Jack the Ripper (1959 film)

Jack the Ripper is a 1959 film produced and directed by Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker. It is loosely based on Leonard Matters' theory that Jack the Ripper was an avenging doctor.[3] The black-and-white film stars Lee Patterson and Eddie Byrne and co-stars Betty McDowall, John Le Mesurier, and Ewen Solon.[4] It was released in England in 1959, and shown in the U.S. in 1960.[5]

Jack the Ripper
Directed byMonty Berman
Robert S. Baker
Screenplay byJimmy Sangster
StarringLee Patterson
Eddie Byrne
Betty McDowall
John Le Mesurier
Ewen Solon
Music byStanley Black (UK)
Jimmy McHugh (US)
Pete Rugolo (US)
CinematographyRobert S. Baker
Monty Berman
Edited byPeter Bezencenet
Production
company
Distributed byRegal Film Distributors (UK)
Embassy Pictures (through Paramount Pictures) (US)
Release date
  • 28 May 1959 (1959-05-28) (UK)
  • 17 February 1960 (1960-02-17) (US)
Running time
84 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£50,000[1]
Box office$1.1 million (US)[2]

The plot is a "whodunit" with false leads and a denouement in which the least likely character, in this case "Sir David Rogers" played by Ewen Solon, is revealed as the culprit.[6] As in Matters' book, The Mystery of Jack the Ripper, Solon's character murders prostitutes to avenge the death of his son. While Matters had the son dying from venereal disease, the film has him committing suicide on learning his lover is a prostitute.[7]

Plot

In 1888, Jack the Ripper is on his killing spree. Scotland Yard Inspector O'Neill (Byrne) welcomes a visit from his old friend, New York City detective Sam Lowry (Patterson), who agrees to assist with the investigation. Sam becomes attracted to modern woman Anne Ford (McDowall) but her guardian, Dr. Tranter (Le Mesurier), doesn't approve. The police slowly close in on the killer as the public becomes more alarmed. The killer's identity is revealed and he meets a ghastly end.

Cast

Production

The film's budget was raised from a combination of pre-sales to Regal Film Distributors at the National Film Finance Corporation.[1] The film was prepared in different edits to accommodate various territories' tolerance of nudity and violence. The British version was subject to some BBFC trims, including a moment at the end where the movie switched from black and white to color as blood materialized on the floor. A racier continental version was released in France.[8]

Release

Joseph E. Levine bought the US rights for £50,000. He later claimed he spent $1 million on promoting the movie and earned $2 million in profit on it.[1] Levine replaced the Stanley Black score with a new one composed by Jimmy McHugh and Pete Rugolo, added some narration to the opening moments, rearranged the credits to move most of the technical credits to the end while changing the font for the opening title sequence, and restored the color blood insert at the end that had been removed on orders of the BBFC.[9]

According to Variety, the film earned rentals of $1.1 million in North America on initial release.[2]

After Paramount's U.S. rights expired, the film circulated mostly in public domain bootlegs until Severin Films released a licensed Blu-ray edition in America on Black Friday 2017. That limited pressing was a 2-disc edition with a Blu disc containing HD transfers of the British version (mastered at 1.33 ratio) and the American version (mastered at 1.66), and a DVD containing a SD reconstruction of the European "continental" edition using bits from the US and UK prints and tape sourced material for the alternate nude footage (with alternating aspect ratios accounting for the different source prints), along with an exclusive slipcover reproducing the jacket art of the source novel. A single disc release without the bonus DVD was mass market released shortly after that initial offering on January 8, 2018. In 2019, a collector provided a film element for the European cut, and after scanning it, Severin made a new HD hybrid cut using its nude scenes with the American print (mastered at a consistent 1.66 ratio), and released it on Blu-Ray at a discounted price beginning with its Black Friday sale that year, so previous buyers could effectively replace the previous DVD from the limited edition. The single disc Blu and the European Blu are still available at their website.

Critical reception

The New York Times wrote, "the most memorable line of dialogue in Jack the Ripper is read, appropriately enough, at an inquest. In the stentorian tones typical of the new Victorian melodrama, the coroner declaims that the London police are "incompetent, inadequate and inept." He may have aimed his verdict at the law enforcers, but visitors to neighborhood theatres this week are likely to give his words a broader interpretation. That coroner would have made a good film critic." [10]

References
  1. John Hamilton, The British Independent Horror Film 1951-70 Hemlock Books 2013 p 56-61
  2. "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
  3. Meikle, Denis (2002). Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies. Richmond, Surrey: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-32-3, pp. 75-79. Woods, Paul; Baddeley, Gavin (2009). Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3410-5, p. 198.
  4. "Jack the Ripper (1958)". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  5. Woods and Baddeley, p. 197
  6. Meikle, pp. 76–77
  7. Meikle, p. 79
  8. http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/i-m/jacktheripper585960blu.htm
  9. http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/i-m/jacktheripper585960blu.htm
  10. https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9803E0D61138E333A2575BC1A9649C946191D6CF
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