The Complete and Essential Jack the Ripper by Paul Begg, John Bennett Page A
Authors: Paul Begg, John Bennett
Ads: Link
film beyond the jaded royal cover-up plot.
Despite the work that went into the visual quality of the movie and the all-star cast of Johnny Depp, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm and Heather Graham, it was really just a big-budget rehash of the Michael Caine series with better production values and a more disturbing undercurrent – and significantly more gore. Johnny Depp’s Inspector Abberline was now depicted not as a drunk, but as an opium addict afflicted with psychic visions, which seemingly combined him with contemporary clairvoyant Robert Lees. Depp’s ethereal take on the good inspector no doubt compensated for the screenplay’s trimming of the mystical themes in the original graphic novel.Ian Holm’s William Gull also helped to chivvy along the darker mythologies of Jack the Ripper, atmospherically summed up by the line ‘One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century.’
It is telling that the most recent foray of the Ripper on celluloid – at the time of writing – should hark back to the earliest days in the medium, with a reworking of ‘The Lodger’. A film of that name was released in 2009, starring Alfred Molina as Joe Chandler, 23 an altogether modern interpretation of Mrs Belloc-Lowndes’s classic, with plenty of references to the original story, but this time featuring the activities of a Ripper ‘copycat’. With this interpretation of what could be considered a well-worn tale suggesting that ‘Jack the movie star’ had come full circle, it would be down to television to reinvent the Ripper drama, a feat it achieved with no little success. Looking at the crimes from a fresh dramatic angle, ITV in the UK screened a three-part drama series called
Whitechapel
, 24 a story pitting the wits of a new inspector against a serial killer who was quite literally emulating the Ripper, including murder sites, dates of the crimes and injuries. It was a wholly enjoyable affair and gave plenty of nods to the real Ripper case, but productively kept fact and fiction separate. Progressive and modern-thinking Inspector Chandler, with much to prove, is thrown into the ring with a hardened group of detectives whose cynicism and lack of ‘political correctness’ threaten to undermine their professional relationship. When the horrific murder of a community police officer throws up few leads, Inspector Chandler battles against the set ways of his colleagues until a Ripper tour guide comes forward to explain that the killer has copied Jack the Ripper’s first murder and that they should expect more.
All the characters from the series were named after realpersonalities from the events of 1888, and so we have Joseph Chandler, Mary Bousfield, Frances Coles, James Kent and Edward Buchan, to name but a few. Buchan is the tour guide and ‘Ripperologist’ who helps the police in the case using his deep knowledge of true crime, which comes good despite an initially hostile reaction. Some of the scenes were actually filmed in the East End, and throughout the drama we await the next discovery, each one an echo of the original crimes, such as the arrival of a kidney in the post and the discovery of an earlier murder bearing the hallmark of Martha Tabram’s death.
Whitechapel
was successful enough to spawn several sequels, each one dealing with cases that emulated famous East End crimes, such as the activities of infamous gangsters the Kray Twins and the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811. Though this could be seen as stretching the concept a little too far, the original series worked for several reasons. The characters were well defined, and the interplay between the different stereotypes (uptight inspector, rough and ready detectives and the eccentric Ripperologist) created a unique chemistry. The concept also did not insult the intelligence of its audience; the trick of keeping fact and fiction separate was exceptionally well executed, giving the seasoned Ripper student plenty of inward chuckles as
Despite the work that went into the visual quality of the movie and the all-star cast of Johnny Depp, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm and Heather Graham, it was really just a big-budget rehash of the Michael Caine series with better production values and a more disturbing undercurrent – and significantly more gore. Johnny Depp’s Inspector Abberline was now depicted not as a drunk, but as an opium addict afflicted with psychic visions, which seemingly combined him with contemporary clairvoyant Robert Lees. Depp’s ethereal take on the good inspector no doubt compensated for the screenplay’s trimming of the mystical themes in the original graphic novel.Ian Holm’s William Gull also helped to chivvy along the darker mythologies of Jack the Ripper, atmospherically summed up by the line ‘One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century.’
It is telling that the most recent foray of the Ripper on celluloid – at the time of writing – should hark back to the earliest days in the medium, with a reworking of ‘The Lodger’. A film of that name was released in 2009, starring Alfred Molina as Joe Chandler, 23 an altogether modern interpretation of Mrs Belloc-Lowndes’s classic, with plenty of references to the original story, but this time featuring the activities of a Ripper ‘copycat’. With this interpretation of what could be considered a well-worn tale suggesting that ‘Jack the movie star’ had come full circle, it would be down to television to reinvent the Ripper drama, a feat it achieved with no little success. Looking at the crimes from a fresh dramatic angle, ITV in the UK screened a three-part drama series called
Whitechapel
, 24 a story pitting the wits of a new inspector against a serial killer who was quite literally emulating the Ripper, including murder sites, dates of the crimes and injuries. It was a wholly enjoyable affair and gave plenty of nods to the real Ripper case, but productively kept fact and fiction separate. Progressive and modern-thinking Inspector Chandler, with much to prove, is thrown into the ring with a hardened group of detectives whose cynicism and lack of ‘political correctness’ threaten to undermine their professional relationship. When the horrific murder of a community police officer throws up few leads, Inspector Chandler battles against the set ways of his colleagues until a Ripper tour guide comes forward to explain that the killer has copied Jack the Ripper’s first murder and that they should expect more.
All the characters from the series were named after realpersonalities from the events of 1888, and so we have Joseph Chandler, Mary Bousfield, Frances Coles, James Kent and Edward Buchan, to name but a few. Buchan is the tour guide and ‘Ripperologist’ who helps the police in the case using his deep knowledge of true crime, which comes good despite an initially hostile reaction. Some of the scenes were actually filmed in the East End, and throughout the drama we await the next discovery, each one an echo of the original crimes, such as the arrival of a kidney in the post and the discovery of an earlier murder bearing the hallmark of Martha Tabram’s death.
Whitechapel
was successful enough to spawn several sequels, each one dealing with cases that emulated famous East End crimes, such as the activities of infamous gangsters the Kray Twins and the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811. Though this could be seen as stretching the concept a little too far, the original series worked for several reasons. The characters were well defined, and the interplay between the different stereotypes (uptight inspector, rough and ready detectives and the eccentric Ripperologist) created a unique chemistry. The concept also did not insult the intelligence of its audience; the trick of keeping fact and fiction separate was exceptionally well executed, giving the seasoned Ripper student plenty of inward chuckles as
Similar Books
