''Man in the Attic'' is a 1953
mystery film
A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...
directed by
Hugo Fregonese
Hugo Geronimo Fregonese (April 8, 1908 in Mendoza – January 11, 1987 in Tigre) was an Argentine film director and screenwriter who worked both in Hollywood and his home country.''Cine Nacional''Hugo Fregonese filmographyCinenacional.com
...
. It was released in the United States on December 23 by
Twentieth Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...
. The movie is based on the 1913 novel ''
The Lodger'' by
Marie Belloc Lowndes
Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes (née Belloc; 5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), who wrote as Marie Belloc Lowndes, was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc.
Active from 1898 until her death, she had a li ...
, which fictionalizes the
Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...
killings, and was previously filmed by
Alfred Hitchcock in 1927, by
Maurice Elvey in 1932, by
John Brahm in 1944, and subsequently by
David Ondaatje in 2009.
Plot summary
The story takes place in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, 1888. On the third night of the Jack the Ripper killings, Mr Slade, a research pathologist, arrives quite late at the home of Mr and Mrs Harley, looking to rent a room. Slade rents out a room and an attic, which he says he needs for his research work. Mrs Harley notices that Slade acts in a strange manner, for example turning several pictures of actresses to the wall, saying that he can feel their eyes on him. He also mentions that he is usually out late at night working, but he never explains what his research involves.
Mrs Harley's niece, Lily Bonner, arrives to stay at the house shortly afterwards; she is a beautiful stage actress and singer, recently returned from a successful stage production in Paris. Slade leaves the house for the evening, wearing an Ulster coat and carrying a small black bag, and meets Lily before her opening night in London. At the theatre an old colleague of Lily's, Annie Rowley (who has fallen on hard times), goes to see her backstage, but she is later murdered by the Ripper, and Inspector Warwick, who is investigating the murders, informs Lily and tells her that the suspect was seen wearing an Ulster coat and a small black bag. The next morning Warwick goes to see Lily again to ask a few questions, and Slade appears and gives some unorthodox opinions regarding the Ripper and says that he feels the police will never catch him. Mrs Harley's suspicions are further aroused when she smells burning coming from Slade's attic room, and she is convinced that he is the killer when she discovers that Slade had been burning his black bag; however Mr Harley remains unconvinced.
![Constance Smith-Jack Palance in Man in the Attic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Constance_Smith-Jack_Palance_in_Man_in_the_Attic.jpg)
Lily is attracted to Slade, and he tells her that his mother was also an actress but also that, although she was beautiful, she was also evil and that he both loved and hated her. She behaved in an adulterous manner and his father became an alcoholic after she left him, and she ended her life as a 'woman of the streets' (i.e., a prostitute) and died on the streets in
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...
. Slade shows Lily a picture of his mother. Inspector Warwick then arrives to take Lily to the
Black Museum, and Slade decides to join them, much to Warwick's displeasure. At the Museum, Slade makes numerous derisive comments about the gruesome nature of the exhibits, although he seems to take a particular interest in the five pictures on the wall of the five Ripper victims, before again telling Warwick that the police will never catch the Ripper.
That same evening, yet another woman is murdered and later Slade is seen washing his hands in the river. During the night, Lily is woken and goes downstairs to find Slade burning some items of clothing, including his Ulster coat, which appears to have blood stains on it, although Slade claims that he spilled some solution on the coat and it might be contaminated.
Meanwhile Warwick checks out Slade's credentials at the University hospital, and is told that Slade is involved in research and works very late hours. Lily asks Slade to meet her backstage at the theatre that evening, but before that Warwick decides to see if Slade's right thumbprint matches one left by the Ripper at the scene of one of his crimes, and enlists Mr Harley's help to search Slade's room. Warwick discovers the picture of Slade's mother in a drawer, but Lily catches them and complains to Warwick that he is harassing an innocent man. Warwick later tries to match the fingerprint, but his assistant notices the picture of Slade's mother and realises that it is Anne Lawrence, the Ripper's first victim, whose picture is on the wall of the Museum.
By this time Slade has gone to the theatre to see the show, but he observes all the lustful looks on the faces of many of the men in the audience as they watch Lily dancing, and becomes agitated, and when he goes to see her backstage he tells her that he hates other men looking at her in such a manner and begs her to go away with him somewhere, but when she resists he pulls a knife out of his pocket and prepares to cut her throat, but he cannot carry out the act, dropping the knife and escaping out of a window. The police, including Warwick, pursue Slade through Whitechapel, but Slade evades them and appears to drown himself in the river; however, despite Warwick and other officers searching for him in the river his body is not found and the possibility is left open that he may have escaped alive.
Cast
*
Jack Palance
Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...
as Slade
*
Constance Smith
Constance Smith (7 February 1929 – 30 June 2003) was an Irish film actress, and contract player of 20th Century Fox in the 1950s.
Early life
Smith was born into a family as the first of 11 children.'' The Oakland Tribune'', 18 March 1962, O ...
as Lily Bonner
*
Byron Palmer
Byron Palmer (21 June 1920 – 30 September 2009) was an American film, television and stage actor under contract with 20th Century Fox.
Early years
Palmer was the second of four children of '' Harlan G. Palmer''; a politician, judge, and most n ...
as Insp. Paul Warwick
*
Frances Bavier
Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role o ...
as Helen Harley
*
Rhys Williams as William Harley
*
Sean McClory
Séan Joseph McClory (8 March 1924 – 10 December 2003) was an Irish actor whose career spanned six decades and included well over 100 films and television series. He was sometimes billed as Shawn McGlory or Sean McGlory.
Early years
M ...
as Constable No. 1
*
Leslie Bradley
Leslie Ernest Bradley (1 September 1907 – 20 July 1974) was an English actor. He died in Desert Hot Springs, California.
Filmography
* '' The Way of Youth'' (1934) as Lieut. Burton (film debut)
* ''Play Up the Band'' (1935) as Jack Heck ...
as Constable No. 2
* Tita Phillips as Daisy
*
Lester Matthews
Arthur Lester Matthews (6 June 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English actor. In his career, the handsome Englishman made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was erroneously credited in later years as Les Matthews. Matthews pla ...
as Chief Insp. Melville
*
Harry Cording
Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the films '' The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938).
Life and career ...
as Detective Sgt. Bates
*
Lisa Daniels as Mary Lenihan
*
Lilian Bond
Lilian Bond (January 18, 1908 – January 25, 1991) was an English-American actress based in the United States.
Life and career
Bond was born in London and made her first professional stage appearance at the age of 14 in the pantomime ''Dic ...
as Annie Rowley
*
Isabel Jewell
Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972) was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of her more famous films were '' Ceiling Zero'', ''Marked Woman'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'', and ''Gone with t ...
as Katy
*
Noble Chissell
Noble "Kid" Chissell (February 16, 1905 – November 8, 1987) was a boxing champion, actor, and dance marathon champion.
Chissell, former U.S. Navy Middleweight Boxing Champ (1932), received an award in 1982 for having over 1,000 screen credit ...
as Theatre Patron (uncredited)
See also
*
Jack the Ripper in fiction
Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer who terrorized Whitechapel in 1888, features in works of fiction ranging from gothic novels published at the time of the murders to modern motion pictures, televised dramas and video games.
Important ...
External links
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* Creative Commons Licensed (Public Domain).
{{Hugo Fregonese
1953 films
1950s historical films
American historical films
American mystery films
Film noir
Films based on works by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes
Films set in London
Films about Jack the Ripper
American serial killer films
20th Century Fox films
Films set in 1888
Films directed by Hugo Fregonese
Films scored by Hugo Friedhofer
American black-and-white films
1950s mystery films
Historical mystery films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films