Considering an obviously small budget this film is well written and has an authentic "foggy Victorian look" about it,aided by a complimentary Stanley Black score.It's real merit is the fine character performances especially Euan Solon as a very autocratic hospital surgeon and it is also interesting to see John Le Mesurier far removed from his mild mannered Sargeant Wilson of Dad's Army.The East End/Whitechapel appears to be inhabited by an array of unsavoury characters from music hall impresarios,run of the mill pickpockets and aggressive vigilante thugs.

Still,the plot unwinds at a reasonable pace and the Lee Patterson/Betty McDowell romance doesn't interfere too much with the grizzly goings on in the streets.The final unmasking of Jack is quite unsettling in its brutality,but all the loose ends are nicely tied up with the realisation that due to circumstance(i.e. Jack the Ripper is killed) the true identity of the killer will always be known to the police but not the public.

Well worth a look if you like this genre of film.

Ah, Jack the Ripper... Media's favorite and most notorious serial killer, and the subject of numerous pulp novels, pseudo-psychological thesis works, mini-series and an excessively wide variety of horror/cult films! If I got $1 for every Jack the Ripper themed movie I ever watched in my life, I would...well, at least be able to treat myself to a medium-large lunch at McDonald's! To keep things reasonably transparent, let's state there exist four main categories of Jack the Ripper film adaptations. The earliest ones are based on the novel "The Lodger" by Marie Belloc Lowndes and narrate from the viewpoint of an elderly couple that rent out a room to a sinister man whom they suspect is the Whitechapel murderer. The most famous version was the silent 1927 classic directed by none other than Alfred Hitchcock, but also the 1944 version by John Brahm or the 1953 film starring Jack Palance are very good. Much later, the persona of Jack the Ripper got linked to other iconic, but entirely fictional characters like Arthur C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes ("A Study in Terror", "Murder by Decree") and Robert L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll ("Edge of Sanity", "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde"). The more absurd but ingenious category of films plucks The Ripper out of 1888, and even London, and time-warp him to present day where he cheerfully continues his murder spree, like in "Time after Time", "Bridge across time" and, to a lesser extent, "Jack's Back". The fourth and last category often claims to be the most factual, although that is debatable, and convincingly claims that Jack the Ripper was a highly intelligent and prominent figure, like a surgeon, an artist or even a member of the royal family! "Hands of the Ripper" and especially "From Hell" are most famous, but also the obscure yet surprisingly "Jack the Ripper" homes in this group.

Although unknown and not doing too well at the box-office around its time of release "Jack the Ripper" is a fascinating little film with several atmospheric & downright unsettling moments, a nifty whodunit structure with a few red herrings, excellent use of settings, decors and shadows and a virulent climax to boot! Unless I'm mistaken, this is also the first film version in which the Ripper wears a long black cape and hat, and these accessories became prototypic since then. In this film, the misogynist killer corners his female victims in dark alleys and ask them if they are "Mary Clarke" before carving them up, anyways. What the film does exceptionally well is giving a face to the ripper's victims and forcing us, viewers, to sympathize with them. The barmaid, for instance, is a semi-heroine and the go-go dancer was an even bigger shock. Of course, there are also defaults in Hammer genius Jimmy Sangster's screenplay, like why was it necessary to drag an American inspector? The climax is phenomenal, and not just because it's a tense and morbid cat-and-mouse race, but also thanks to that one oddly peculiar moment in color, with thick red Jack the Ripper blood coming through the elevator floor.

This faithful retelling of the Ripper story manages to evoke the reality of the period in which it is set better than any other Ripper film which has been made. The grimy streets of Whitechapel, the harsh candlelight, and the stark violence which seems to only be brimming at the surface of every person on the street (thugs don't think twice about attacking people with knives) really make this film feel like an authentic piece. The directors went on to cleverly and accurately evoke another period, that of 19th century Edinburgh, in their next film, THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS.

The cast go through their paces with relish, and the only actor feeling out of place is the annoyingly American lead. The cockney accents are spot on, and it's fun to spot some British television actors dotted about in the cast (including John Le Mesurier). There are plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing right to the end, where the murderer's unmasking is both unexpected and exciting. The famous finale involves the film flashing into colour to show some blood bubbling up from under floorboards as the murderer is crushed at the bottom of the lift shaft - not a nice way to go, it has to be said.

The murder scenes are inventive and brutal, without actually being gory. The film plays on the viewer's imagination to depict the hideous acts, so you actually think you've seen a lot more than was shown. The way the killer asks every woman "Are you Mary Clarke?" in a growling, guttural voice is unnerving. Moments like the can-can dance help to add to the feel of the piece, and there is plenty of intrigue among the assorted characters, respectables and low-lifes, to enjoy. There's even a deformed, hunchbacked assistant thrown in for good measure - needless to say, he's an obvious red herring. JACK THE RIPPER is a well-made, well-acted film, solid viewing from what many people think of as the golden era of British horror.