Okay Drama from What I Saw of it

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2004)

Perhaps it's because I didn't catch the whole film, but there didn't seem to be a whole heckuva lot new in this film that hasn't been said in other movies, and in better ways. I like Depp, Holm, Coltrane and the other major performers for the most part, but I found Heather Graham too pretty to be playing a prostitute in Victorian England. The thought that they were beautiful, relatively naive women is rather misleading.
The film I found that handled many of the same theories, and in a lot better fashion, was Murder By Decree with Christopher Plummer and James Mason. The whole angle of the Freemasons was pursued there, as well as the theory that the Royal Physician was the real Ripper. The comments about the "Juwes" was also given, connecting them directly to the Masons. The thing is, Freemasonry was not (and still isn't) as well known as it appears to be in From Hell--it's preposterous that in that day, without the amount of knowledge and information as available as it is now, that every cop on the beat would know about it. Also, the film seems to have also read most of the same source material as Murder By Decree with Annie Crook and the illegitimate child fathered by the Royal family member.

The ending was confusing, though perhaps as I said it was because I didn't see the beginning.
Overall, I suppose I need to see the film from the start, but if there wasn't any significant revelations in the 2/3 of the film that I saw, I would say that seeing Murder By Decree again would be preferable.