This is Hitchcock's last British film, although it was still produced by the crumbling American studio system. One can hardly blame Hitchcock for wanting to return to his home country one last time to make one last British film in the place that first awarded him serious success. It's not a film that makes the Hitchcock best of lists, but it is enjoyable enough as a English suspense thriller and the screenplay really nails how the English regarded Jack The Ripper in the 60's and 70's--sort of as a quaint tourist attraction. I also think the story must have appealed to him because it more fully explores the mind of a sexual sadist serial killer than does Psycho. The story is quite simple, London is being haunted by a vicious sexual predator who strangles his victims to death with a neck scarf, thus earning him the moniker "The Necktie Murderer." It is based on the novel by Arthur La Bern Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer. La Bern was unhappy with the film results.
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