To everyone on here... what was your reaction when you first saw "From Hell"...

[The Grave Maurice]

Oh, Jane, that's a bit harsh. As we all know nobody has yet made a decent Ripper film but, as you say, Depp and Graham should be commended because they did the best they could with the material they were given. Also, the sets and costumes weren't too shabby.

To answer your question, Dark, when I first saw it in a movie theatre, I liked the look and the feel, but not the facts.

[Jane Coram]

Hi DTP,

Funnily enough, I was watching it last night, followed directly after by the Michael Caine version, and tonight it's Murder by Decree and a Study in Terror. (research )

I'm sorry to say, that From Hell is unmitigated crap. I've watched it several times, hoping that I might see some merit in it eventually, but unfortunately the crappiness didn't diminish, but instead accumulated like a pile of horse manure in a badly neglected stable.

It's certainly much easier to point out what they got right, rather than what they got wrong. It's patently obvious that the producers ignored everything that Stewart Evans suggested to them, well everything that didn't fit in with their ideas anyway. It was quite atmospheric, and there were moments in it when I didn't join fellow poster 'johns' in swearing every obscenity I could think of at the screen, but they were few and far between.

The film reminds me a bit of those horrific Orange adverts when the producers get famous Hollywood stars to work on a film that totally revolves around mobile phones in completely ludicrous situations.

From Hell has great actors, acting well, but prostituting themselves to a script that makes the Orange advert scripts look sophisticated.

Johnny Depp did his best to overcome a ridiculous portrayal of Abberline, as a drug induced psychic, who eventually succumbs to an overdose. At least he was very nice to look at while he struggled so manfully with it, and he acted well, which is a miracle in itself given the script he had to work with. My hat off to him. Heather Graham similarly with her portrayal of Mary, who was at least believable as a character, if nothing like Mary Kelly.

The cast stagger through nonsensical and staged scenes at water troughs and in squalid rooms, bemoaning the fate of the working girl, and demanding bottles of gin, in between dreaming up plots to blackmail the government. Of course there has to be a bit of lesbianism thrown in so two of the cast can have a snog on screen. Poor Annie Crook ends up boss-eyed and dribbling, having bounced about quite a lot on top of Prince Albert Victor earlier on in the film, and Robbie Coltrane as Godley, goes through the whole film spouting poetry for some inexplicable reason.

Other than that, it is a masterpiece.

Out of the Ripper films, Murder by Decree is certainly the most sensitive and best portrayal of the totally unbelievable Royal Conspiracy/Mason theory, with a superb performance by James Mason as Watson and a very acceptable and unusually sensitive portrayal of Holmes by Christopher Plummer. Michael Caine's Jack the Ripper was the best by far for sets as they were mainly very accurate indeed. Shame about the plot, but at least the actors played it with conviction.

If you fancy a good laugh, go for A Study in Terror. Barbera Windsor as Annie Chapman is hilarious.

Hugs

Jane

xxxx

[johns]

I ranted and raved and shouted at the screen. My mate was like "Oh shut up you boring sod." I was pointing out innacuracies which took up the entire film. How he sat there and tried to watch it I don't know.

Nice sets and costumes etc but here's the thing...

WHY GLAMOURISE OR JAZZ UP THE GREATEST MURDER MYSTERY IN THE WORLD, WHEN THE FACTS OF THE CASE MAKE A FAR BETTER "STORY" ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT ENHANCEMENT.

[Wolfgang_Parker]

I'm certain you will rue posting this thread for the ****-storm it will most certainly stir-up.

I didn't see From Hell until it hit DVD. I wasn't impressed with the story or the acting at all. The film isn't anything like Moore's novel, and the plot played out in the same old tired fashion that so many uninspired Ripper tales have done before.

However, the set design was great! The Whitechapel neighborhood that you see in the film was built in a field. The sets and locations for much of the film were really well done. I thought the attention to detail in this respect was wonderful. The costuming, however, was just that--costumes.

It wasn't much of a film as films go. The Hughes brothers are masters of the mediocre, and with such bad casting choices, and irritating false accents, its par for the course. Nothing new there.

As far as a Ripperologist-friendly film, forget it. Anyone that has done their homework on the case will get a headache from rolling their eyes. From Hell sells the face value romanticism that JtR has come to embody in popular culture, and nothing more.

[DarkTaleProductions]

The movie was on television and I watched it briefly but I was curious what people on here thought of the movie when they first saw it in theaters or video?

I'm almost certain this question has been asked so I'm sorry.