Jack the Ripper

The inspiration for countless works of film and literature, serial killer Jack the Ripper (“the most infamous murderer since Bluebeard”) is the subject of a handful of noirs, John Brahm’s The Lodger (1944) arguably the greatest example. Adding to the list is Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman’s variation on the legendary figure, which brushes up against the horror genre (its violence is graphic for the time period) while marinating in noir atmospherics, thanks largely to an almost ludicrously thick stew of fog that swallows nearly every outdoor scene. In this version of the story, the questionably charismatic Lee Patterson plays American detective Sam Lowry, called to London by his old friend, Scotland Yard Inspector O’Neill (Eddie Byrne), to help track down the maniac who’s been slicing up women of dubious character on the London sidewalks. Betty McDowall plays Lowry’s love interest, Anne Ford, whose overprotective guardian, Dr. Tranter (John Le Mesurier), seems to be unaccounted for whenever the Ripper strikes. Enormously successful upon release, the film combines Gothic with gritty, beauty with baseness, one clear highlight the can-can performances in the boisterous music hall where the line between performers and prostitutes is as foggy as the streets.