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In the 1890s in London, several prostitutes were murdered in ways so grisly and brutal that it terrorized the city's entire populace. Though the latest investigative techniques of the time were used, the murderer was never caught or even positively identified. The killer sent taunting letters to the police and newspapers, identifying himself as "Jack the Ripper," and the name has stuck for the past 100-plus years, even as Jack's true identity has been left to conjecture and speculation. In 1991, the murderer's purported diaries were uncovered, pointing toward middle-class Londoner James Maybrick as the man behind the killings. The Diary of Jack the Ripper retraces the killer's steps through dramatizations, while various experts assess and discuss the veracity of the diaries through handwriting examination, paper and ink analysis, and such. Though the evidence falls just short of nailing down Maybrick as the murderer, all the information does point in the direction of the drug-addicted man as the culprit. The diary contains information that could only be known to those on the inside of the cases. Where The Diary of Jack the Ripper falls short, though, is in its execution. The cheap-looking videotape dramatizations do little to capture the squalor of the Victorian London slums or the character of Maybrick himself. On the other hand, the film relies far too much on the rather gaseous commentary of various English talking-head historians and criminologists, who take an interesting topic and making it more like a classroom lecture. Still, true-crime enthusiasts should find plenty to like in this reexamination of one of the most notorious serial killers in history. --Jerry Renshaw
Description
After more than a century--out of the mists and fogs of Victorian London comes this astonishing new documentary. Reading from the infamous murderer's 63-page diary, a macabre record of obsession, horror and madness, Jack the Ripper's own words are the basis for this dramatized analysis, overturning all previous theories and investigations.
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The Diary of Jack the Ripper
Starring: Michael Winner , and Tom Baker Manufacturer: Image Entertainment ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD  General
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ASIN: 6305301727 Release Date: 1999-03-16 |
Amazon.com
In the 1890s in London, several prostitutes were murdered in ways so grisly and brutal that it terrorized the city's entire populace. Though the latest investigative techniques of the time were used, the murderer was never caught or even positively identified. The killer sent taunting letters to the police and newspapers, identifying himself as "Jack the Ripper," and the name has stuck for the past 100-plus years, even as Jack's true identity has been left to conjecture and speculation. In 1991, the murderer's purported diaries were uncovered, pointing toward middle-class Londoner James Maybrick as the man behind the killings. The Diary of Jack the Ripper retraces the killer's steps through dramatizations, while various experts assess and discuss the veracity of the diaries through handwriting examination, paper and ink analysis, and such. Though the evidence falls just short of nailing down Maybrick as the murderer, all the information does point in the direction of the drug-addicted man as the culprit. The diary contains information that could only be known to those on the inside of the cases. Where The Diary of Jack the Ripper falls short, though, is in its execution. The cheap-looking videotape dramatizations do little to capture the squalor of the Victorian London slums or the character of Maybrick himself. On the other hand, the film relies far too much on the rather gaseous commentary of various English talking-head historians and criminologists, who take an interesting topic and making it more like a classroom lecture. Still, true-crime enthusiasts should find plenty to like in this reexamination of one of the most notorious serial killers in history. --Jerry RenshawDescription
After more than a century--out of the mists and fogs of Victorian London comes this astonishing new documentary. Reading from the infamous murderer's 63-page diary, a macabre record of obsession, horror and madness, Jack the Ripper's own words are the basis for this dramatized analysis, overturning all previous theories and investigations.Customer Reviews:
More of an expose of human nature.......2005-09-18
...yours truly..........2002-01-04
The diary was proven to be a hoax........2001-10-15
An OK Video About a Truly Dubious Diary.......2001-04-28
I don't know a lot about the Ripper case, but I am a student of hoaxes and this alleged diary simply screams "hoax." Just some of the more obvious points:
1. We are told by one of the experts that little ink from Victorian days survives because ink evaporates and therefore, the ink used for the document was either genuine or would have to have been carefully recreated by an expert. Such is not the case, however. The fluid evaporates but the pigment does not. All one would need to do is add water to a bottle of dried pigment.
2. The handwriting not only doesn't match that of the Ripper or what is said to be Maybrick's writing, but is simply too modern in execution to be authentic. It lacks the characteristic flourishes that Victorians would have used even in informal writing. I was amused by the handwriting expert they consulted, as graphology is a pseudoscience on par with astrology. There simply is no logical basis for the statements she makes (example: a T with an elongated cross being a sign that the writer likes games).
3. The documentary holds that the word "Jewes" scrawled on the wall near one of the victims could also be read "James"--as in James Maybrick. This is offered as proof of his cleverness. Problem is that a pun has to make grammatical sense and this one doesn't.
4. Much is made of the supposition that Maybrick was a drug addict and consequently, ripe for schizophrenic behavior. Given that cocaine and opiates were available over-the-counter, lots of people would have fit that description. If legions of addicts did not commit such crimes under the influence of drugs, why would this one man have committed them?
5. The explanation that the missing pages in the diary were removed out of angst was ludicrous. It is far more likely the hoaxer found an old ledger that had been filled part way and simply ripped out the pages that had writing on them. The fact that the missing pages all preceded the "Ripper" text would seem to bear this out.
6. "Ha-ha" written in various places was a literary touch that a deranged person writing an actual diary would most likely not have used--but it certainly is in keeping with somebody wanting to sound deranged for their readership.
7. The composites of the Ripper looked nothing like the photos of Maybrick--the tip of the nose was entirely different! The only similarity was that both had a husky face and mustache, which is enough to implicate half the men in London at the time.
8. All of the references in the diary are old news. Again and again the documentary tried to prove its thesis by matching facts of the Ripper case to the diary, when it is the diary that seems to have been written to match the facts of the Ripper case.
These are just some of the obvious flaws in the Ripper Diary story--dozens of others cropped up while I was watching the video. It wasn't long before the whole thing took on a Shroud of Turin or Chariots of Fire feeling that made the documentary more of a shlockumentary. What is really sad, when you think about it, is that the name of yet another man who can't defend himself is being dragged through the Ripper gore.
Into the Heart of Darkness Itself!.......2001-03-15
To do this, the documentary examines The Diary of Jack the Ripper a text that documents the diarist's
(1) public-self and private-self divide; exacerbated by marriage to an attractive, younger, flirtatious, spirited woman
(2) determination to avenge the public insult caused to himself by what he judged to be his wife's public improprieties
(3) deepening rage and increasing loss of private sanity (while, characteristically, maintaining public composure)
(4) increasing belief in an answer to the 'problem'
(5) enactment of the complexly self-deduced answer i.e. the Whitechapel murders
(6) vicious reign of public terror accompanied by private glee, public games with letters to the public press for personal entertainment, narcissistic wonderment, cannibalism, and self-gratification
(7) sudden physical disintegration; the Whitechapel murders stop
(8) knowledge of his own imminent death
(9) signature (at close of text) as Jack the Ripper!
Additionally, the gross injustices to the young American wife (after the diarist's death) create weighty questions! The most likely answers to those questions also indicate that the diarist is the Whitechapel murderer!
Ignoring the conspiratorial and larger social issues that the questions raise, one lighter question persists: What about Doctor Fuller? Was he a hypnotist, drug counselor, a diagnostic incompetent or an early psychologist and genius? Whatever the answer, after the diarist's second consultation with Doctor Fuller, the Whitechapel murders stopped! The diary's madly-mixed shrieks and doggerel are replaced by the type of seductive requests for compassion that one would conventionally expect from an actor leaving the dramatic stage! What did Doctor Fuller say that brought this serial killer to his senses? Learning that answer would benefit medical professionals and police departments throughout the world!
For many fields of study, this refreshingly well-researched investigative documentary is recommended!
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