(There Are Spoilers) Fictional dramatization of the notorious 1888 Whitechapel-Kensington murders attributed to the legendary and infamous "Jack the Ripper" that gives the killer a face a name and a motive. After his beloved brother, whom he loved and worshiped, died Slade, Laird Cregar, took it upon himself to rid the world of evil. The evil that Slade targeted was that of beautiful women that he held responsible for his poor brothers demise.
Renting a suite of rooms from the Bartons, Robert and Ellen, (Cedric Harwicke & Sara Allgood) in he Whitechaple section of London Slade planned to continue his "cursade" against evil but something popped up that he never expected. The Barton's beautiful niece singer dancer Kitty Langley, Merle Oberon,who's the star attraction at the Piccadilly Theater lives in the same house. Poor and confused Slade just can't take his eyes off her which leads him to act rather suspicious as he starts to makes weird and dangerous advances towards Kitty.
Both John and especially Ellen notice Slade's strange behavior and suspect of him being "Jack the Ripper" who's been out at night slicing up hookers in the neighborhood. The police are notified about the big lug's unexplained disappearances at night and his constantly burning clothes and other items, that may well have to do with his disappearances, to cover up his suspected actions as the "Ripper". It was too bad that Slade was around Kitty all the time since she got him to blow his cover as the Whitechaple killer by becoming so obsessed with her. In his both loving Kitty and at the same time wanting to murder her that it tipped off the Barton's to just who he really was.
It's obvious right from the beginning of the movie that Slade is the killer so there's no real suspense to who he, Jack the Ripper, is. It's the reasons that drove him, his brother tragic death, to become the insane killer that he is that adds a new and interesting insight to just what state of mind he's in. With the police lead by Inspector John Warwick, George Sanders, setting a trap for him at the theater where Kitty is performing Slade sneaks into her dressing room. After giving Kitty an insight into his strange philosophy of beauty and evil ,as well as life and death, he makes a gab for her only to have Inspector Warwick and a squad of London Bobbies break in and come to her rescue. It takes a lot to put the big gorilla down as he takes off knocking over anybody or anything that gets in his way only to end up diving into the Thames River, to escape the London police, and never to be seen or heard from again.
Laird Cregar is both creepy and charming as Slade and his massive fame, 6 foot 4 inches and 300 pounds,made him that much more scary as the "Ripper" in the movie. Cregar died soon after the movie "The Lodger" was released from a crash diet that not only took some 100 pounds off him but also took his life.
George Sanders as the police inspector Warwick had a small part and did the best he could with it. Both Cedric Hardwicke and Sara Allgood were effective as the landlord and landlady of the house that Slade was staying at and provided the little humor that was in the movie.
It was Merle Oberon as Kitty who just didn't come across at all convincing with her being no naive and unconscious to Slades murderous intentions ,even when he was alone with her. That gave me the impression that she may have thought that she was in a musical instead of a horror/suspense movie.
Renting a suite of rooms from the Bartons, Robert and Ellen, (Cedric Harwicke & Sara Allgood) in he Whitechaple section of London Slade planned to continue his "cursade" against evil but something popped up that he never expected. The Barton's beautiful niece singer dancer Kitty Langley, Merle Oberon,who's the star attraction at the Piccadilly Theater lives in the same house. Poor and confused Slade just can't take his eyes off her which leads him to act rather suspicious as he starts to makes weird and dangerous advances towards Kitty.
Both John and especially Ellen notice Slade's strange behavior and suspect of him being "Jack the Ripper" who's been out at night slicing up hookers in the neighborhood. The police are notified about the big lug's unexplained disappearances at night and his constantly burning clothes and other items, that may well have to do with his disappearances, to cover up his suspected actions as the "Ripper". It was too bad that Slade was around Kitty all the time since she got him to blow his cover as the Whitechaple killer by becoming so obsessed with her. In his both loving Kitty and at the same time wanting to murder her that it tipped off the Barton's to just who he really was.
It's obvious right from the beginning of the movie that Slade is the killer so there's no real suspense to who he, Jack the Ripper, is. It's the reasons that drove him, his brother tragic death, to become the insane killer that he is that adds a new and interesting insight to just what state of mind he's in. With the police lead by Inspector John Warwick, George Sanders, setting a trap for him at the theater where Kitty is performing Slade sneaks into her dressing room. After giving Kitty an insight into his strange philosophy of beauty and evil ,as well as life and death, he makes a gab for her only to have Inspector Warwick and a squad of London Bobbies break in and come to her rescue. It takes a lot to put the big gorilla down as he takes off knocking over anybody or anything that gets in his way only to end up diving into the Thames River, to escape the London police, and never to be seen or heard from again.
Laird Cregar is both creepy and charming as Slade and his massive fame, 6 foot 4 inches and 300 pounds,made him that much more scary as the "Ripper" in the movie. Cregar died soon after the movie "The Lodger" was released from a crash diet that not only took some 100 pounds off him but also took his life.
George Sanders as the police inspector Warwick had a small part and did the best he could with it. Both Cedric Hardwicke and Sara Allgood were effective as the landlord and landlady of the house that Slade was staying at and provided the little humor that was in the movie.
It was Merle Oberon as Kitty who just didn't come across at all convincing with her being no naive and unconscious to Slades murderous intentions ,even when he was alone with her. That gave me the impression that she may have thought that she was in a musical instead of a horror/suspense movie.