Man In the Attic

Man in the Attic – After an enigmatic, self-described pathologist rents the attic room of a Victorian house, his landlady begins to suspect her lodger is Jack the Ripper.

Slade: [Referring to the death masks of killers in the black museum] You treat them like trophies… like a stuffed elk head mounted over the fireplace.
Inspector Paul Warwick: Yes, a little, but these were more dangerous than an elk. Man unfortunately is the most dangerous of all beasts.
Slade: Man is not beast.
Inspector Paul Warwick: Murderers are beasts.

Man in the Attic (1953) starring Jack Palance, Constance Smith

Product Description 

Man in the Attic is a 1953 mystery film. The movie is based on the 1913 novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes, which fictionalizes the Jack the Ripper killings, and was previously filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927. The story takes place in London in 1888. On the third night of the Jack the Ripper killings, a man rents out an attic from an older couple in need of extra income. The man (Jack Palance), a research pathologist, begins working on his experiments in the rooms. Helen Harley, (Frances Bavier), the landlady becomes suspicious of the man, especially when her niece Lily Bonner (Constance Smith), shows an interest in the lodger.

Jack the Ripper’s rampage has all of London gripped in fear — no matter how many constables patrol the streets, streetwalkers continue to turn up dead. While Slade intrigues her, his behavior and obsessions arouse the suspicion that Slade could be Jack the Ripper, and Lily could be his next victim. This is an exquisite mystery classic with a superb performance from Jack Palance as the possible and infamous Jack the Ripper.

Cast of characters

• Jack Palance (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; The Silver Chalice) … Slade
• Constance Smith (The Mudlark) … Lily Bonner. Niece of the landlords, a very pretty, young lady. Who dances on the stage …
• Byron Palmer (Ma and Pa Kettle in Waikiki) … Insp. Paul Warwick
• Frances Bavier (The Andy Griffith Show; The Day the Earth Stood Still) … Helen Harley. Slade’s landlady, who’s initially suspicious … But he paid a month’s rent in advance, so …
• Rhys Williams (The Bells of St. Mary’s; Nightmare) … William Harley. Slade’s landlord, who’s grumpy because his business reversals have forced him to rent out a room.
• Sean McClory (Valley of the Dragons; Them!) … Constable #1
• Leslie Bradley (Attack of the Crab Monsters) … Constable #2
• Tita Phillips … Daisy
• Lester Matthews (Werewolf of London; The Raven (1935)) … Chief Insp. Melville. Investigating the Ripper murders. He spoke with Lily, and keeps finding excuses to talk to the lovely young actress.
• Harry Cording (Prelude to Murder; The Black Cat) … Detective Sgt. Bates
• Lisa Daniels … Mary Lenihan
• Lilian Bond (The Old Dark House; The Picture of Dorian Gray) … Annie Rowley. The formerly famous dancer, who’s fallen on hard times. She’s friends with Lily. She becomes one of the Ripper’s victims.
• Isabel Jewell (High Sierra; Evelyn Prentice) … Katy

Songs

• You’re in Love
  • Music by Lionel Newman
  • Lyrics by Eliot Daniel
  • Sung and danced by Constance Smith and chorus
• The Dear Little Shamrock
  • Sung by Lisa Daniels (shortly before her character’s murder)
• Come and Do the New Parisian Trot
  • Music by Lionel Newman
  • Lyrics by Eliot Daniel
  • Sung and danced by Constance Smith and chorus