"The Ripper"

[Karmi-Sempai]

Has anybody watched that movie? I enjoyed how they stayed true to the cases but I didn't like the ending. I'd say Prince Albert isn't my favorite suspect. He used a long knife concealed inside his walking stick to kill the victims because of his frustration with his struggle with syphilis.
I believe it was in the murder of Elizabeth Stride when Jack was said to have not finished his work, right? According to the movie, that happened because a young girl witnessed the murder in the alley and called for help by shouting, "FIRE!" Of course, in the film, the man she saw was Prince Albert.
Another reason why I didn't like the movie was that the detective had some sort of affair with the said young girl and used her as bait to capture the prince.

[sdreid]

Hi Karmi,

It was better than some as I recall. Actually, I saw it quite some time ago and don't really remember much other than the conclusion.

[BillyE]

I caught the last 1/3 of this movie. All I really remember is Gabrielle Anwar, and Patrick Bergin were in it, and it names Prince Eddy as the Ripper. Another thing I remember, Gabrielle's character said the Ripper, whom she saw, smelled like apricots. It seems the medicine in 1888 for treating syphilis which the movie said Eddy had, smelled like apricots. I was left wondering how a poor prostitute, like the sort Gabrielle was playing, would know what apricots smelled like. It's unlikely she could have afforded them. At any rate, using suspended disbelief it wasn't too bad a movie.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Sorry to disappoint you, but I think it was the worst Ripper movie I've seen so far.

The surroundings were not at all London-like, actor talking Aussie English, etc.

Well, just my view!

All the best
Jukka

[Christine]

Apricots do grow on trees and are abundant in season, so I wouldn't be too surprised that a poor person might get them.

Apricot kernels contain cyanide. Laetrile, which is extracted from apricot kernels, was being touted as a cure for cancer in the 1980s. The idea was that that form of cyanide would kill the cancer faster than it killed the patient.

The standard treatments for syphilis in the 1880s was arsenic. Before that mercury was used. In this case the theory is more or less correct; the arsenic sometimes kills the syphilis faster than it kills the patient.

It doesn't appear that anyone ever used apricot kernels or cyanide on syphilis, but still it's less of a stretch than Eddy being the Ripper. I guess they thought people would recognize the hint at cyanide/Laetrile more readily than anything they could have done with arsenic. Still, it seems to have dated the movie.

[BillyE]

Apricots do indeed grow on trees, Christine. My point is there probably aren't many apricot trees in the poorest section of London, if indeed anywhere in the city at all. I find it unlikely a woman so poor she must resort to prostitution to pay for a bed for the night would come across apricots, except in a market, and then wouldn't be able to afford them. And, they're pretty hard to smell, unless bitten into. Not to mention she would have had to smell them through all the other smells in the market.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hello you all!

Sorry to disappoint you, but I think it was the worst Ripper movie I've seen so far.

The surroundings were not at all London-like, actor talking Aussie English, etc.

Well, just my view!

All the best
Jukka

I agree with you 100%, Jukka. It even manages to make "From Hell" look good, and that takes some doing.

Chris

[Mike Covell]

It was an awful film, I managed to pick up a really cheap copy in a box set, the kind were you pay £10 and get 50 films, all with major stars in, but before they were famous!

Anyway I watched it, sort of, and nodded off to a nice slumber.....

[Karmi-Sempai]

From Hell

Was it really that bad? I believe it starred Johnny Depp and I expect him to have great movies.

[needler]

THE RIPPER and FROM HELL

Since THE RIPPER is based on rubbish, and FROM HELL is based on the graphic novel, both are pretty bad. But then, I haven't seen one yet that I thought was even marginally accurate. Tech advisor on FROM HELL was Stewart Evans who did give us the East End, and brought it back true to the time, but the story made Abberline out to be a druggie, AND in love with Kelly, AND Kelly goes home to Ireland, blah, blah, and all that makes me crazy. Depp was an OK Abberline (except for the opium dens and that's not his fault), but Patrick Bergen was truly awful...........

I keep asking, and no one seems to have an answer for this grouchy old broad, but WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE REAL STORY TOLD AS IT HAPPENED (or as we THINK it happened)?

Cheers,

Judy