Jack the Ripper

This version (out of many on the subject of Britain's most famous serial killer) is by far, my favourite.

I have studied Jack the Ripper for many years, read many books, seen many documentaries, and even been on the Jack the Ripper tour in Whitechapel, where I saw the actual murder sites.

The acting is first class from everyone involved (notably from Lewis Collins as Sgt. Godley, Steve Payne as Billy White and Amande Assante as Richard Mansfield), and the direction is first class.

There are only two things I didn't like about this:

1) The Killer's Identity - I just do not agree that he was Jack the Ripper.

2) Once again, the Prostitutes were portrayed as good looking showgirls, when in reality they were ugly, toothless old crones. (Only Mary Jane Kelly was attractive, and Lysette Anthony who played her in this film, bares a remarkable resembelance to the real Kelly).

It's a shame this movie is not available on video or DVD. I was fortunate enough to have taped it off the TV, and have kept it ever since.

For any budding Ripperologists out there, I would strongly recommend you see this. But I`ll leave it up to you, if you agree with who they say it was -- I certainly don't.

Who cares if its deductions are accurate? Everyone's dead and we'll never know for certain. What matters is this story delivers you a culprit which owing to the official unsolved status, I didnt believe I would see until the last second. Very well done TV fare. If I have one criticism, it is the filming quality. On the interior and set shots, the camera work and lighting cast those pinkish hues off of phony scrubbed brickwork that betray a backlot and might confuse you into thinking you are watching an old Gunsmoke rerun. But rest assured, the story is powerful enough to make this quite insubstantial for a normal person. The performances are excellent. Michael Caine would be good doing tampon commercials, and the rest of the mostly English cast are all equally excellent. There are some truly frightening sequences. Asante's conversion into Mr. Hyde is the stuff nightmares are made of. The suspense at the climax deftly handled. Its quite long, and drags only a bit 3/4 through. But this is well worth anyone's time who has an interest in this most infamous of criminal investigations. Which puts it up just about everyone's alley doesnt it?

Michael Caine is truly brilliant in this outstanding mini-series. Despite the trappings of being a TV production, it transcends it's limitations and delivers a thrilling take on the infamous unsolved Jack the Ripper case.

Outstanding work from al involved.

....When it achieves such perfection :lavish costumes,splendid settings,excellent performances (a topflight cast,with a wonderful Caine as the lead ,the beautiful Jane Seymour and all the others providing adequate support).It really brings us back in Victorian London and the screenplay features very clever ideas such as the introduction of Stevenson's "Doctor Jekill and Mr Hyde" (the scene on the stage is mind-boggling).If the telly made such gems every week,nobody would go to the movie theaters anymore.

I haven't seen many ripper movies out there that haven't been made with a fantasy aspect to them, "Time After Time" comes to mind, but this movie actually tells the story of the first serial killer and makes a murder mystery out of it. Depicted through the eyes of Inspector Abberline, played by the wonderful Michael Caine, this movie is actually supposed to be based on the re-opened files of the case in Scotland Yard and the research on them by today's for-most experts in Criminology. Whether that assertation is true or not is up to the viewer, but this movie does end with a fanciful theory and several fine performances by Jane Seymour, Armand Assante and others. The parallels and connections to the novel/play "Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" are creative, bold, and clever. The sets and scenery of the period are exquisite and actually add to the atmosphere of the movies. The killing recreations thankfully don't have the distaste of slasher films and the overall style reminds me of the Liz Montgomery movie, "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" which also like this movie masterfully created the incidents of an infamous crime in period costume and ended with a new hypothetical theory. Even without closure in either crimes, both cases continue to inspire creative movies.