For the most part, silent Rippers had literary origins. In 1904, playwright Frank Wedekind published Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box)—a story in which a sexually predatory woman, Lulu, ultimately becomes prey to Jack the Ripper. The play became so popular that three silent films and one opera derived from it. Sound versions would follow.
Five years later, Marie Belloc Lowndes published The Lodger in the pages of McClure’s magazine. Inspired by the Ripper case, the story involves a husband and wife who become increasingly convinced that their lodger is “The Avenger,” who has been terrorizing London. The novel would later become the primary source for Alfred Hitchcock’s third film… His first to make it off the shelf and into theaters, and the film to establish him (at 27!) as Britain’s leading filmmaker.
silent ripper films:
lulu (1917) | erdgeist (1923) | waxworks (1924)| the lodger (1926) | pandora’s box (1929)
brief synopsis (provided by Nederlands Filmmuseum):
Lulu, a circus artist, nicknamed ‘The White Amazone’, destroys the life of young Henri with the help of her patron saint the clown Alfredo. Henri loses all his money and kills himself. Henri’s friend Rudolf hates her for that. Lulu meets and eventually marries Rudolf’s father, but when Rudolf wants to warn his father, he gets disowned by him. Lulu visits in secret the clown Alfredo to give him money to keep quiet about her past. At the climactic costume party Alfredo the clown tells all in public.
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Even though this film lacks Jack the Ripper, it still belongs here since it is loosely based upon the work of Frank Wedekind. What is peculiar is that Antalffy and company sought to change the story. Emil Jannings, in fact, was performing in a stage production of Pandora’s Box at around this time – playing Rodrigo Quast. Jannings appears to have filled the role of Alfredo the Clown in this version.
types
Lulu Motif: According to the Nederlands Filmmuseum summary, this version of Wedekind’s play ends with Lulu’s disgrace among her friends, not her death at the hands of the Ripper. However, a German film website indicates that Lulu marries Alfredo the Clown, but dies shortly afterward. If you know more, please contact us.
availability
The only existing copy of this film that I know of is archived at the Nederlands Filmmuseum.
Director: Alexander von Antalffy
cast
Erna Morena; Adolf Klein; Emil Jannings; Harry Liedtke; Rolf Brunner
erdgeist (1923)
(a.k.a. earth spirit)
brief synopsis
None available at the present time, though it can be assumed that the plot is fairly similar to the plot of Pandora’s Box (1929).
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Asta Nielsen, who played Lulu in this version, was quite famous in her time and has been termed “the most fascinating personality of the primitive era.” Since she had worked with G.W. Pabst before he made Pandora’s Box, it is certainly curious that Pabst chose a lesser-known American for the part of Lulu, rather than the well-established Nielsen.
In the book Lulu in Hollywood, Pabst’s Lulu—Louise Brooks—describes Nielsen’s version as follows:
Only five years [before Pabst's version] the famous Danish actress Asta Nielsen had condensed Wedekind’s play into the film Loulou. There was no lesbianism in it, no incest. Loulou the man-eater devoured her sex-victims—Dr Goll, Schwarz, Schoen—and then dropped dead in an acute attack of indigestion.
types
Lulu Motif: Though it is a Lulu film, we have not yet been able to determine whether Jack the Ripper makes an appearance. If he does, then it may well be the first appearance of Jack the Ripper in cinema.
availability
The most complete print is in the Müncher Filmmuseum.
Director: Leopold Jessner; Screenplay: Carl Mayer (from the play by Frank Wedekind); Cinematography: Axel Graatkjaer; Art Direction: Robert Neppach; Production Company: Leopold Jessner-Film
cast
Asta Nielsen (Lulu); Albert Bassermann (Dr. Schoen); Carl Ebert (Schwarz); Gustav Rickelt (Dr. Goll); Rudolf Forster (Alwa Schoen); Alexander Granach (Schigolch); Heinrich George (Rodrigo); Erwin Biswanger (Eulenber); Julius Falkenstein; Lucy Kieselhausen; Anton Pointner
waxworks (1924)
(a.k.a. das wachsfigurenkabinett; three wax men)
brief synopsis
The final segment of this German Expressionist anthology features an early cinematic appearance of Jack the Ripper—or at least of “Spring-heeled Jack.” When a young writer answers an advertisement to write stories for wax figures at a carnival, the owner tests his abilities by asking him to write for three of the waxworks: Harun al Rashid, Ivan the Terrible, and Spring-heeled Jack. After finishing the first two stories, the young man falls exhausted into sleep as his girlfriend looks on, and he dreams that Spring-heeled Jack pursues the two of them against the backdrop of the carnival. Just as the killer overtakes them, the writer’s cries prompt the girlfriend to awaken him. Seeing Spring-heeled Jack again as a mere wax statue reassures the young man that the two of them are safe and that Jack has not stolen his beloved away from him.
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This film, in general, seems rather slow going, possibly because of a plodding soundtrack. It does have interesting expressionistic sets, though, particularly in the final segment. It is generally accepted that the film’s “Spring-heeled Jack” reference points to Jack the Ripper, not the other criminal called “Spring-heeled Jack.” Whatever the case, Jack the Ripper was certainly rendered frequently in wax.
types
Ripper Cameos: The Ripper segment is a 5-minute-long expressionist nightmare.
Rippers in the Wax Museum: This is the original wax museum Ripper movie.
availability
This film is now available on VHS and DVD, but only in North American formats. One DVD version, by the way, bundles it with two other German silent horror classics. Waxworks rentable from Netflix.
Director: Leo Birinsky, Paul Leni; Screenplay: Henrik Galeen; Cinematography: Helmar Lerski; Art Direction: Paul Leni and Ernst Stern
cast
Emil Jannings (Harun Al-Raschid); Conrad Veidt (Ivan the Terrible); Werner Krauss (Spring-heeled Jack/Jack the Ripper); with Wilhelm Dieterle, Olga Belajeff, Ernst Legal, John Gottowt and George John.
the lodger (1926)
(a.k.a. a story of the london fog; the strange case of jonathan drew)
brief synopsis
A strange young lodger lets a room at the Buntings’ house in the midst of a string of Ripper killings. His odd behavior – turning pictures of women to the wall, sneaking out late at night when killings occur – quickly brings him under the suspicion of his landlords. His attraction to Daisy, the young woman of the house, also causes suspicion, particularly for Joe, the Scotland Yard detective who hopes to marry the young woman. In a fit of jealous rage, Joe has his rival’s room searched. When the police find a gun, newspaper clippings of the killings, a map marked with the murder sites, and a photograph of the first victim, Joe’s unconscionable behavior appears vindicated…
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The Lodger is Hitchcock’s first film in which the law pursues the “wrong man.” One common misconception about the film is that Hitchcock changed Lowndes’ story because the “wrong man” theme is so compelling. Actually, Hitchcock stated, on several occasions, that he had wanted his lodger to be guilty. The studio, though, wanted Ivor Novello (a huge matinee idol at the time) to be innocent, and forced the young director to make the change. Regardless, his experience with The Lodger did influence Hitchcock later on to adopt the “wrong man” theme without external prompting.
types
Investigation Rippers: The police investigation into a series of Ripper murders takes a nearly tragic turn as a young policeman suspects his romantic rival of being Jack the Ripper (called “The Avenger”).
The Lodger Motif: Hitchcock’s production of The Lodger makes a large number of changes to the novel: the killer targets blondes (not alcoholics), and his motivation is never known. However, he does call himself “The Avenger,” as he does in Lowndes’ novel.
availability
The Lodger is available on DVD and VHS in both North American and European formats. It is also rentable from Netflix.
Producer: Michael Balcon, Carlyle Blackwell, Sr.; Director: Alfred Hitchcock; Screenplay: Eliot Stannard and Alfred Hitchcock (from the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes); Cinematography: Baron Paul Ventimiglia; Film Editing: Ivor Montagu; Art Direction: C. Wilfred Arnold, Bertram Evans; Assistant Director: Alma Reville; Title Designer: E. McKnight Kauffer, Ivor Montague; Production Company: Gainsborough Pictures
cast
Marie Ault (The Landlady (Mrs. Bunting)); Arthur Chesney (Her Husband (Mr. Bunting)); June (Daisy Bunting, a Mannequin); Malcolm Keen (Joe Betts, a Detective); Ivor Novello (The Lodger); Alfred Hitchcock, Helena Pick
pandora’s box (1929)
(a.k.a. die büchse der pandora)
brief synopsis
The sexually insatiable Lulu destroys virtually every man who becomes involved with her. She destroys Dr. Schön and his son Alwa. But in the end, she meets her match in the greatest sexual predator of them all…
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Pandora’s Box—the third or fourth version of Wedekind’s play to reach the screen—is arguably the first masterpiece in Ripper cinema. G.W. Pabst does a fabulous job directing, but perhaps his greatest coup was in casting American actress Louise Brooks as the ever-insatiable Lulu. Her remarkable performance made Brooks a sensation, and even seventy years later, her Lulu still fascinates audiences. She is the subject of the recent documentary Looking for Lulu (1998).
types
Lulu Motif: This version abbreviates a number of elements in the Wedekind plays, without sacrificing the essential plot. Gustav Diesel delivers a beautifully haunting performance as Jack the Ripper. Before his blood-lust overtakes him, the scene between the Ripper and Lulu is surprisingly tender and innocent.
availability
Pandora’s Box is widely available in North American and European formats. It is also rentable from Netflix.
Producer: Seymour Nebenzel; Director: G.W. Pabst; Screenplay: Joseph Feisler, Georg Wilhelm Pabst (from Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora by Frank Wedekind); Cinematography: Gunther Krampf; Art Direction: Andrej Andrejew, Gottlieb Hesch; Production Company: Nero Films
cast
Louise Brooks (Lulu); Fritz Kortner (Dr. Peter Schön); Franz Lederer (Alwa Schön); Carl Goetz (Schigolch); Carl Raschig (Rodrigo Quast); Alice Roberts (Countess Geschwitz); Gustav Diesel (Jack the Ripper)
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