Man in the Attic (1953)

The notorious Jack The Ripper killings have been dealt with by the movies in both ostensibly authentic and outright fictional terms. This one falls in the latter category, and is actually no fewer than the fourth adaptation (all of which I own and have now watched) of Marie Belloc-Lowndes' novel THE LODGER! Incidentally, though a Fox production, the film has somehow fallen into the Public Domain and, in fact, the print I acquired (presumably culled from the substandard VCI DVD) left a lot to be desired! While generally enjoyable (in spite of the obvious lack of surprise) and benefiting immensely from Jack Palance's typically intense central performance (making up for the undercasting of the other major roles), the end result does feel redundant – considering that the latest version was only 9 years away – in much the same way that the 1932 Talkie came across with respect to Alfred Hitchcock's 1927 Silent original! Interestingly, while the first two – both emanating from Britain and starring the same leading man, Ivor Novello – made the protagonist out to be an avenger of one of the Ripper's victims being himself suspected of the crimes, in each American remake, there is no question about his identity as the guilty party (Laird Cregar had essayed the role in 1944)! The least successful element here, then, is undoubtedly the scoring and staging of the eye-rolling (in more than the expected ways) musical numbers.

A young Jack Palance (even when he's young he looks old) is the mysterious Mr. Slade who rents a room from Aunt Bea and her husband while conducting various experiments in the attic. His late night comings and goings raises suspicion that he in fact might very well be Jack the Ripper. If there is any doubt that he is the Ripper himself from the first scene forward than Man in the Attic will politely beat you over the head with various red flags. While not murdering local drunks and prostitutes (Ooops, Did I spoil it?) Slade becomes smitten with Lily the niece of the husband and wife he is renting the rooms from. Unfortunately for Jack, I mean Slade, Inpsector Warwick of Scotland Yard falls head over heels in love with Lily as well while investigating one of Slade's (Damn! Did it again!) the Ripper's murder of Lily's friend. It doesn't help Slade's hatred of women when he find out that Lily is a local vaudeville star that flaunts off her various wares to men on a weekly basis. Just imagine Britney Spears circa late nineteenth century. By the way, the musical performances by Lily, while not bad, just seem so out of place in this movie considering the contents of the plot. Man in the Attic has plenty of solid performances though most of the American actors didn't even attempt an English accent which is kind of bizarre. Constance Smith is quite fetching as Lily Bonner and nobody has more intimidating screen presence than Jack Palance who towers over his fellow actors. My one main concern is that this movie never once creates any suspense and it makes no attempt to throw you off path which is essential to films like this. The fact that I have to give a spoiler alert is downright laughable as it was clear who Slade really was from the moment he appeared on screen. Yes, Slade was Jack the Ripper. Believe it or not!

Remake of The Lodger with Jack Palance playing the odd young man who may or may not be Jack the Ripper. Good, but not great, film of the oft told tale, who's ending has been changed in the various versions so to keep you guessing if he is or is not the maniac of White Chapel (sometimes he is the killer and sometimes he's not-I'm not telling which it is this time).Palance is suitably uneasy in what may have been one of his first starring roles. The rest of the cast is also very good although its very disconcerting to see Frances Bavier, Aunt Bea on the Andy Griffith Show, as an English matron. The film's musical numbers, its set in part at a music hall, don't really work so the film kind of slows down. Worth a look should you come across it.

I recently saw an old movie from 1953 called "Man In The Attic." It stars Constance Smith a young Jack Palance. No spoilers below. Evaluations only. The setting is London of the past, where a scientist (Palance) who boards at a family's home is suspected of being the infamous Jack the Ripper. Cons: Much of the acting was wooden, some of the stage-show scenes were downright ridiculous or at least out of place, and the accents were truly awful (especially seeing Frances Bavier--Aunt Bee from Andy Griffith--try and do an English accent! Very funny as she tries at it all the way through-- the way she tries to say "bag" as a Brit, and just sounds like she's from Alabama: "bayyg" "bayyg"). Pros: I liked how all the confusion made it frustratingly impossible to determine if the 'evidence' was saying it was or was not Palance, and they did that on purpose. Is he deeply troubled because of his childhood experiences, or is he actually the madman Jack the Ripper? So hard to tell during the film, and that's the hook! Almost Hitchcockian in that way. So, obviously I thought the story line was good, and the progression-to-arc was very textbook. You can tell this would make an excellent book----which it had, actually. It had been adapted from a book called The Lodger by a lady called Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes (I never heard of her before). The movie ended somewhat too abruptly, and without so much as a post-climax wrap-up or epilogue (said epilogues seeming to be more or less a post-modern convention and conspicuously 'absent' from the older films), but one assumes that the novel holds the appropriate denouement. Overall it exceeded my expectations; it was a worthy rental, a brief movie at that, and so I recommend it to you.