| Author |
Message |
    
Maryanne
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 11:53 am: | 
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...I gave birth to the twentieth Century."
This is a quote from the film "From Hell." Does anyone actually know whether it is supposedly something Jack the Ripper wrote in one of his letters, or whether it was something just created solely for Hollywood. I have the book "Letters from Hell" and "The Diary of Jack the Ripper" but can find nothing along those lines.
I'd be grateful if someone could enlighten me.
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David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 145
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 11:30 pm: |
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Hi, Maryanne
That line doesn't come from any of the letters. I never read the original graphic novel the movie's based on, but that might be the source for it. There was a discussion about this on the old boards, but I don't remember what was said. Maybe if someone remembers, they'll post.
Dave |
Maryanne
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 4:57 am: |
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Hi David,  thanks for that. It was probably just made up for Hollywood then. It was a good "quote" anyway. And I did enjoy the film too. |
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 576
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 3:26 pm: |
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According to one site I visited, the full quote runs as follows:
Below the skin of history are London’s veins. These symbols, the mitre, the pentacle star, even to someone as ignorant and degenerate as you can sense that they course with energy... and meaning.
I am that meaning.
I am that energy.
One day, men will look back and say that I gave birth to the 20th Century."
-Jack The Ripper
but this did not cast any light on its origin |
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 146
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 4:29 pm: |
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Checking the archives, Tim Mosley thought it was originally from the 1979 movie Time After Time. That rings a bell, I seem to remember David Warner as JtR saying something about belonging in the 20th century.
Dave |
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 147
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 4:46 pm: |
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A poster at Hollywood Ripper jogged my memory. In the 1979 movie, Stephenson's watching television and says something like "this is my world". Maybe it inspired the screenwriter for From Hell to come up with his line, which is a pretty good one, really--though I didn't care for the film as entertainment. DVD's good to have though, for the Evans/Rumbelow extra and for having a closer look at the sets, which were lost on me when I first saw the film.
Time After Time is also an inaccurate movie, but I thought its screenplay was more enjoyable than From Hell's.
Good night, sweet prince
Dave
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Maryanne
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 6:12 pm: |
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I've seen quite a few films of Jack the Ripper, documentaries too. My favourite film is "From Hell" - not sure if I've seen "Time After Time" but there was one film on Sky that I thought really good too, except for the prince burning a horse alive, that really bothered me! I've read all the suspect list now and perhaps the real "ripper" isn't even listed there.
Thanks for the full quote Chris, even more intriguing! It must've derived from somewhere! lol |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 159
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 10:54 am: |
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I am sure that this is an apocryphal quote attributed to JTR. It, however, struck me as wholly inapplicable since the Whitechapel killings were more than 12 years earlier than the start of the 20th century (which technically began on Jan. 1, 1901). That would have been quite a premature "birth."
Andy
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Alan Sharp
Sergeant
Username: Ash
Post Number: 33
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 6:59 am: |
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I'm sure Jack must have had some great lines given to him over the years though. My favourite would be Sebastian in Babylon 5: Comes The Inquisitor
"The city was drowning in decay. Chaos, immorality. A message needed to be sent, etched in blood for all the world to see. A warning. In the pursuit of my holy cause, I... did things, terrible things, unspeakable things. The world condemned me, but it didn't matter, because I believed I was right and the world was wrong. I believed I was the divine messenger. I believed I was... chosen"
Any others? |
Maryanne
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 6:17 pm: |
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Yes it was a bit premature of him, but it sort of made sense and was certainly a powerful line - pity if he didn't actually say that! lmao! But there's lots of other very interesting quotes from his "letters" and or "diary." |
Janni
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, December 13, 2003 - 3:16 am: |
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Hi everyone!
I´m still sure that I heard or read that quote or the sense of it somewhere before "From Hell".And it did not come from any other movie, I think that it was mentioned in a documentary about the Whitechapel murders I saw some time ago.It is just that this quote feels so well-known to me...and of course if you look at 20th century and all it´s wars and genocides you can totally agree to that quote. |
Liam Colligan
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, May 03, 2004 - 2:30 pm: |
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Hi there,
I agree with Janni. I am familiar with this quote and I'm certain that I first came across it around 1990-91 when I initially became interested in JTR. I'm not quite sure where I've heard it but I'm sure it wasn't from a movie. My best guess is that I probably first read it in a true-crime magazine such 'Murder Most Foul' of 'True Detective'. When I first watched 'From Hell', I immediately recalled it as a quote from a Ripper letter but I must be wrong as it would have been instantly recognised. I hope you find its source Maryanne! Could it possibly be a line from the alledged Maybrick diary?
Later!
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Natalie Severn
Chief Inspector
Username: Severn
Post Number: 784
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 04, 2004 - 10:00 am: |
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No lesser figure than George Bernard Shaw,writer and thinker.Shaw also lectured at the International Working Mens Club in Berner Street.
I also think the reference is on the casebook somewhere[probably under Writers or journalists].
Natalie |
Vlad
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 4:07 pm: |
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if i am pretty sure that quote comes from a diary of jack the ripper it was writen by james maybrick
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Summoner
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 7:29 pm: |
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The MOVIE is #1 !!!
I'm big IAN HOLM FANATIC and I think he played Jack the Ripper sooo good! Actually, I think noone can play it better!
Cheers FANATICS !!!  |
Sylvia
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 9:48 pm: |
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I too find this quote very firmiliar.. but I was so sure I got it from this site & not From Hell... but now that I think of it.. yaa maybe it was from the movie, wasn't it in the begining? Well it's an awesome quote, and I would really love if Jack had actually utterd that very sentence.
Does anyone have good quotes that they know JTR really said?? |
DK
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, April 04, 2005 - 6:26 am: |
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I just wanted to congradulate whoever made up the quote" One day men will look back ECT ECT ECT" It might not be the ripper's qoute, but it is a ripper of a qoute. I am using it in Emails and such. Well done whoever wrote it. |
Catherine Ann
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, August 27, 2005 - 10:34 am: |
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lmao! I originally posted this topic under Maryanne. I've now finished one other book about the ripper not being the ripper etc., i.e. "The Killer Who Never Was." I don't get enough time to read lots of books, too busy with my son and the computer! But will be attempting to read the Maybrick diary next. I know these diaries were dismissed as fake, but like anything, there's always a possibility they could be genuine. I'll be able to see if the expression comes from this book! |
Caroline Anne Morris
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Caz
Post Number: 2072
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 1:22 pm: |
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Hi Catherine,
It's just the one diary, you'll be pleased to know.
The interest these days is mainly in trying to guess, or hopefully to establish, how recently it could have been penned.
Love,
Caz
X |
Phil Hill
Chief Inspector
Username: Phil
Post Number: 772
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 4:02 pm: |
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Catherine Ann
...but like anything, there's always a possibility they could be genuine.
With that uncritical an attitude, you'll be taken in by every schyster who wrote a book about "Jack".
Phil |
