Based on Ludovic Kennedy's investigative book, 10 Rillington Place is the true and horrifying story of English mass murderer John Christie (chillingly played by Richard Attenborough). When Timothy Evans (John Hurt), his wife Beryl (Judy Geeson) and their young daughter movie into Christie's house, they unknowingly sign their death warrants. Christie offers to help Beryl have an abortion and uses this opportunity - as he has already done with previous victims - to strangle and rape her. Believing himself to be an accomplice to a fatal abortion, Evans panics and flees with the hope that his child will be looked after; in fact, Christie kills her too. Evans is arrested, charged with double murder, found guilty and hanged. But Christie continues to kill... Attenborough and Hurt give unforgettable performances in this thought-provoking, frightening and atmospheric true crime classic directed by Richard Fleischer (The Boston Strangler, Compulsion). viewer's comments: - Ascent of the English Murder (Spoilers) Chilling dramatisation of the post-war murders of John Christie, a London clerk, who not only successfully killed a fellow tenant's wife and child but successfully framed the same simple-minded Welshman Timothy Evans for the murders, before going on to commit still more. The performances are uniformly excellent. Attenborough, almost unrecognisable to those who only know him as Father Christmas in 'Miracle on 34th Street' or the befuddled tycoon in 'Jurassic Park' is terrifying as the mundane but malevolent Christie. Perhaps only his role as the tyrannical Pinkie in 'Brighton Rock' has been as compelling. Although unavoidably a bit short to play Christie he gives a perfect performance matched only by a young John Hurt as the tragic fantasist Evans. The banality of Austerity Britain is no less vividly recaptured. It is impossible for a British viewer to watch 10 Rillington Place now without being reminded of the more recent and still more terrible Cromwell Street murders. But, more than thirty years on, the film remains a chilling reminder not only of the unspeakable evil that can exist within everyday surroundings but also of the dangers of instituting a state death penalty. Ludovic Kennedy's book was influential in securing the end of Britain's death penalty in the sixties. 10 Rillington Place remains a stark warning to all who seek the return of the gallows as an easy answer to Britain's crime problems. - True Story without Hollywood 'truth-bending' A well told story of John Christie, who murdered several woman and got away with it for many years until a new tenant found 3 bodies behind a door, hidden by Christie who had wallpaper over the door. This film was made as the British film industry was slowing being killed off. Richard Attenborough and John Hurt both give good performances. - A very scary movie Filmed at the real Rillington Place and showing the dank war time reality of Britan this is a very dark film ! a true story of a very deranged man ! Searchers found a human femur propping up the fence, out back, and in the flat a tin was found containing pubic hair removed from four different women. (Curiously, the hair matched none of Christie's known victims.) Americans this is a real horror movie , none of your teenage slash trash - Chilling - and true This is a bleak film but one worth seeing. It relates the true story of two men: one, Reginald Christie, one of Britain's most notorious serial killers; the other, Timothy Evans, one of the reasons Britain no longer has the death penalty. If you're used to watching "Forensic Detectives" on Discovery Channel you'll be used to this kind of thing and you may even get frustrated by the lack of details. Truth is, back in the Sixties the police didn't have the technology they have today. So that's how it was a poor, illiterate young Welshman ended up getting hanged for another man's crime. (And that's not the worst of it.) Richard Attenborough and John Hurt's excellent performances leave lots of questions unanswered about the motives and behaviour of the two main characters, and that's how it should be. - Studying this film I have studied this film, just, for my a level film studies, and i have to say it is one of the most quietly gruesome films i have ever encountered. The direction is fantastic, with an eerie darkness, that some might say is the house itself, and some might say is every house in London. Richard Attenborough plays Christie with a quiet presence, and gets over the apathetic sorrow, of a man that knows what he's doing, but is unable to stop it. john Hurt, in turn, i feel did not play Evans with enough zeal- i feel Evans would have been more adamant of his own innocence, but who am I to comment? I wasn't around at the time. In finish, 10 Rillington Place left myself and my class churning at the stomach; an amazing movie, but not for those easily offended! - Not sure if anyone has ever made a better film than this? The zenith of British film making, 10 RILLINGTON PLACE (the location since re-named) is a true story. John Christie (who last time I was there was still a star exhibit at Madame Tussaud's waxworks museum in London) was the mega-ordinary, almost mousy south east Londoner who besides liking a good cuppa tea...killed people in his dingy little residence. Somewhat of a sexual predator (though this is hinted at, rather than depicted) Christie used his very basic scientific knowledge to offer "comfort" to such as pregnant young girls by way of his own in-house abortion that none actually survived. The case of young and fully dim-witted Timothy Evans (so brilliantly played by John Hurt) who comes to lodge and whose pretty young wife (Geeson) becomes another victim of the serial killer Christie represented the height of British injustice when Christie himself was able to manipulate the facts to point the finger of guilt at Evans himself and who was actually hanged for the murder of his wife and child. (The later-bestowed pardon would have been of little consequence I feel....the ultimate "too liitle too late") The film's bleak depiction of immediate post-war Britain is just stunning, Attenborough deserved the Oscar for his amazing characterisation of Christie...a monster with a facade no-one thought to question. No clear-thinking and perceptive person could possibly watch this movie and not be affected in some way. The horror Is that there IS no horror, just a veneer of respectability and decency. I cannot offhand, nominate a more powerful or credible piece of film-making. We have this film in our library and watch it on average ever two years - it has never aged or been less impactful! - Fascinating serial killer portrait This British 1970's drama tells the life of the real London strangler John Reginald Christie, a doctor and landlord who killed several of his female patients in the 1940's and 1950's. Richard Attenborough plays Christie in a rather silent, but very menacing and psychological way. Director Richard Fleischer is not portraying a serial killer monster like Hannibal Lector, but rather a boring and nice guy who turning to a mentally disturbed and brutal serial killer. The atmosphere in the dirty London suburbs is photographed in a very dark and intense way, as most of the scenes take place in Christie's old back street house. The calm music adds much atmosphere to the movie, and young John Hurt plays the husband of one of the victims. A forgotten genre jewel that is worth being discovered again, as it cannot be compared to many of those stylish current serial killer TV and movie productions. - Creepy film, but excellent! This British thriller is one of the best films I have ever seen. It tells the story of John Christie, the serial killer whose "career" lasted from the middle 1940's until the early 1950's. The name is taken from the scene of the murders; 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London. Chillingly portrayed by the great actor Richard Attenborough , Christie was a little mouse of a man who first lured his victims home on some pretext or other, usually by saying that he could perform some desired medical procedure on them, for example, an abortion, which was illegal at the time. Once there, he put them at ease by offering them a cup of tea, deceived them into breathing gas from the pipe, rendering them unconscious, then strangled them. He disposed of the bodies, at first by burying them in the garden, then putting them under the sink in the water closet, and finally by tearing up and replacing floorboards and papering over cupboards. The primary reasons that Christie was able to do what he did for so long were first of all the war. London was undergoing the blitz, and people had a tendency to disappear during the bombing. Another reason was that he was able to turn the suspicions of the police from him to a not very bright truck driver named Timothy Evans, (played by John Hurt) who was convicted of the death of his baby daughter, and was also suspected in the murder of his wife, but due to English law could only be tried for one or the other of them. He was hanged in 1950. The scene in the film where Evans is hanged is chilling, and quite accurate. Slow at first and shot on location at the actual scene of the murders, the film shows a dangerous manipulative killer hiding behind a bland, mild exterior. Because he appeared so mild, Christie was all the more terrifying. Attenborough brings this out expertly and the overall effect is very creepy. This superbly-acted film is British cinema at its' very best. Cup of tea, anyone? - One of the best film versions about true crime! 10 Rillington Place is a creepy, eerie film about the true story of an innocent man, TImothy Evans, who is framed by his landlord, John Reginald Christie, for the murder of his pregnant wife, Beryl, and infant daughter, Geraldine. It is a fascinating story about an innocent man. THe tragedy continues when the truth about John REginald Christie's murderous history is revealed by the end of the film. You just never know who could be the serial killer in the infamous house. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed and Rillington Place no longer exists in London. It was renamed Rushton Mews/Close later Wesley Square and it is reported that it has been destroyed to make way for the yuppies who occupy Notting HIll. I would have rather seen the real Rillington Place remain for historic purposes only. - A painstaking revelation of the banality of evil... The film is a masterpiece in many ways, not the least in terms of the gripping performances of the leads and the stark atmosphere of shabby genteel poverty and hopelessness conveyed by Christy's depressing flat. Some have criticized the slowness of the film, but the pace only enhances the banal horror of Christy's mind as he manipulates the poor, ignorant, frightened creatures who become his victims. Attenborough plays this middle class murderer with consummate insight. Judy Geeson and John Hurt play off each other brilliantly, she the flighty sexpot with ambition to escape her miserable life, only too ready to believe Christy's pretensions of being a "medical man"; Hurt a dimwit whose only avenue to self-esteem seems to come from lording it over his young pregnant wife...until Christy comes along with his mind-games to dupe the poor sap into becoming vulnerable to a charge of murder. The miscarriage of justice is, of course, appalling, made worse by the ineptitude and indifference of the police. One can never forget the haunting plaintive cry of "Evans" as he proceeds to his fate: "Christy done it! Christy done it!" cast: Richard Attenborough .... John Reginald Christie Judy Geeson .... Beryl Evans John Hurt .... Timothy John Evans Pat Heywood .... Mrs. Ethel Christie Isobel Black .... Alice Miss Riley .... Baby Geraldine Phyllis MacMahon .... Muriel Eady Ray Barron .... Workman Willis Douglas Blackwell .... Workman Jones Gabrielle Daye .... Mrs. Lynch Jimmy Gardner .... Mr. Lynch Edward Evans .... Det. Inspector Tenniel Evans .... Detective Sergeant. Runtime: 106 minutes Country: UK Language: English Colour (Eastmancolor)
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