any film producer visits this site, please can we have a film , that gives a realistic account of the Whitechapel murders, we have had Jack palance, Lee patterson,Michael Caine, johnny Depp,
The plot involves, fog covered London[ false] and women such as that lovely lady Barbara windsor, exiting from a pub, and staggering against a wall, when a shadow appears , and horror appears on her face.
Please can somebody from Movie land, have more imagination, and have a realistic scenerio, based on recorded facts, and make this special case more realistic, even if it horrifies the censors.
Let the public, see a film , that shows all the horror, and realisism,as it actually was.
Richard. |
Donald Souden
Detective Sergeant
Username: Supe
Post Number: 150
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 4:42 pm: | |
Richard,
And a film that makes Joe Barnett the Ripper, right? I'm having a little fun with you there, but in fact I agree with you. A nice, gritty film that stays close to accepted facts and depicts Whitechapel in 1888 realistically would surely be fun. Unfortunately, ain't gonna happen unless you win the pools or I win the lottery.
Any major film is put together to make money and that is why the Ripper films always involve the Royal conspiracy, Freemasons, hijinx in high places and the elements that will make the general public want to see the film -- and if you are going to do a realistic job it is going to take an awful lot of folks buying tickets to offset the costs of period costumes, period sets, hiring horses and Hansoms and all the rest such a production would involve. Alas, Richard,I don't think the public would get excited to see the Ripper was Joe Barnett or David Cohen rather than someone "sexy" like a Royal.
Don. |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 2107
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 6:42 pm: | |
Of course, as a solution to the mystery, "Murder by Decree" fails. But I feel that as a piece of drama, it was superb.
I think low budget films can sometimes work. It depends how good the writer, director and cast are. I mean, look at Spielberg's early effort, "Duel".
Robert |
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 907
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 6:56 pm: | |
Hi jennifer
I just did a quick check on
http://www.ebay.co.uk
and Murder by Decree is on there for sale both on video and DVD
All the best
Chris
|
Donald Souden
Inspector
Username: Supe
Post Number: 152
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 10:23 pm: | |
Robert,
You are right about low budget films, but for my jaded tastes I would want good period production effects -- and there go the costs upward again. And that once more creates the problem of a Jack who could grab the public's attention. From among the "usual suspects" (and personally not considering Sickert or Maybrick in that category) a good writer/director team might be able to make a compeling figure out of Druitt. Yeah, he might work . . . now to win the lottery.
Don. |
Alan Sharp
Chief Inspector
Username: Ash
Post Number: 585
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 6:46 am: | |
The plot involves, fog covered London[ false] and women such as that lovely lady Barbara windsor, exiting from a pub, and staggering against a wall, when a shadow appears , and horror appears on her face.
Hey Richard, that movie was on telly the other night! "A Study in Terror" with John Neville as Sherlock Holmes "solving" the case! Babs was playing Annie Chapman. Quite dreadful it was too. The Ripper murders all took place in about two weeks, Emma Smith was murdered three days before Polly Nicholls, whose body was found in a water trough, Liz Stride was horribly mutilated, Kate Eddowes disappeared altogether, and Mary Kelly lived in an upstairs flat! Interesting though that in a film made in 1965, the plot revolved around a member of a noble family who had made an unwise marriage with a commoner and had been blackmailed. This five years before the Royal Conspiracy Theory first saw the light of day? |
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