The Five

Unearthing Treasures

The Five - The Untold Lives Of The
Women Killed By Jack The Ripper
by Hallie Rubenhold
Penguin 2019 ISBN: 9780857524485

This is another book which I noticed sailing past me on my twitter timeline, just before its publication earlier in the year and, I have to say, it’s kind of unique in terms of where it exists in the wealth  of written material on the unsolved (officially) and notorious murders allegedly committed by one person, Jack The Ripper, in the late 1880s. I say allegedly because of these five victims... Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Marie Jane Kelly... there’s no concrete proof that they all victims of the same person. Although they are generally believed to be but with the way the different districts of the police in those days didn’t cooperate with each other, a lot of the personal testimony that may have thrown light on this matter is, it would seem, lost. Or at least it would appear so to me.

Hallie Rubenhold’s new book, The Five - The Untold Live Of The Women Killed By Jack The Ripper*, is an important book about Mary, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine and Marie because it gives something of a real biography, in some ways, to their lives and is something which should hopefully be a big stone weight of a tome when it comes to people writing on The Ripper in future and dismissing the majority of these ladies as ‘sex workers’ or ‘prostitutes’. I say dismiss because that is what people sadly seem to do still with women in that profession although, personally, I’ve always had a kind of admiration and respect for the striking characters who choose to commit to that job... as much as any other job.

What I’m trying to say is, The Five is a very special book. Not only because it challenges and cuts through some of the myths about the canonical five victims but also because, actually, it barely mentions Jack The Ripper... which is no bad thing. I probably mention him more in this review, even.

This book is exclusively about these five women and the multiple chapters which make up each of the five sections about their lives only mention their demise briefly in the last page of their individual stories. There is a little more said about Jack himself in the conclusion of the book but nothing which actually glorifies his (or their, depending on your theory) actions and this is totally not about him. Perhaps some of the regular readers of paraphernalia about this dark historic character may be put off by the lack of inclusion of this, admittedly, iconic figure from a book about the victims... where not even the details of their demise or the wounds they received are barely touched upon in an effort to divert attention away from their killer. However, I will say again that this account of the lives they had before they collided with their final fate and fatality is an absolutely essential piece of writing if you want to know more about, not just the ladies in question but also the kind of lives people were leading at that point in history.

Make no mistake, this is an absolutely brilliant book to get to know the milieu in which these five victims lived and struggled to survive in Victorian society... not all of whom were born in this country... so there’s also some background on attitudes prevalent in other countries in the 1800s which is of some interest. And it was a real eye opener to me. I’ve been on a couple of the Ripper Walks around the Whitechapel area and I’ve had a picture built up to me of what it was like to live in those times but this book really adds detail to the experience. Not just about the harsh... very harsh... realities of trying to survive each day in that kind of existence but how the decks were stacked even more against the ‘fairer sex’ of the era and how attitudes of ‘proper behaviour and conduct for a woman’, even in times when it was a struggle just to find somewhere to sleep for the night for many, were a huge impediment to people every day.

That was one of the big eye openers for me when I read this tome... just how much social attitudes against women were flying, often in contradiction to common sense and then the realisation that, as Mrs. Rubenhold makes mention in her conclusion, many of those same attitudes towards women are still with us today, albeit sometimes more subtly and less overtly woven into the fabric of our times.

This book is like a history lesson I never had (for me especially because I never used to pay attention in my history classes at school) and brings me closer to the lives and times of those struggling with the hardship... both for men and women... of everyday living. It also made me aware of some of the skills and talents (creative talents, in one case) of the ladies specific to this account and above all, made me question my own small knowledge of this human blight on Victorian London known by many as ‘Jack’.

Now, I’m going to say that there’s a lot of speculation in this book in some ways but it is minor and mostly in the way of educated deductions more than anything else. You will find a fair few sentences using phrases such as... “x would have” and “it was likely that”... but, despite the streets of London being a little more well lit than I was given to believe in places (I was under the impression that places like Mitre Square were actually pretty much pitch black at night), this all seems to be a pretty common sense set of deductions all around, based on unearthed accounts of the time. And what this leads to is the inevitable conclusion that, with the exception of one or probably two of these five, the victims of Jack The Ripper were not, as I said earlier, ‘working prostitutes’ (not that there would be anything wrong with that if they were, in my book). They were lumped in as such due to sloppy assumptions made by various police investigations of the time and the lack of people coming forward to verify or disprove that over the years has meant that the legend rather than the truth has been printed, to paraphrase a famous western movie that I’ve still never gotten around to watching.

Although probably not all of the facts are obtainable, Rubenhold does an absolutely brilliant job here... not just of piecing together the path of these five ladies’ lives and making them of such interest but, and this is no mean feat, using her own knowledge and experience of the world of art, literature and history to recognise certain connections where they exist and using these as examples to illuminate and embellish the various environments in which these ladies and their lovers and children, mothers and fathers, walked their everyday paths.

My biggest criticism... or bafflement if you like... is one I mentioned to the young lady in Waterstones in Enfield Town when I bought the book back on its release, earlier this year. Why the heck is the dust cover on the beautiful UK edition an inch shorter than the actual height of the book? Was this some kind of artistic statement, flying in the face of good, honest page protection? Was it a printer’s error or a fluke of untamed graphic design? I’m not sure why that’s the way the book is presented but, either way, it certainly doesn’t look unattractive and if the publisher has decided that this is the way a dust cover should be... an ornamental rather than functional beast, then it’s not for me to quibble.

What I will conclude, however, is that between those dust covers lies an absolutely remarkable, entertaining and illuminating piece of well researched work. Wether you are familiar with the crimes purported to be committed by the one guy or not, The Five - The Untold Live Of The Women Killed By Jack The Ripper is a stunning piece of work and something which deserves to be read and which almost dares future Ripperologoists to not take heed of the important illuminations therein. Easily a book I would recommend to most and, for me, a much needed and appreciated history lesson on the way a certain section of society were living their lives in the 1880s. An essential and gripping work which deserves to be read by many.

*In the US this book is, for some reason, entitled The Five - The Lives Of Jack The Ripper’s Women... which seems somewhat disingenuous to me in regards to what appears to be the intent of the author of this book. It perhaps, though, reflects the difference of our own culture in sharp contrast to certain overseas markets.

The Limehouse Golem

To The Victorian, The Spoils

The Limehouse Golem
2016/17 UK Directed by Juan Carlos Medina
UK cinema release print.

The Limehouse Golem is another one of those movies where I looked at the trailer and thought... "Yeah, not quite grabbing me. Not sure about this." However, I then saw that the film was getting some good feeback on Twitter so I thought I’d give it a go after all and... yeah... I quite liked this one. It’s based on a novel by Peter Akroyd called Dan Leno And The Limehouse Golem. The usual caveats apply here as I’ve not read the novel and so can’t be a good judge of how sound an adaptation it is. I can judge it as a movie though so... here goes.     

Dan Leno was a famous music hall performer and the film, set in the 1890s, tells of a ‘Jack The Ripper-like’ murderer, nicknamed The Golem by the press and it mixes real life characters and events in a fictional story. It follows the path of Inspector John Kildare, played by Bill Nighy, who has been assigned to the monstrous ‘Golem’ murders because his superior steps down to scapegoat Kildare since it’s a case which is very much in the press and he doesn’t want to be seen to be failing the investigation (Kildare was originally earmarked for Alan Rickman before he passed on). So Kildare and his new assistant, Constable George Flood, played by the always excellent Daniel Mays, get to work investigating this series of gruesome deaths, a case which soon crosses into another investigation where the other main protagonist of the film, an ex-music hall star called Lizzie Cree, played by Olivia Cooke, is held in prison accused with the murder of her husband. Her late husband is now a suspect in the Golem case and Kildare is so taken with Lizzie that he slants his investigation towards her husband in the hopes that finding out the truth of the matter will be a way to beat the hangman’s noose at the inevitable end of her trial.

Simultaneous to the investigation we are constantly, through eye witness accounts and flashbacks, privy to the path from Lizzie’s tragic childhood background to her rise in the music hall, first assisting and then writing/working with Dan Leno (played amazingly well by Douglas Booth) and the path which leads to her retirement from the stage and into a sexless marriage with her husband.

And it’s all very well done and holds the interest. Especially when each of the various witnesses at certain times throughout the movie are asked to provide a sample of handwriting to compare to a book filled with the writing of the killer. As each of the witnesses, including both Dan Leno himself and the famous Karl Marx, are dictated to by Kildare, we see each of the suspects in turn narrating and participating in one of the gruesome murders (well, not that gruesome, to be sure but perhaps a little more bloody than you might get in a non-horror movie like this one).

And it’s in these kinds of intrusions into the narrative and the way the format of the film is played with via the editing and various transitions to and from the flashbacks of Lizzie’s rise to fame and the various murders in the Golem case that the film really holds the interest, even as it tries to pull the wool over the eyes of the audience in terms of who the actual killer is, in this case.

Now, I have to admit, I thought the killer in this movie was obvious from the start and I have to wonder if it’s less easier to detect in the original written form than it is in a screen presentation. However, well done to the director for at least leading me up the garden path towards the end when a different person to the one I’d thought it was is seen to be guilty. They actually had me thinking I’d got it all wrong for a moment until a ‘not so surprising’ revelation moment brought things straight  back to the person I’d suspected all along. Which, in a way is a shame but, at the same time, I’m glad it wasn’t the person they originally said it was because that would have been a real clunky ending. That being said, I would have preferred to be surprised by the identity of the killer at the end but, alas, it just wasn’t to be.

However, because the whole film itself is in some ways framed as a theatrical production in terms of the way the narrative is injected into the story, it makes up for the obvious ending with a certain poignancy and it doesn’t seem to be short changing the audience in terms of the emotional impact on the part of the surviving characters that actually make it to the film’s finish without being slaughtered.

As well as the names I’ve already mentioned, you also have the impeccable Eddie Marsan as the ‘Uncle’ of the close knit group of actors and Sam Reid as the recently deceased husband of Lizzie Cree. All the actors in this film carry a lot of weight and it’s always a pleasure to see professionals of this magnitude sharing screen time to weave a tale as well executed as this. Henry Goodman is also pretty good in his short scenes as Karl Marx but, for some reason, I can’t find this famous character listed on the IMDB in relation to this movie and nor, it seems, is the actor who plays him (at the time of writing this article) visible at the IMDB either. So I’ve no idea what’s going on there.

Johan Söderqvist, who did the score for Let The Right One In (reviewed by me here in a much shorter review from my early days of writing this blog) does a fantastic job at both mirroring and enhancing the atmosphere in this one... it even reminded me a little of Jerry Goldsmith’s landmark score to ALIEN at some points, in terms of its orchestration on the percussion. Alas, it’s fallen prey to the usual travesty/crime against filmanity which seems to have become more common over the last few years in that the wonderful score is not available on CD at the time of writing and only available as a wretched electronic download. Why that is would be anybody’s guess but I’d much rather have the music released in a proper format than all this stupid electronic shenanigans, which I probably won’t have room to download onto my computer anyway. This silly download practice has got to stop (along with vinyl, 8-track cartridges, cylinders and 78 RPMs).

All in all, though, The Limehouse Golem is an enjoyable film for those of you who like watching Victoriana detective fiction portrayed, as it often is in British cinema, as authentically or, at the very least, atmospherically appropriate a way as possible. Not one for those members of the audience who are easily squeamish, perhaps, although it is only a 15 certificate and it certainly wouldn’t warrant an 18, to be fair. Perfect for those who like to spend their cinematic evening out in the company of a serial killer and an entertaining couple of hours at the very least, for most people. A sly wink of a recommendation from me if you don’t have anything better to go and see on your night out at the pictures.

Penny Dreadful Series 2

Judged Dread

Penny Dreadful Series 2
2015 USA Blu Ray Zone B

Warning: Yeah, okay. So this review of
Season 2 will go the ‘spoiler route’.

The second series of Penny Dreadful is something I was especially interested in seeing because, although the little sub-plots involving the Frankenstein monster (played by Rory Kinnear), Dorian Gray (played by Reeve Carny) and Ethan Chandler (as played by Josh Hartnett) all obviously have a much longer course to run, the main story which brings together Chandler, Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), Sembene (Danny Sapani) and Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) was pretty much finished with in the first series.

Now I was told that this second season is much stronger than the first but, although there is much to recommend in this one, I found it to be a little less compelling in places. Certainly the pacing, especially in the last few episodes, seems more than a little sluggish when compared to the previous series and although there is the sex, gore and action which helped make the first run so watchable, there seems to be less of this happening in this one and much more plotting and talking. Not that I mind this at all but I did find it a little duller than the first year, if truth be told.

One of the problems I had was the way in which the writers forged a new plot/danger to ensure our heroes stay together, for the most part, to defeat the latest menace together. After a strong opening which sees Miss Ives and Mr. Chandler attacked in a coach by naked witch creatures, we are eventually treated to a whole load of extra back story about Miss Ives which establishes that she is a practitioner of ‘witchery’ and which gives her a new enemy acting as a representative of ‘the devil’ who is already trying to claim her soul. It seems somehow clumsy to me that this is all brought into play only now, when so little of this has been mentioned after the lengthy examination of her back story in the first series. However, it does at least make use of Helen McCrory as Evelyn Poole, reprising her role from the first series and being given a more personal history with Miss Ives.

A couple of things which were pretty predictable in the first season do come to pass in this...

First and foremost of those being Billie Piper reincarnated from her previous dead character to become Lily... the latest iteration for the Bride Of Frankenstein (or at least the Bride Of Frankenstein’s monster... although not quite). With this performance, her character appears to be one thing but, as we learn later in the season, looks can be deceptive and Lily has a far less passive role in the impact of her life on others than you might at first suspect. The real problem with this character though is that although Billie Piper does an amazing job with her (I wouldn’t expect anything less from the lady in question), she does seem to be suffering from Clark Kent/Superman syndrome throughout the whole production. That is to say, in the DC comics involving Superman we are asked, for some strange reason, to assume that when he is wearing glasses, he is somehow disguised from being mistaken for Superman. This makes no sense, of course...

Similarly, in this incarnation as Lily, the previous version of the character, Brona Croft, is not in any way recognised by anyone other than, perhaps, that there is a strong probability that Dorian Gray does and can see something has happened to her. But only Dorian. Why? Because she’s had her hair dyed blonde... um. What? So, for instance, after having picked out dresses for her, when Miss Ives is asked by Frankenstein to meet his ‘cousin’, she doesn’t immediately say... “Oh, I remember you. You were my current love interest’s girlfriend I met outside the theatre in the first season... how come you’re not still dead?” Instead, she has no idea and goes about her business, Lilly’s golden tresses fooling even this cunning character. Um... yeah, okay.... moving on.

I said in the last interview that Ethan Chandler looked like he was well on the way to becoming another staple of Universal Horror after his werewolvery was finally revealed (or rather confirmed) at the end of the last series. I was, in fact, referring to the character that Lon Chaney Jr made famous as The Wolfman... Lawrence Talbot. Well, in this one the connection is tracked down by an interesting, one armed detective character, who himself seems to be a quick, half hearted nod to Lionel Atwill’s character in the 1939 film Son Of Frankenstein. Turns out Ethan’s Chandler’s real name is 'Ethan Lawrence Talbot'... so, yeah, as far as I know, Hartnett’s only the third person to play this role which, for most of film history, was played almost exclusively by Chaney Jr. Josh Hartnett’s role is more developed as a character in this one, where he’s shifted over from being the ‘hired hand’ to being a friend and protector to Miss Ives. He also makes friends with Sembene... a friendship which has tragic results in a much more traditional kind of problematic manifestation for the Lawrence Talbot character.

So yeah, we have intrigue and mayhem and we finally get to see ‘the portrait’ of Dorian Gray. Only a fleeting glimpse but it’s not done too badly although the character is almost something you feel the writers don’t quite know what to do with yet. He’s been pretty much at the periphery of the other character’s lives for two series now but you at least, at the end of this one, get the impression that he’s going to be thrown into the mix more when the next series hits, due to his unholy alliance with Billie Piper’s Bride of Frankenstein character.

All in all, there was enough to keep me interested in continuing to watch this second series and, once again, I really don’t know where they are going to go from here, being that each set of characters seems to have split up and gone to different parts of the world. The first trailer to the third season looks like none of them are together and I just hope that the series manages to find a credible way to reunite them all again at some point and, hopefully, fairly early on in the season... it’s the chemistry of having all these strong actors and actresses integrating with each other and also having to deal with their own subplots, in my opinion, that is one of the main strengths of the show.

Since I don’t have the fancy channels where programmes like this are broadcast, and I certainly don’t want to be left a the mercy of commercial breaks anyway, it looks like I’ll have to wait until near the end of the year before I’ll be able to catch up with Series 3 of Penny Dreadful but, certainly, this previous season was, at the very least, good enough so that I still want to. Although I think they could have done a little more with the creepy little dolls than they managed here.


My review of Series One can be found here.