Jack the Ripper *** (1988, Michael Caine, Armand Assante, Ray McAnally, Susan George, Jane Seymour, Lewis Collins) – Classic Movie Review 5190

Jack the Ripper: Michael Caine as Chief Inspector Fred Abberline, with Jane Seymour.

For writer-director David Wickes’s excellent 1988 two-part mini-series Jack the Ripper, Michael Caine returns to TV as Chief Inspector Fred Abberline, the boozy Scotland Yard man who investigates the notorious 1888 East End serial killer murdering prostitutes in the East End of London, in a semi-fictional version of the famous real-life story.

Abberline proves a very good role for Caine, who gives the strong impression that he seems to be enjoying himself in an excellent award-winning performance. Caine won the 1989 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television – though it was tied with Stacy Keach for Hemingway (1988).

And there is a top cast giving Caine fine support, while co-writer/ director David Wickes keeps the longish (190-minute) film tight and atmospheric, even providing an ending to the still unsolved crime by controversially revealing the supposed killer. The writers claim to have had access to top-secret Home Office files and say their ending is the true solution to the mystery.

Jack the Ripper also stars Armand Assante, Ray McAnally, Susan George, Jane Seymour, Lewis Collins, Ken Bones, Harry Andrews and Lysette Anthony.

Also in the cast are Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Peter Armitage, Trevor Baxter, Desmond Askew, Mike Carnell, Ann Castle, Deirdre Costello, Jon Croft, Angela Crowe, Hugh Fraser, Christopher Fulford, John Fletcher, Ronald Hines, Denys Hawthorne, Edward Judd, Jon Laurimore, T P McKenna, John Normington, Sandra Payne, Iain Rattray, Gary Shail, Gerald Sim, George Sweeney, David Swift, Norman Warwick, Brian Weske, Richard Morant and Michael Gothard.

The newly restored Jack the Ripper is out on Blu-ray and DVD on 27 March 2017 from Network Distributing, home of ‘The British Film Collection.

Johnny Depp plays Abberline in a remake of the Ripper story, From Hell (2001). There is also an interesting old Fifties British movie on the subject, Jack the Ripper (1959) and an Eighties riff on it, Jack’s Back (1988).

Wickes and Caine returned to TV for another slab of Victorian horror in Jekyll & Hyde (1990).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5190

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com