Main Cast: Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Byron Palmer, Frances Bavier, Rhys Williams
Release Year: 1953
Country: US
Run Time: 82 minutes
Plot
Man in the Attic is a sweat-stained remake of the oft-filmed Mary Belloc Lowndes suspense story The Lodger. Jack Palance plays a mild, secretive pathologist who rents an attic apartment in the heart of London. Palance falls in love with dancer Constance Smith, daughter of the landlady, but she doesn't seem interested. Meanwhile, several unsolved murders of women have been committed on the fogbound London streets--and all of the victims are showgirls. Unlike Hitchcock's 1926 version of The Lodger, the most likely suspect is indeed the "Jack the Ripper" character hunted by the police. The only surprise in Man in the Attic is that the London bobbies didn't arrest Jack Palance on sight long before the movie started. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although not the best Jack the Ripper story -- or even the best version of Marie Belloc-Lowndes' take on the story -- The Man in the Attic is a fairly gripping account, given most of its strength from the powerful performance supplied by Jack Palance. Palance is in command of his performance and in control of the film almost from the get-go. Indeed, Palance is so in control that a great deal of the suspense is lost, a fact that director Hugo Fregonese should have realized and should have worked to counteract. Still, the menacing and mysterious Palance is so entertaining that he makes up for this flaw. Rhys Williams also turns in a well-turned, very dry performance as the husband who thinks his wife is being much too influenced by media scare tactics, and Isabel Jewell, in a part that is much too tiny for her talent, manages to steal away the picture from Palance for a brief moment or two. On the debit side, Frances Bavier is miscast as the wary wife, and Constance Smith doesn't make the impression she should. Attic also suffers from a couple of musical numbers that go on too long and are seriously wrong for the period. But as long as Palance is around, it's easy to overlook the faults. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
