The background is black and the foreground is transparent, suggesting a small space in which to maneuver. This placement of all the men in the lighted oval, even in this bleak and darkened room, is somehow comforting. The actors in this scene take all positions, depending on where they are sitting at the table. But then, the room is so dimly lit and the subjects so far away from the camera that it's hard to tell where their bodies are. Everything else is blackened out.
Ripper is literally in our face.
The cigar perches there in his mouth like a bomb ready to explode. Gloria Floren, Letters Department, MiraCosta College, One Barnard Drive, Oceanside, California 92056. Revised 25 January 2000 . Contents Copyright 1999-2000 Gloria L. Floren.