Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, Mary sends a hand-written note to Inspector Abberline. The 'r' in her name is written in a North American style, where she is European.
From Hell (2001)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Starring: Johnny Depp, Ian Holm, Heather Graham, Robbie Coltrane
Sir William Gull, the doctor of the Royal Family is Jack the Ripper. He has been killing the witnesses to Prince Eddy's (forbidden) Catholic marriage to a whore who bears his legitimate daughter (Alice), who is therefore the heir to the British throne. The Freemasons, a secret society of which Gull is a member, decide to lobotomize him as retribution for his unnecessarily violent and bloody solution to the Royal problem. Mary Kelly doesn't die. Jack mistakes Ada, the Belgian girl, for her and kills her instead. Mary lives happily ever after with Alice in a cottage on a cliff by the sea. Inspector Frederick Abberline dies alone, knowing he is being watched so can never see Mary again without endangering her.
More mistakes in From Hell
Sir William Gull: One day men will look back and say that I gave birth to the Twentieth century.
Trivia: The same man that stops McQueen from popping out the eye of the first prostitute stops Abberline while he's kissing Mary Kelley (you can tell by the numbers on his uniform).
Question: In the middle of the movie, one of the doctors tells the others of John Merrick, aka The Elephant Man. They show him for a few seconds Disrobed.. What is the point of showing Merrick in the movie? This scene seems totally isolated from the rest of the plot. It almost feels like they had an extra minute to kill and decided to add it in.
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Answer: In the original book, Merrick's appearance is used to show William Gull's education, expertise as an anatomist and that he recognises and respects cultural diversity - Gull assures Merrick that, had he been born in India, he would be worshipped as a descendant of the elephant-headed god, Ganesa. In this spirit, Gull even offers the victim of his first Ripper slaying to Ganesa as a sacrifice, as Indians make a sacrifice to Ganesa at the beginning of an important enterprise. Merrick is present as a vehicle to establish the rich nature of Gull's character. When it comes to the film, however, this subtlety is completely lost - it seems very much that the scriptwriter noted Merrick's appearance in the book and felt that it would be cool to include the character in his script. As such, as you point out, it does feel that Merrick's presence, stripped of the subtleties of the book, is almost entirely pointless.
Tailkinker ★