In his book Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman talks a bit about Joseph E Levine (in the section on A Bridge Too Far), telling a story about how he bought the US rights to this movie, and had a big meeting with exhibitors where he brought out $1 million in cash - literally in cash - and vowed to spend that money on making the hit. Levine later claimed this made him a healthy profit but the movie did not become particularly well known - certainly not in the league of, say, Levine's Hercules.
Still, it's not a bad flick, Hammer-inspired but in black and white, from a script by Jimmy Sangster. The plot is a basic redo of the world's favourite serial killer knocking off loose women in Victorian London - they hold off the big reveal until ten minutes towards the end but pretty much everyone will guess it before then. Among the fresh twists Sangster brings to the story are the fact the Ripper is searching out a particular woman "Mary Clarke", a hunchback who is accused of the attack, and a visiting American detective.
It does lack star power and I wish it had been in colour rather than black and white but there is plenty of action, the Ripper gets squashed by a lift at the end (rather tame), and the handling is reasonably vigorous.
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