Dark and disturbing, this terrifying crime thriller is set against the tumultuous backdrop of London in 1888, where the unfortunate poor lead horrifying lives in the city's deadliest slum, Whitechapel.
Harassed by gangs and forced to walk the streets for a living, Mary Kelly and her small group of companions trudge on through this daily misery, their only consolation being that things can't get any worse. Yet things somehow do when their friend Ann is kidnapped and they are drawn into a conspiracy with links higher up than they could possibly imagine.
The kidnapping is soon followed by the gruesome murder of another woman, Polly, and it becomes apparent that they are being hunted down, one by one. Sinister even by Whitechapel standards, the murder grabs the attention of Inspector Fred Abberline, a brilliant yet troubled man whose police work is often aided by his psychic abilities.
Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case, which takes on personal meaning to him when he and Mary begin to fall in love. But as he gets closer to the truth Whitechapel begins churning with dark violence and serious threat to life. How will the relationship between Abberline and Mary Kelly evolve? Will the killer be identified and punished?
Cast: Heather Graham, Johnny Depp
Crew: Albert Hughes (Director), Allen Hughes (Director), Peter Deming (Director of Photography), Trevor Jones (Music Director)
Rating: MA (Australia), 18 (South Korea)
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Release Dates: 19 Oct 2001 (India)
Tagline: Only the legend will survive.
Did you know? The late Nigel Hawthorne was originally cast as Sir William Gull. Hawthorne was replaced by Ian Holm, his The Madness of King George (1994) costar, when his cancer prevented him from working. He died in 2001, the same year the movie was released. Read More
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as Mary Kelly
as Inspector Frederick Abberline
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
as Sir William Gull
as Sir Charles Warren
as Netley, the Coachman
Supporting Actress
as Dark Annie Chapman
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Sergeant Peter Godley
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Production
Producer
Production Company
Executive Producer
Distribution
Distributor
Music
Music Director
Sound
Foley Editor
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Sound Mixer
Art
Art Director
Production Designer
Set Decorator
Prop Master
Casting
Casting Director
Costume and Wardrobe
Costume Designer
Editorial
Editor
Special Effects
Special Effects Technician
Stunts
Stunt Director
Visual Effects
Visual Effects Producer
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital, DTS
Camera:
Panaflex Gold II, Panaflex Platinum, Panavision Panaflex
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
Only the legend will survive.
Filming Locations:
Goofs:
Miscellaneous
(at around 30 mins) In 1888, a bottle of laudanum would not have been labeled as poison, as it was a popular, socially acceptable, and inexpensive painkiller and sedative at the time.
Miscellaneous
Some of the constables and law enforcement officers shown in nighttime scenes are carrying flashlights, which were not patented until ten years after the film's date of 1888.
Miscellaneous
Several lobotomies are shown being performed in 1888, but this process was first performed in Switzerland in 1890, and did not become common until at least 10 years after that.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Gull and Abberline are first discussing the murders, there is a shot from behind Gull when he is talking. His mouth does not match up with what he says.
Character Error
(at around 1h 17 mins) Inspector Abberline explains to Mary Kelly that they should pass notes via the barkeep of a nearby inn. "Barkeep" is an American usage; in England it would be "barman" for someone working in the pub or "landlord" for the owner.
Character Error
William Gull says that he is the Royal Family's "physician-in-ordinary," misspeaking the scripted line "physician-in-extraordinary."
Character Error
The surgeon is addressed as Doctor Ferral (American style) rather than Mister Ferral (British style).
Continuity
(at around 8 mins) When men broke into the room where the couple was having sex at the beginning of the film, the woman quickly covers up her bare breasts with her sheets, then during the close up of the man, she is again trying to cover her breasts.
Continuity
(at around 1h 8 mins) When Abberline is taking Mary into the gallery to view the picture of Prince Albert Victor, they pass the same lady in the white dress twice in different shots.
Continuity
McQueen's ear is whole in some scenes and it is cut (for an earring) in other scenes.
Errors in Geography
The film depicts the Ripper in his carriage en route to pick up his next victim (as depicted in the next shot) racing along the Thames with Big Ben and the Tower in the background. This would mean that he was on the wrong bank of the Thames, racing away from the Whitechapel district, which was located within easy walking distance of the Tower.
Miscellaneous
By the late 1800s glass windows were becoming common, and while the glass was heavier and sometimes uneven, it was certainly clear and very much like modern glass (although more expensive). While still produced by a glass-blower, it could be blown into large sheets and cut for windows. Thus the modern-looking windows in the movie could have been around in 1888.
Factual Mistake
Liston knives were not serrated as they were used for the cutting of muscle. Only bone saws and the like had serrated edges.(at around 1h 10 mins) A little after the second murder, Abberline is talking with Gull about "Jack the Ripper". However, he was not to become known by that name until the double event murder and receipt of the "dear boss" letter, almost a month later.
(at around 30 mins) In 1888, a bottle of laudanum would not have been labeled as poison, as it was a popular, socially acceptable, and inexpensive painkiller and sedative at the time.
Miscellaneous
Some of the constables and law enforcement officers shown in nighttime scenes are carrying flashlights, which were not patented until ten years after the film's date of 1888.
Miscellaneous
Several lobotomies are shown being performed in 1888, but this process was first performed in Switzerland in 1890, and did not become common until at least 10 years after that.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Gull and Abberline are first discussing the murders, there is a shot from behind Gull when he is talking. His mouth does not match up with what he says.
Character Error
(at around 1h 17 mins) Inspector Abberline explains to Mary Kelly that they should pass notes via the barkeep of a nearby inn. "Barkeep" is an American usage; in England it would be "barman" for someone working in the pub or "landlord" for the owner.
Character Error
William Gull says that he is the Royal Family's "physician-in-ordinary," misspeaking the scripted line "physician-in-extraordinary."
Character Error
The surgeon is addressed as Doctor Ferral (American style) rather than Mister Ferral (British style).
Continuity
(at around 8 mins) When men broke into the room where the couple was having sex at the beginning of the film, the woman quickly covers up her bare breasts with her sheets, then during the close up of the man, she is again trying to cover her breasts.
Continuity
(at around 1h 8 mins) When Abberline is taking Mary into the gallery to view the picture of Prince Albert Victor, they pass the same lady in the white dress twice in different shots.
Continuity
McQueen's ear is whole in some scenes and it is cut (for an earring) in other scenes.
Errors in Geography
The film depicts the Ripper in his carriage en route to pick up his next victim (as depicted in the next shot) racing along the Thames with Big Ben and the Tower in the background. This would mean that he was on the wrong bank of the Thames, racing away from the Whitechapel district, which was located within easy walking distance of the Tower.
Miscellaneous
By the late 1800s glass windows were becoming common, and while the glass was heavier and sometimes uneven, it was certainly clear and very much like modern glass (although more expensive). While still produced by a glass-blower, it could be blown into large sheets and cut for windows. Thus the modern-looking windows in the movie could have been around in 1888.
Factual Mistake
Liston knives were not serrated as they were used for the cutting of muscle. Only bone saws and the like had serrated edges.(at around 1h 10 mins) A little after the second murder, Abberline is talking with Gull about "Jack the Ripper". However, he was not to become known by that name until the double event murder and receipt of the "dear boss" letter, almost a month later.
Trivia:
(at around 1h 45 mins) After the Ripper has killed his final victim, the police officer describes the scene so that it can be written down as evidence. Those lines are taken directly from the report of the actual crime scene.
Some of the real photos from the Ripper victims are pinned to the walls in the police station sets; the directors placed them there to unnerve the cast so they'd give an edgier performance after having seen the real victims.
Great care was taken to accurately reproduce the actual sites of the "Ripper" murders. Illustrations and actual photographs from 1888 were used. Similar care was used to reproduce the wounds inflicted upon the Ripper's victims.
According to John Douglas (creator of criminal profiling) the Ripper murders were the work of a disorganized, paranoid personality, not the calculating one shown in the film.
Commissioner of Police Charles Warren never really arrived at the site of the fifth victim because he had resigned shortly before her murder. Strangely, before his resignation, he ordered that no police officer was to enter the scene until he arrived (which is strange because all of the past victims had been killed on the street) and as a result, no officer or investigator entered the building for three hours because they were unaware of his resignation.
By avoiding giving dates to specific scenes, the movie makes it seem that the Ripper murders occurred in a much shorter amount of time than in reality, which was 31 August to 9 November. The investigation continued for many years after 1888.
Though there were many rumors (and speculations) as to whether the victims knew each other, there is no real evidence that they did.
(at around 26 mins) During the discussion between Inspector Frederick Abberline and the police chief, the chief holds up a flyer for a show by Buffalo Bill. Though in context this is the performance name of war-hero-turned-circus-performer William F. Cody, it was also the name of a fictional serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
The Hughes Brothers originally wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play the lead role. When that fell through, they interviewed Sean Connery, Jude Law and Brad Pitt before settling on Johnny Depp.
(at around 45 mins) The medical council announcer introduces the Elephant Man as Joseph Merrick, then Merrick's benefactor Dr. Treves "corrects" him, so he calls him John Merrick. Merrick's given name was Joseph, but Frederick Treves insisted on calling him John in his reports, deliberately crossing out Joseph. It is not known why Treves did this, but Merrick always called himself Joseph and never John, so historians always call him Joseph Merrick.
The late Nigel Hawthorne was originally cast as Sir William Gull. Hawthorne was replaced by Ian Holm, his The Madness of King George (1994) costar, when his cancer prevented him from working. He died in 2001, the same year the movie was released.
Although both Sergeant Godley and Inspector Frederick Abberline were involved in the Ripper murders (Abberline being the lead Inspector), they never worked together, and probably never even met until the arrest of George Chapman, a Ripper suspect.
The first person who signed on to the film was composer Trevor Jones, who stuck with the project since its conception in 1998 and finally composed and recorded his score for the film in early 2001.
The title of the film and graphic novel comes from the fact that one of the real Jack the Ripper's letters to the police was had the heading "From Hell". Grammar and spelling, plus the fact that some of the letters started with "dear boss", gave the impression that the initial impression that the killer was an American. However, no evidence was ever found linking the murders to the Masons.
Some of the real photos from the Ripper victims are pinned to the walls in the police station sets; the directors placed them there to unnerve the cast so they'd give an edgier performance after having seen the real victims.
Great care was taken to accurately reproduce the actual sites of the "Ripper" murders. Illustrations and actual photographs from 1888 were used. Similar care was used to reproduce the wounds inflicted upon the Ripper's victims.
According to John Douglas (creator of criminal profiling) the Ripper murders were the work of a disorganized, paranoid personality, not the calculating one shown in the film.
Commissioner of Police Charles Warren never really arrived at the site of the fifth victim because he had resigned shortly before her murder. Strangely, before his resignation, he ordered that no police officer was to enter the scene until he arrived (which is strange because all of the past victims had been killed on the street) and as a result, no officer or investigator entered the building for three hours because they were unaware of his resignation.
By avoiding giving dates to specific scenes, the movie makes it seem that the Ripper murders occurred in a much shorter amount of time than in reality, which was 31 August to 9 November. The investigation continued for many years after 1888.
Though there were many rumors (and speculations) as to whether the victims knew each other, there is no real evidence that they did.
(at around 26 mins) During the discussion between Inspector Frederick Abberline and the police chief, the chief holds up a flyer for a show by Buffalo Bill. Though in context this is the performance name of war-hero-turned-circus-performer William F. Cody, it was also the name of a fictional serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
The Hughes Brothers originally wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play the lead role. When that fell through, they interviewed Sean Connery, Jude Law and Brad Pitt before settling on Johnny Depp.
(at around 45 mins) The medical council announcer introduces the Elephant Man as Joseph Merrick, then Merrick's benefactor Dr. Treves "corrects" him, so he calls him John Merrick. Merrick's given name was Joseph, but Frederick Treves insisted on calling him John in his reports, deliberately crossing out Joseph. It is not known why Treves did this, but Merrick always called himself Joseph and never John, so historians always call him Joseph Merrick.
The late Nigel Hawthorne was originally cast as Sir William Gull. Hawthorne was replaced by Ian Holm, his The Madness of King George (1994) costar, when his cancer prevented him from working. He died in 2001, the same year the movie was released.
Although both Sergeant Godley and Inspector Frederick Abberline were involved in the Ripper murders (Abberline being the lead Inspector), they never worked together, and probably never even met until the arrest of George Chapman, a Ripper suspect.
The first person who signed on to the film was composer Trevor Jones, who stuck with the project since its conception in 1998 and finally composed and recorded his score for the film in early 2001.
The title of the film and graphic novel comes from the fact that one of the real Jack the Ripper's letters to the police was had the heading "From Hell". Grammar and spelling, plus the fact that some of the letters started with "dear boss", gave the impression that the initial impression that the killer was an American. However, no evidence was ever found linking the murders to the Masons.
