10 Rillington Place
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10 Rillington Place
Plot
10 Rillington Place is the true story of British mass murderer John Reginald Christie, played with chilling "normality" by Richard Attenborough. Throughout the late '40s, Christie lures middle-aged women to his London flat promising to cure their ailments with nitrous oxide, then kills them, assaults their dead bodies, and buries them. One of his victims is Beryl Evans (Judy Geeson), who misguidedly comes to Christie seeking an abortion -- and in the process, not only loses her own life, but sets in motion a horrid sequence of events that threatens to endanger her husband as well. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
This is the story of the ordinary man next door who is not what he appears to be. Richard Attenborough portrays that archetypal character in this adaptation of Ludovic Kennedy's book 10 Rillington Place, the true story of landlord John Reginald Christie, a serial killer. In real life, the Christie murders led to the abolition of the death penalty in Britain after executioners hanged an innocent man, Timothy Evans, for one of the murders. This production focuses on events surrounding that landmark case. Director Richard Fleischer filmed the motion picture in the drab London neighborhood where Christie killed his victims and disposed of them in a garden, under the floorboards of his flat, and in a kitchen alcove. Attenborough plays Christie as he was: quiet, meek, seemingly innocuous. Balding, with inscrutable eyes staring out of spectacles, Attenborough's Christie hints subtly that a twisted mind is at work beneath a veneer of ordinariness. However, the gullible tenants upstairs -- Evans (John Hurt) and his pregnant wife, Beryl (Judy Geeson), who have financial problems and a whining infant -- do not see through Christie when he offers to abort Beryl's unborn baby, claiming he has the medical know-how. After they accept his offer, Christie rapes and kills Beryl, then frames Evans for the murder. Unlike Tora! Tora! Tora!, director Fleisher's blockbuster film the year before, 10 Rillington Place is a small production of limited scope and action. But it does have three things in common with the previous film: meticulous attention to historical details, excellent acting by the entire cast, and a gradual buildup of suspense. The production, therefore, deserves high marks both as a docudrama and as an artistic achievement. ~ Mike Cummings, RoviCast
- Richard Attenborough - John Reginald Christie
- Judy Geeson - Beryl Evans
- John Hurt - Timothy John Evans
- Pat Heywood - Mrs. Ethel Christie
- Isobel Black - Alice
Credit
Maurice Carter - Art Director, Basil Appleby - Associate Producer, Terry Marcel - First Assistant Director, Richard Fleischer - Director, Ernest Walter - Editor, Johnny Dankworth - Composer (Music Score), Johnny Dankworth - Musical Direction/Supervision, Stuart Freeborn - Makeup, Denys Coop - Cinematographer, Martin Ransohoff - Producer, Leslie Linder - Producer, Andrew Campbell - Set Designer, Colin Miller - Sound/Sound Designer, Clive Exton - Screenwriter, Ludovic Kennedy - Book Author| 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006 Film), 10 Minutes to Ogikubo Station: A Gathering of Independent Music Videos (Film) | |
| 10 Seconds (2008 Film), 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace (Film) |
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10 Rillington Place
| 10 Rillington Place | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Richard Fleischer |
| Produced by | Basil Appleby Leslie Linder Martin Ransohoff |
| Screenplay by | Clive Exton |
| Based on | Ten Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy |
| Starring | Richard Attenborough Judy Geeson John Hurt |
| Music by | John Dankworth |
| Cinematography | Denys Coop |
| Editing by | Ernest Walter |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 12 1971 (USA) |
| Running time | 111 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
10 Rillington Place is a 1971 British crime drama film starring Richard Attenborough, John Hurt and Judy Geeson adapted by Clive Exton from the book Ten Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy.[1]
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Contents
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Plot
The film dramatises the case of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular apartment, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
Christie strangled at least eight women (including the baby Geraldine Evans), the first two victims being buried in the back garden of the house during World War II. After Evans moved into the building with his wife Beryl and infant daughter Geraldine in 1949, Christie convinced his new tenants that he could help Beryl terminate her unwanted pregnancy; he then raped and strangled Beryl. He told Evans that she had died accidentally, and that Evans should leave town until the investigation died down. Evans entrusted Christie with his daughter, whom Christie then murdered as well. Police neglected to search the property thoroughly, they missed the bones of the earlier victims visible in the garden. As a result of false confessions, Evans was tried for their murders (specifically, his daughter), and executed in 1950. Christie went on to murder his own wife and three prostitutes at the house before his crimes were detected. He was hanged in 1953.
The film relies on the same argument advanced by Kennedy in his book that Evans was innocent of the murders and was framed by Christie. That argument has now been accepted by the Crown, when Evans was officially pardoned by Roy Jenkins in 1966. The case is one of the first major miscarriages of justice to occur in the immediate post-war period.
Cast
- Richard Attenborough as John Reginald Christie
- Judy Geeson as Beryl Evans
- John Hurt as Timothy John Evans
- Pat Heywood as Mrs. Ethel Christie
- Isobel Black as Alice
- Phyllis MacMahon as Muriel Eady
- Ray Barron as Workman Willis
- Douglas Blackwell as Workman Jones
- Gabrielle Daye as Mrs. Lynch
- Jimmy Gardner as Mr. Lynch
- Edward Evans as Detective Inspector
- Tenniel Evans as Detective Sergeant
- David Jackson as Constable
- George Lee as Police Constable
- Richard Coleman as Police Constable who arrests Christie
- André Morell as Judge Lewis
- Robert Hardy as Malcolm Morris
- Geoffrey Chater as Christmas Humphreys
- Basil Dignam as Member of the Medical Board
- Sam Kydd as Furniture Dealer
- Rudolph Walker as West Indian man
- Reg Lye as Tramp
Location
In 1954, the year after Christie's execution, Rillington Place (in Ladbroke Grove) was renamed Ruston Close, but number 10 continued in multiple occupation. The three families living there in 1970 refused to move out for the shooting of the film, which was therefore set in the empty number 7. Richard Attenborough, who played Christie in the film, spoke of his reluctance to accept the role:
| “ | I do not like playing the part, but I accepted it at once without seeing the script. I have never felt so totally involved in any part as this. It is a most devastating statement on capital punishment.[2] | ” |
The house was demolished later, and the area has changed beyond all recognition.
The production also filmed in Merthyr Vale railway Station. Merthyr Vale was Timothy Evans's hometown and also where he confessed to the police.
External links
Notes
- ^ Variety film review; 10 February 1971.
- ^ "Christie's ghost returns" (subscription required), The Times (57872): 5, 18 May 1970, http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/842/399/60784594w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS84243122&dyn=3!xrn_4_0_CS84243122&hst_1?sw_aep=mclib, retrieved 18 April 2009.
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Mentioned in
Clive Exton
(Writer, Mystery/Drama)
Robert Hardy
(Actor, Drama/Fantasy)
Richard Attenborough
(Actor, Director, Drama/Comedy)
10 Rillington Place
(film)
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