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Such a frustrating disappointment

Just what I expected

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The performance of Jack Palance is the main reason to see The Man in the Attic. It is one of his most restrained performances and all the better for it, he is perfectly cast, looking the part with his tall slender frame and Machiavellian features, and his emotionally vulnerable and also sinister interpretation is a most interesting one.He is well supported by most of the supporting cast, with Rhys Williams being very good and Constance Smith is very charming in a rather caricatured role. Byron Palmer is appropriately business-like in the police inspector role. Frances Bavier just about passes muster and suitably cynical but her accent with those twangy vowels(the pronunciation of bag jars) is not convincing at all while Tita Phillips is weak and wooden as maid Daisy. The Man in the Attic looks great, with Victorian London being sumptuously and chillingly evoked and the black and white cinematography is beautifully done. The Man in the Attic has a haunting, chilling even in the first five minutes(which is also the most suspenseful the film gets), music score that adds a great deal to the film's atmosphere, it is more 1950s than authentic 1888 but it is not that jarring actually.The script while predictable in places is at times subtly amusing and often thoughtful without falling into the traps of being too speculative, one-sided or insisting it's the truth. The story is staid in action but it is involving and neatly structured with a truly exciting horse and carriage chase, having enough to keep you hooked. Slade is an interesting character, the film entertains and is well-paced, deliberate but never dull.It's a good film that does a lot right but at the same time it felt that something was missing. It is lacking in suspense and feels at times a little too neat and too careful, with the exceptions of the opening and the chase, with not quite enough to keep you guessing, mainly because I was convinced that Slade was guilty early on. This could have been improved a little if Slade was introduced later and that more was done with the investigating, what made Jack the Ripper so infamous and the murders, while what the film did with focusing on Slade was admirable it was a little too character driven. Jack the Ripper's murders were among the most shocking in history, and The Man in the Attic handled its murders rather ordinarily with them only being described.The Man in the Attic does end very abruptly and predictably with it being obvious how things were going to end, though keeping things ambiguous and open for interpretation was a wise move and the right(and only) thing to do, otherwise there would have been criticisms about the film butchering history. The Man in the Attic is also severely hurt by the musical numbers which should have been scrapped altogether. They are completely out of place, completely irrelevant to the story, are uninteresting choreographed(being more vulgar than sexy) and only manage to slow the film down. Overall, a good, enjoyable and well-made film with a great Palance and the many good things done very well indeed but something was missing. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

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.

I didn't have high hopes for this one. I'm not much of a Jack Palance fan but in this, his film personality works to his advantage.Murders are gripping the city of Whitechapel and by coincidence, a mysterious Lodger comes to let a room. He carries a black bag and wears a Ulster. The landlady thinks him odd but she rents him 2 floors. The 2nd for his sleeping and the Attic...for his "experiments". He meets the landlady's daughter and he's smitten but he has a problem with her, he doesn't care too much for actresses. Not all, but most of the Ripper murders are, or were, actresses. Could he be the one? I was thoroughly surprised at how much they let the suspense go on until the end. The keep you guessing until it's over. Jack Palance finally has a role he can really fit in. He does a real good job of playing the "could" be Ripper. The real tragedy of the film is Constance Smith. Reading about her life after she left film (not long after this), is sad. I think so because she has some real screen presence. She is the light of this film. I mean she is just perfect as the daughter and she has some real personality. It's a shame she didn't accomplish more than she did. "Aunt Bee" has a role also and she's quite good as the nosy landlady.Just give this one a try and see I'm right. You may think you've seen all the Jack the Ripper films but try this and and you'll get a really nice surprise. Really well done. Right up until the end you'll be asking yourself..."Is Jack Palance the Ripper?...or isn't he?"

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.