Man in the Attic is a 1953 mystery film directed by Hugo Fregonese, and starring Jack Palance, Constance Smith and Byron Palmer. It was released in the United States on December 23 by Twentieth Century Fox. The movie is based on the 1913 novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes, which fictionalizes the Jack the Ripper killings.
London, 1888: on the night of the third Jack the Ripper killing, soft-spoken Mr. Slade, a research pathologist, takes lodgings with the Harleys, including a gloomy attic room for "experiments." Mrs. Harley finds Slade odd and increasingly suspects the worst; her niece Lily (star of a decidedly Parisian stage revue) finds him interesting and increasingly attractive. Is Lily in danger, or are her aunt's suspicions merely a red herring?
Tropes:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: One first meeting Slade, Lily immediately senses he is a troubled and lonely soul and immediately becomes attracted to him. He turns out to be Jack the Ripper.
- Artistic License – History: The murders committed in this movie do not match up to ones historically committed by Jack the Ripper.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Slade literally kicks Harley's dog, which has been lovingly following him around ever since he joined the household, to drive it away from while he burns his bloodstained Ulster. From this point on, the dog goes from being slavishly devoted to him to afraid of him.
- Bat Scare: While searching the roof for Jack the Ripper, a constable hears a noise and peers round the side of a doorway, only for flock of pigeons to fly out at him.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: On realising he is cornered by the police, Slade chooses to walk slowly down the steps into the Thames and drown himself rather than be caught.
- Dead Hat Shot: After Slade drowns himself in the Thames, the theatre programme from Lily's show floats to the surface.
- Deadly Doctor: Slade is a pathologist who puts his medical training to deadly use as the Jack the Ripper.
- Destroy the Evidence: After learning that the police believe Jack the Ripper is carrying a black bag, Slade burns his black Gladstone bag in his laboratory, where Mrs Harley discovers its remains and becomes suspicious. Later, Lily discovers him burning his ulster after her gets blood on it.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: Opens with a shot of Big Ben and the fog shrouded Thames River to establish the movie takes place in London.
- Evil-Detecting Dog. Subverted. William Harley's dog takes an immediate to Slade (something Harley says he never does with strangers) and starts following him around. Harley even complains that the dog prefers Slade's company to his. The dog only starts to avoid Slade (who is secretly Jack the Ripper) when Slade literally kicks him to drive him away when Slade is attempting burn his bloodstained Ulster.
- Follow That Car: When Slade escapes from the theatre and steals a cab, Inspector Warwick commandeers another carriage and orders the driver to chase him.
- Freudian Excuse: Slade (a.k.a. Jack the Ripper) is driven to commit his crimes because his mother was an actress whose unfaithfulness drove his father to his death and who eventually became an alcoholic streetwalker.
- Horrible Judge of Character: William Harley is convinced that his lodger Slade is a splendid chap and laughingly dismisses the ever increasing amount of evidence his wife uncovers that indicates that Slade is actually Jack the Ripper.
- Kick the Dog: Slade literally kicks Harley's dog, which has been lovingly following him around ever since he joined the household, to drive it away from while he burns his bloodstained Ulster. From this point on, the dog goes from being slavishly devoted to him to afraid of him.
- The Killer Was Left-Handed: One of the facts Inspector Warwick says Scotland Yard has learned about Jack the Ripper is that he is left handed. On hearing this, Slade goes to some effort to conceal his handedness; taking the newspaper from Mrs Harley with both hands.
- Mad Doctor: Slade is a pathologist who puts his medical training to psychotic use as Jack the Ripper.
- Nosy Neighbour: Mrs Harley snoops into the comings and goings of her new lodger Slade, and pokes around his rooms, becoming convinced that he is Jack the Ripper.
- Scrubbing Off the Trauma: Slade compulsively washes his hands in the Thames after each of the Ripper murders.
- Self-Made Orphan: Slade murdered his mother as the Ripper's first victim.
- Suicide by Sea: Slade walks slowly down a set of stairs into the Thames, allowing the waters to close over his head: choosing to drown himself rather than be caught by the police.
