Jack the Ripper

One day, back when I was a kid, I found on my parent's bookshelf, a book on unsolved mysteries. It was one of those huge coffee table books that can cause real damage if you drop it on your foot.

I took it back to my room and started reading. It had were all the classics; The Mary Celeste, Roanoke, Kaspar Hauser, etc. But the most important one was Jack the Ripper. It was the first time I heard of the grisly murders back in Whitechapel in 1888, but it started a life long fascination.

I have since seen and read a great deal on the subject matter, one that to this day has no conclusive solution. There are many speculations, and even more wild theories, but if the facts are known and simply hidden away, no one has spoken in 129 years.

Last week when I wrote about Dracula: Dead and Loving it I, as I usually do, checked the cast list on IMDB. The woman playing Lucy Westenra, Lysette Anthony, was also in a TV series named Jack the Ripper from 1988. This peaked my interest and when I saw that Micheal Caine starred as Inspector Frederick Abberline, I was sold.

So, with the rather long intro out of the way, I'm going to talk a bit about Jack the Ripper (1988).

This series is in fact only two episodes long, but each episode is over 90 minutes, making the whole thing satisfyingly long.

Cast wise we're in good hands. Apart from Caine, we have Armand Assante, Ray McAnally, Jane Seymor, Hugh Fraser and many more. As is usual with a British production, everyone is quality and it shows.

The production is absolutely first class. At no point does it feel like anything except Victorian England, which is nice. The set, props and costumes are spot on, with one complaint. I feel that Sergeant Godley's hat is too modern. To be fair, I'm not a hat expert, but it still seems to be 20^th century to me. That is the one complaint I have of the entire production, which made me very happy.

As an example, Hugh Fraser, better known for his role as Captain Hastings in Poirot, plays Sir Charles Warren, the police commissioner. He apparently wore some of the real clothes originally worn by Sir Charles. That's authenticity for you.

The story is familiar to any Ripperologist, or indeed anyone who has seen FromHell (2001) with Johnny Depp. If you haven't, I won't spoil it. I'll just say that the 1988 production outstrips From Hell on every point except the score. On the other hand, that's not exactly hard, since From Hell is pretty mediocre. Wonderful soundtrack though.

An interesting point is that Caine's Abberline is an alcoholic, and Depp's is an opium user. There are no records suggesting that the real Abberline was a substance abuser. I have no idea where it comes from. Also, they mispronounce Abberline's name throughout the show. For some reason, they say AbberLEEN, not AbberLINE. Oh well.

Bottom line is that Jack the Ripper is a wonderfully well made show. If you like Victorian England or Jack the Ripper, go watch this if you can find it. First class all the way.

That's it for this time. Until we meet again, have a murder-free week!