In search of something good to watch

[APerno]

Does anyone have an opinion as to what are the best 60-90 minute Ripper documentaries available? Does anyone have a favorite?

[rjpalmer]

A fairly standard and entertaining documentary is Jack the Ripper: Phantom of Death. Despite the somewhat idiotic title, it features Martin Fido, Melvin Harris, Donald Rumbelow, Stewart Evans, etc. which makes it rather interesting to watch. Several copies of rather poor quality can be found on youtube; this one is not too bad, and is split up into four parts, each about 12 or 15 minutes in length. Have fun with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GhVYfAzyhs

[barnflatwyngarde]

Does anyone have an opinion as to what are the best 60-90 minute Ripper documentaries available? Does anyone have a favorite?

"Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History" is an excellent 90 minute documentary about the case.

It is particularly interesting due to the CGI mock ups of the streets and crime scenes of Whitechapel.

Enjoy!

[barnflatwyngarde]

"Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History" is an excellent 90 minute documentary about the case.

It is particularly interesting due to the CGI mock ups of the streets and crime scenes of Whitechapel.

Enjoy!

Oops!

Here's the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsO7n_rrxSA&t=4261s

[Sam Flynn]

Barlow and Watt: Jack the Ripper is a part-fictionalised, part-historical serial from the early 1970s, but has some excellent performances and good attention to period detail. A lot of the contemporary characters' words come from newspaper/inquest reports etc. Well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMgT27ZS6E&list=PLlaGf2Zg8gscTVob5e_LMcydcUICysFbV

That's fairly poor quality, but at least it's in colour. Here's a slightly better rendition in black and white:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGmChjihuA&list=PLGU0UsIMCb01ChFRQc6oSQbLxZY0-WLH2

[APerno]

Thank you all! I have some watching to do.

Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History, I wonder if that is a visual interpretation of the Paul Begg work of the same name?

Jack the Ripper: Phantom of Death does sound silly (that usually happens when a producer and not the director/writer gets to name the project,) but that is an impressive list of interviewees.

[YomRippur]

And if anyone wants to watch "Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story" legally, you can the buy the HD streaming version here on Amazon for only $2.99. It has subtitles, has better HD picture, and you own it forever, unlike the quasi-legal Youtube version that could be taken down at any time.

[APerno]

And if anyone wants to watch "Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story" legally, you can the buy the HD streaming version here on Amazon for only $2.99. It has subtitles, has better HD picture, and you own it forever, unlike the quasi-legal Youtube version that could be taken down at any time.

I downloaded for free, but it was not an illegal boot, I got a good HD copy from one of the streaming services (I just can't remember which one: Netflix or Hulu, or something). It was strange, I downloaded it, and it stayed on my device for two weeks before I got around to watching it, but once I started to watch it, it warned me I had to complete the watch within 72 hours and then it self destructed (erased itself.)

[bjgourley]

Barlow and Watt: Jack the Ripper is a part-fictionalised, part-historical serial from the early 1970s, but has some excellent performances and good attention to period detail. A lot of the contemporary characters' words come from newspaper/inquest reports etc. Well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMgT27ZS6E&list=PLlaGf2Zg8gscTVob5e_LMcydcUICysFbV

That's fairly poor quality, but at least it's in colour. Here's a slightly better rendition in black and white:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGm...oSQbLxZY0-WLH2

Love the Barlow and Watt, got me slightly interested in ZCars for a spell.

[bjgourley]

Jack the Ripper:The Final Solution from 1980. several decent copies on YouTube. They can't get the names of the victims right, it's obviously been debunked for the most part. But still an interesting watch.

[APerno]

I taped that back in the 1980s; was just then getting into the Ripper murders, watched it over and over until I knew every detail of it backward and forward. I could say I was embittered when I realized that Stephen Knight had played me, played us all for fools, but despite the fact that Knight took many of us down the rabbit hole of the Royal Conspiracy Theory IMHO we should also remember that he helped to bring back the Ripper murders to a whole new generation, and with it much "Hollywood' money; and money always counts.

While Begg, Fido, and Sugden are quick to bemoan how Knight spread so much misinformation (and God knows he did) I wonder how well their works (histories) would have sold had there been no Royal Conspiracy to debunk?

I wonder, if Stephen Knight had not kicked off another round of Ripper enthusiasm with his 1976 book, The Final Solution, would there even be a Casebook today? I know it is vogue to hate Stephen Knight for clouding the waters with his nonsensical theory, but maybe we should also give him a small nod of thanks for bringing us here today.

I suspect my words just made more than a few purists cringe.

[Stephen Lee]

Good points APerno. We also wouldn't have a great graphic novel like From Hell, or a great film in Murder By Decree. Maybe Stephen Knight did more good than harm.
To this day ask someone who has little interest in the Ripper who did it. And they'll only know Walter Sickert, or The Royal Conspiracy due to the From Hell film and the Michael Caine mini-series.
It's kept the case to some extent in the public eye. Always a good thing in case there is some long lost papers in someones attic.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I have well over 300 books on the case but I have to admit that the one that I enjoyed reading the most all those years ago was Knight’s book. It’s still the version of events that I wish was true. I know that one day, if I’m short of reading material, I’ll read it again. He did open a can of worms though. Simon Wood’s research completely trashed the theory but there are still believers out there.

[APerno]

I am a retired school teacher; I took my students (or I should say they took me) to Europe several times. Three different times we did the Ripper tour in London. One time, and I was shocked that it was as late as 2008, the tour guide was still selling the kids on Sir William Gull, and the Royal Conspiracy theory. I had to be polite and keep my mouth shut, didn't want to act the ugly American. The other two experiences were much better.

P.S. You know that horror house thing they have (or had) down by The Tower Bridge, boy did that suck! But of course the kids liked it. I tried to get the kids to go instead to Madam Tussauds' Wax Museum, but they wanted the horror house instead. I never did get to see the wax museum, I hear they have a JTR Room, Is that true?

[bjgourley]

The crazy theories are just that, crazy. But think of how many of us got hooked by the crazy theories, and then saw the proverbial light. I'm sure there are people who read Patricia Cornwell's book only to realize it was just a spin-off of Knight, but delved deeper and realized there's much more to it.