Despite being made in 1953, it has the look and feel of a movie made in 1933! In addition, this movie set in London was clearly made on the back-lot of a studio in America. As if to hammer home the London 'look and feel' of the movie, even the suspenseful background music is a slow drawn out melody of Big Ben sounding off.
What really makes it unwatchable (to English viewers) is the comic treasury of terrible British accents. No voice coaching here... just bizarre guesswork by the actors.
Also (in my opinion) the giant Jack Palance is horribly miscast as a shy and socially awkward suspect in this Jack The Ripper yarn. He doesn't wield any kind of affinity with the role of the suspect and spends most of the time standing about the scenery looking lost or telling whoever will listen that he's a misunderstood, lonely outcast.
Incredibly, this movie, about one of the world's most notorious killers, has been padded out with a few flamboyant song and dance routines! Wildly inappropriate and definitely NOT what you'd find anywhere in London in the late 1800s! It just looks and sounds silly.
Other versions of this film are a lot more credible than this offering which seems to have been thrown together simply because Palance was bored and on contract and the studios were not being used for anything else.
What really makes it unwatchable (to English viewers) is the comic treasury of terrible British accents. No voice coaching here... just bizarre guesswork by the actors.
Also (in my opinion) the giant Jack Palance is horribly miscast as a shy and socially awkward suspect in this Jack The Ripper yarn. He doesn't wield any kind of affinity with the role of the suspect and spends most of the time standing about the scenery looking lost or telling whoever will listen that he's a misunderstood, lonely outcast.
Incredibly, this movie, about one of the world's most notorious killers, has been padded out with a few flamboyant song and dance routines! Wildly inappropriate and definitely NOT what you'd find anywhere in London in the late 1800s! It just looks and sounds silly.
Other versions of this film are a lot more credible than this offering which seems to have been thrown together simply because Palance was bored and on contract and the studios were not being used for anything else.