A+ moustache work.
Jenn and I have spent the month discussing adaptations of one of true crime’s most classic cases: the unsolved murders of Jack the Ripper.
We began with a primer courtesy of the documentary To Kill and Kill Again, followed by Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film adaptation of The Lodger (listen). We followed that up with Jack The Ripper (listen), a 1988 two part miniseries starring Michael Caine and Jane Seymour that was simulcast in the UK and the US and cost $11M (!).
Now we’re up to another made-for-TV movie, 1997’s The Ripper, written by Robert Rodat – the screenwriter of The Patriot and Saving Private Ryan – and the only title directed by a woman, Janet Meyers.
In the film, Patrick Bergin (and his legendary moustache) is Inspector Jim Hansen, who is ordered by his superior Sir Charles (Michael York) to solve the murder of sex workers in Whitechapel in 1888. He quickly falls in love with Florry Lewis (Gabrielle Anwar, playing a stand-in of Mary Kelly) after she witnesses a murder.
What’s unique about The Ripper is that it wastes no time unmasking the villain. At approximately the 22 minute mark, it is clear to the audience that the killer is none other than Prince Albert Victor (Samuel West, also sporting an incredible moustache).
The rest of the film is a queer-coded cat and mouse game between Hansen and the Prince as they circle each other at society parties and other functions, all while Prince Victor plots to kill Florry to keep her quiet. There’s even a (too brief) role for The Babadook‘s Essie Davis as the socially acceptable romantic match that Hansen turns down in favour of Florry.
What’s interesting about The Ripper is its interest in its female characters (as well as their sexual pleasure and agency) while also heavily critiquing the class structures of 19th century England. It also doesn’t hurt that West is having the time of his life, camping it up heavily as the syphilis-ridden monarch (in the climax, he actually wields a mace in a head to head battle with Hansen. It’s incredible)
It’s a fun little oddity that’s hard to track down, but surprisingly worth the effort!
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https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=BDA9263140738