Seven Murders for Scotland Yard
Template:Infobox film Seven Murders for Scotland Yard (Spanish: Jack el destripador de Londres / Jack the Ripper of London) is a 1971 Italian-Spanish giallo film directed by José Luis Madrid and starring Paul Naschy, Patricia Loran and Renzo Marignano.[1] Naschy and Madrid wrote the screenplay, Tito Carpi's name was simply added to the credits to satisfy the requirements for a Spanish-Italian co-production.[2] The film was shot in June 1971, and was first released in Italy in 1971 as Sette Cadaveri per Scotland Yard / Seven Corpses for Scotland Yard. It was shown in Spain on July 10, 1972, as Jack el destripador de Londres, and finally wound up theatrically released in the U.S. in 1976 as Seven Murders for Scotland Yard.[3] The Mexican one-sheet poster simply called the film Jack el distripador/ Jack the Ripper.
Plot
Paul Naschy plays Bruno Doriani, an ex-acrobat living in London who limps badly as a result of an accident he suffered years before on the trapeze. Bruno's life has slid downhill, and he hangs out in seedy pubs and dates tarts and prostitutes. When a number of call girls begin turning up brutally murdered, the police led by Inspector Campbell seek to uncover the identity of the mad slasher, whom they nickname Jack the Ripper after the notorious serial killer from the late 1800s. Paul becomes a suspect in the eyes of the police, as he had personal connections to one or two of the victims. The killer turns out to be the killer's assistant Wilson, as the Inspector and Bruno discover when they enter his underground dungeon of horrors where he keeps certain body parts from his victims in jars as mementos. But the mystery of this film is not simply who the killer is, but rather why he is performing these hideous murders: He is impotent, and killing the women and keeping parts of them was the only way he could "possess" them. In the end, the murderer is stabbed by Bruno.
Cast
- Paul Naschy as Bruno Doriani
- Patricia Loran as Lulu
- Renzo Marignano as Inspector Henry Campbell
- Orchidea De Santis as Sandy Christian
- Andrés Resino as Winston Darby Christian
- Irene Mir as Belinda
- Franco Borelli as Detective Hawkins
- Víctor Iregua
- Teresita Castizio
- Carmen Roger as Violeta
- Palomba Moreno as Ms. Sanders
- Víctor Vilanova as McMurdo
- Marina Ferri as Diana (as Maika)
- Miguel Muniesa as Superintendent Chambers
- Isidro Novellas as Bartender
- Alfonso Castizo as Robert
- Antonio Ramis as Doctor at Crime Scene
- Enrique Beltrán
Critiques
Film historian Troy Howarth opines that although the film's murders are presented in a lurid manner, the bulk of the film is directed by Merino in a lackluster manner, which undercuts Naschy's interesting script. Also he felt too much screen time was allotted to police procedure and not enough to Naschy. He did find that the score by Piero Piccioni added to the film's suspense.[4]
References
- ↑ Lazaro-Reboll p.279
- ↑ Howarth, Troy (2018). Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy. WK Books. ISBN 978-1718835894
- ↑ Howarth, Troy (2018). Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy. WK Books. ISBN 978-1718835894
- ↑ Howarth, Troy (2018). Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy. WK Books. ISBN 978-1718835894
Bibliography
- Antonio Lazaro-Reboll. Spanish Horror Film. Edinburgh University Press, 2012.
External links
This article incorporates text from the Wikipedia article "Seven Murders for Scotland Yard", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.Retrieved 2026-03-05.
- 1971 films
- Italian horror films
- Italian crime films
- Films about cannibalism
- Spanish horror films
- 1971 horror films
- Spanish crime films
- 1971 crime films
- 1971 Spanish-language films
- Films directed by José Luis Madrid
- Films set in London
- Films about Jack the Ripper
- Films scored by Piero Piccioni
- Giallo films
- 1971 Italian films
- 1971 Spanish films
- 1970s slasher films
- Italian slasher films
- Spanish slasher films