Jack the Ripper (1959 film)

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1959 British film

Jack the Ripper

Theatrical poster

Directed by|

* Monty Berman
* Robert S. Baker

Screenplay by| Jimmy Sangster
Starring|

* Lee Patterson
* Eddie Byrne
* Betty McDowall
* John Le Mesurier
* Ewen Solon

Cinematography| Robert S. Baker
Monty Berman
Edited by| Peter Bezencenet
Music by| Stanley Black (UK)
Jimmy McHugh (US)
Pete Rugolo (US)

Production
company

Mid-Century Film Productions

Distributed by| Regal Film Distributors

Release dates

* 28 May 1959 (1959-05-28) (UK)
* 17 February 1960 (1960-02-17) (US)

Running time

| 84 minutes
Country| United Kingdom
Language| English
Budget| £50,000[1]
Box office| $1.1 million (US)[2]

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][4] The black-and-white film stars Lee Patterson and Eddie Byrne and co-stars Betty McDowall, John Le Mesurier, and Ewen Solon.[5] It was released in England in 1959, and shown in the U.S. in 1960.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8]

## Plot

[edit]

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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

[edit]

* Lee Patterson as Sam Lowry
* Eddie Byrne as Inspector O'Neill
* Betty McDowall as Anne Ford
* Ewen Solon as Sir David Rogers
* John Le Mesurier as Dr. Tranter
* George Rose as Clarke
* Philip Leaver as Music Hall Manager
* Barbara Burke as Kitty Knowles
* Anne Sharp as Helen
* Denis Shaw as Simes
* Jack Allen as Assistant Commissioner Hodges
* Jane Taylor as Hazel
* Dorinda Stevens as Margaret
* Hal Osmond as Snakey the pickpocket
* Patricia Phoenix as rowdy woman in crowd
* Esma Cannon as Nelly (Drunk In Police Station) (Uncredited)

## Production

[edit]

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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 colour as blood materialized on the floor. A racier continental version was released in France.[9]

## Release

[edit]

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 colour 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]

### Home media

[edit]

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.

Regrettably, the film element used for the American version is a less-than-ideal 16mm copy, which had itself been borrowed from the Library of Congress. The aspect ratio of 1.66 to 1 is a center extraction of that print. The 35mm original camera negative has been lost, and has never been found.

However, in 2024, Severin discovered a 35mm fine grain positive of the European version and a 35mm duplicate negative of the U.S. version, from which they restored both along with additional material from a 35mm release print in order to make a 4K Blu-Ray set that released in May of 2025.

## Critical reception

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2019)

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The New York Times called it a "shoddy horror feature" that was "extravagant only in its amount of gore."[10] The Tampa Tribune said it was "an interesting motion picture with a cast of reasonably talented unknowns" and said that it contained "one of the most effective shock devices dreamed up by movie men in some time".[11]

## Box Office

[edit]

According to Kinematograph Weekly the film performed "better than average" at the British box office in 1959.[12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c John Hamilton, The British Independent Horror Film 1951-70 Hemlock Books 2013 p 56-61
2. ^ a b "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
3. ^ Meikle 2002, pp. 75–79.
4. ^ Woods & Baddely 2009, p. 198.
5. ^ "Jack the Ripper (1958)". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
6. ^ Woods & Baddely 2009, p. 197.
7. ^ Meikle 2002, pp. 76–77.
8. ^ Meikle 2002, p. 79.
9. ^ a b Cotenas, Eric. "JACK THE RIPPER (1958) Standard Edition Blu-ray". DVD Drive-In. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
10. ^ Archer, Eugene (18 February 1960). "Screen: 'Jack the Ripper':Murder Story on Bill With 'The Big Night'". New York Times. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
11. ^ Robins, Charles (2 April 1960). "Screen Parade". The Tampa Tribune. Tampa, Florida. p. 23. Retrieved 5 November 2021 - via Newspapers.com.
12. ^ Billings, Josh (17 December 1959). "Other better-than-average offerings". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7.

## Sources

[edit]

* Meikle, Denis (2002). Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies. Richmond, Surrey: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-903-11132-1.
* Woods, Paul; Baddely, Gavin (2009). Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper. Hershsam, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3410-5.

## External links

[edit]

* Jack the Ripper at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films by Jimmy Sangster

As director|

* The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)
* Lust for a Vampire (1971)
* Fear in the Night (1972)

As writer|

* A Man on the Beach (1955)
* X the Unknown (1956)
* The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
* Dracula (1958)
* The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
* Intent to Kill (1958)
* The Snorkel (1958)
* Blood of the Vampire (1958)
* The Trollenberg Terror (1958)
* Jack the Ripper (1959)
* The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
* The Mummy (1959)
* The Brides of Dracula (1960)
* The Criminal (1960)
* The Siege of Sidney Street (1960)
* The Hellfire Club (1961)
* The Terror of the Tongs (1961)
* Taste of Fear (1961)
* The Pirates of Blood River (1962)
* Paranoiac (1963)
* Maniac (1963)
* Nightmare (1964)
* The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
* Hysteria (1965)
* The Nanny (1965)
* Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
* Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
* The Anniversary (1968)
* Foreign Exchange (1970)
* Crescendo (1970)
* A Taste of Evil (1971)
* Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
* Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
* The Legacy (1978)
* Ebony, Ivory & Jade (1979)
* No Place to Hide (1981)
* The Devil and Max Devlin (1981)

* v
* t
* e

Jack the Ripper in fiction and other media

Seminal works|

* The Lodger
* Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution

Letters|

* "Dear Boss" letter
* "From Hell" letter
* "Saucy Jacky" postcard

Film|

* Waxworks (1924)
* The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
* Pandora's Box (1929)
* The Lodger (1932)
* The Lodger (1944)
* Room to Let (1950)
* Man in the Attic (1953)
* Jack the Ripper (1959)
* Lulu (1962)
* A Study in Terror (1965)
* Hands of the Ripper (1971)
* Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
* The Ruling Class (1972)
* What the Swedish Butler Saw (1975)
* Jack the Ripper (1976)
* Murder by Decree (1979)
* Time After Time (1979)
* Jack's Back (1988)
* Edge of Sanity (1989)
* Deadly Advice (1994)
* Ripper (2001)
* From Hell (2001)
* Bad Karma (2002)
* Case Closed: The Phantom of Baker Street (2002)
* Shanghai Knights (2003)
* Ripper 2: Letter from Within (2004)
* The Lodger (2009)
* Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days (2012)
* Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)

Parody|

* Bizarre, Bizarre (1937)
* The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town (1976)
* Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)

Music|

* "Jack the Ripper" (1963)
* "The Ripper" (1976)
* "Killer on the Loose" (1980)
* The Somatic Defilement (2007)
* Jack the Ripper vs. Hannibal Lecter (2014)

Stage|

* Earth Spirit (1895 play)
* Pandora's Box (1904 play)
* Lulu (1937 opera)
* The Lodger (1960 opera)
* The Ruling Class (1968 play)

Comics|

* Blood of the Innocent (1985)
* Gotham by Gaslight (1989)
* From Hell (1989-98)
* Wonder Woman: Amazonia (1997)
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century (2009)

Literature|

| Sherlock Holmes|

* The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (1978)
* The Whitechapel Horrors (1992)
* Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography (2005)
* Dust and Shadow (2009)
* The Ripper Legacy (2016)

|

Short stories|

* "A Toy for Juliette" (1967)
* "The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World" (1967)

Other|

* A Feast Unknown (1969)
* Time After Time (1979)
* Night of the Ripper (1984)
* Phantom Blood (1987)
* Naomi's Room (1991)
* Anno Dracula (1992)
* A Night in the Lonesome October (1993)
* Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend (1996)
* Matrix (1998)
* Lost (2001)
* Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed (2002)
* Blood and Fog (2003)
* The Witches of Chiswick (2003)
* Broken (2006)
* Darkside (2007)
* Lifeblood (2007)
* Dracula the Un-dead (2009)
* I, Ripper (2015)
* The Cutthroat (2017)

Television|

| Series|

* Jack the Ripper (1973)
* Jack the Ripper (1988)
* Sanctuary (2007-11)
* Whitechapel (2009-13)
* Ripper Street (2012-17)
* Time After Time (2017)
* Case File nº221: Kabukicho (2019-20)
* Sherlock in Russia (2020)
* Beforeigners (2019-present)

|

Episodes|

* "Wolf in the Fold" (1967)
* "Comes the Inquisitor" (1995)
* "Ripper" (1999)
* "Sanctuary for All" (2008)
* "The Great British Fake Off" (2020)

Other|

* Bridge Across Time (1985 TV film)

Video games|

* Jack the Ripper (1987)
* The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes (1992)
* Ripper (1996)
* Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (1999)
* Shadow Man (1999)
* MediEvil 2 (2000)
* Jack the Ripper (2004)
* Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper (2009)
* The Ripper (canceled)
* The Order: 1886 (2015)
* Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper (2015)
* Dance of Death: Du Lac & Fey (2019)

Other|

* Casebook: Jack the Ripper
* Blood!: The Life and Future Times of Jack the Ripper

* Category

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