Word: ripper
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...GREEN RIPPER by John D. MacDonald; Lippincott; 221 pages...
Meyer's Jack the Ripper is the alter-ego of Stevenson, a gentleman and a good friend of the young H. G. Wells. Stevenson listens skeptically as the inventor displays a time machine he's just built to carry him into the perfect world of the future, but when the police burst in, he steals the machine to escape. Convinced that he's "turned that bloody maniac loose on Utopia!," Wells follows the Ripper to 1979 San Francisco, the time machine having automatically returned to its owner...
...After Time milks to the utmost Wells' reaction to the marvels of modern technology--planes, cars, and see-through jeans. But the well-constructed script doesn't overdo his future shock: after several funny incidents, Meyer shifts into the love story. From there, tension builds up again, as the Ripper resumes his old slice-and-dice tricks, but the laughs periodically resurface as Wells does battle with telephones and electric toothbrushes...
...taut thriller. Meyer even finds a good excuse for the mayhem of the obligatory car chase scene--the fact that Wells, in pursuit of Stevenson, must manuever San Francisco's considerable hill without knowing how to drive. In blessed contrast to The Crucifer of Blood, another recent Jack the Ripper film, Meyer keeps the gore to a minimum. In one murder, we see only the flush of his knife, followed by a tear of blood on his face--a masterful bit of understatement...
...movies, and sadistic cartoons. Early on, Meyer sets up two conflicting theories of man's capacity for progress--Stevenson's conviction that man's dog-eat-dog nature will never change, versus Wells' optimistic faith--but the movie never really resolves the debate. "I'm home," declares the Ripper, and Time After Time adapts his fascination with depravity often, leisurely surveying San Francisco's Tenderloin District, or turning an average disco into an inferno of churning bodies. Yet Meyer seems reluctant to condemn Wells as an idealistic idiot. Though disappointed in the future, his hero grows firmer in his convictions...