Man in the Attic

A 1953 Jack the Ripper mystery directed by Hugo Fregonese, the third adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes' novel The Lodger. In gaslit 1880s London, a series of brutal murders terrorizes the city just as the brooding, enigmatic Slade (Jack Palance) takes a room in the Harley family's attic. When the Harleys' niece Lily (Constance Smith), a music-hall performer, takes an interest in their mysterious lodger, her family — and Scotland Yard — begin to suspect he may be the Ripper himself. Frances Bavier, later Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show, plays the suspicious landlady. The film is in the public domain.