Jack the Ripper Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		1.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Jack the Ripper Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 5, 2012

David Wickes' "Jack the Ripper" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors I-ON New Media. The supplemental features on the disc include a gallery of deleted scenes; audio commentary by director David Wickes, researcher Sue Davis, and novelist Jonathan Soskott; and a short featurette. In English, with optional German subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Frederick Abberline and George Godley

London, 1888. Inspector Frederick Abberline (Michael Caine, Ashanti, The Quiet American), a middle-aged man with a serious drinking problem, is asked to solve a series of killings in Whitechapel. The victims are all prostitutes whose bodies are seriously mutilated.

Assisted by Sergeant George Godley (Lewis Collins, Who Dares Wins, TV's The Professionals), Abberline begins looking for suspects. The first man that could have committed the murders is the American actor Richard Mansfield (Armand Assante, Striptease, Hoffa), who is incredibly convincing when he plays Jekyll and Hyde and loves London’s brothels. The second suspect is the esteemed fortuneteller Robert James Lees (Ken Bones, Split Second, Cutthroat Island), who describes some of the victims to Abberiline, supposedly without ever having met them, with impressive accuracy. The third man is Dr. Theodore Acland (Richard Morant, On the Third Day), the son-in-law of Sir William Gull (Ray McAnally, The Mission, My Left Foot), a famous medical practitioner and Physician-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria.

While Abberline and Godley try to understand the motive behind the murders, the killer strikes again. People in Whitechapel begin rioting and later on large vigilante groups attack the police. The concerned Prime Minister meets the Chief of Police and demands that the killer, who everyone already refers to as Jack the Ripper, is identified as quickly as possible.

Things become even more complicated when Abberline and Godley are told that Prince Albert Victor, Queen Victoria’s grandson, has been seen attending the brothels in Whitechapel.

David Wickes’ 1988 miniseries seem to be a step above the various films and TV productions that have been made during the years about the infamous Jack the Ripper. They are brilliantly scripted, very atmospheric, and well acted.

Admittedly, however, they are, like every other film about Jack the Ripper, easy to dismiss -- as there are so many other theories about the identity of the killer that make as much sense as the one presented by Wickes. For example, last year Spanish writer and handwriting expert Jose Luis Abad published a book titled Jack the Ripper: The Most Intelligent Murderer in History in which he claims that there is sufficient evidence to believe that the man who committed the murders in Whitechapel was in fact the same man who was in charge with their investigation, Inspector Abberline, whose handwriting apparently matches that in the Jack the Ripper’s diary (the controversial diary was discovered in a house in Liverpool in 1992).

Flawed or not, Wickes’ miniseries are enormously entertaining. Caine and Collins are very convincing as the representatives of the law who begin chasing a madman on the dirty streets of Victorian East London. Assante is also excellent as the eccentric American actor. Bones does not disappoint either, though there are a couple of scenes where he goes overboard with his visions.

Cinematographer Alan Hume’s (Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi) lensing and John Blezard’s (Nijinsky) production designs are first-class. When Jack the Ripper goes out to kill, some of the visuals are seriously scary. There is one specific sequence where his big black carriage slowly comes out of the dark and then stops in front of a large house that always makes my skin crawl.

Note: In 1989, Jack the Ripper won Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV (Michael Caine).

Jack the Ripper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080/50i transfer, David Wickes' Jack the Ripper arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors I-ON New Media.

Currently, in the United States David Wickes' Jack the Ripper is available only on DVD-R (2-disc set) via Warner's Archive Collection, which is why I was very much looking forward to this German Blu-ray release. Unfortunately, the presentation is far from impressive.

Generally speaking, detail never reaches the standards we have come to expect from strong Blu-ray releases. In fact, more often than not the quality of the presentation gravitates in standard definition territory, with clarity levels in particular being very problematic. Additionally, heavy noise, edge-enhancement and macroblocking patterns are constantly present, the latter seriously destabilizing the image during the nighttime sequences (see screencapture #4). Color reproduction is also very problematic. Needless to say, none of the fine film grain which the high-definition format can easily handle is visible here. There are also quite a few flecks popping up throughout the entire film. All in all, the quality of the presentation is extremely disappointing. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Jack the Ripper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD HR 5.1 and German DTS-HD HR 5.1. For the record, I-ON New Media have provided optional German subtitles for the main feature.

The English DTS-HD HR 5.1 track is also rather disappointing. There are some obvious balance issues - when Jack the Ripper's black carriage appears, the volume suddenly spikes up - and the surround channels are hardly impressive. The dialog, however, is crisp, clean, and stable. I also did not detect any sync issues or problematic dropouts to report in this review.

Jack the Ripper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes - a gallery of deleted scenes featuring Barry Foster, who was later replaced by Michael Caine. In English, not subtitled. (22 min, PAL).

• Dokumentation - a short featurette about the real Jack the Ripper. Dubbed in German. (7 min, PAL).

• Audiokommentar - an audio commentary by director David Wickes, researcher Sue Davis, and novelist Jonathan Soskott. This is the same audio commentary that appeared on the old Anchor Bay DVD release of Jack the Ripper. In English, not subtitled.

Jack the Ripper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I am going to have to look at Warner's Archive Collection release of David Wickes' Jack the Ripper as this German Blu-ray release is extremely disappointing. As far as I am concerned, the only reason one may want to consider picking it up is the old audio commentary, which I believe isn't included on Warner's release. SKIP IT.