10 Rillington Place (1971)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Ludovic Kennedy (book)
Clive Exton (writer)

Release Date:

5 March 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The true story of John Christie - the serial killer.

Plot:

After subletting his upstairs London flat to a mentally deficient young man named Timothy Evans and his pregnant wife Beryl...

Plot Keywords:

1940s | Rape | Abortion | Hanging | Address As Title

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

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
David Jackson	...	Constable
George Lee	...	Constable

Also Known As:

10 Rillington place (Canada: French title) [fr]
Dom przy ulicy Rilington 10 (Poland) [pl]
El estrangulador de Rillington Place (Spain) [es]
John Christie, der Frauenwürger von London (West Germany) [de]
Kvæleren fra Rillington Place (Denmark) [da]
L'assassino di Rillington Place n. 10 (Italy) [it]
O strangalistis tis odou Rillington (Greece) [el]
Rillingtonin kuristaja (Finland) [fi]
Stryparen på Rillington Place (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | Canada:18+ (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (1988) | Finland:K-18 (1971) | West Germany:18 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

6 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London, England, UK

Company:

Filmways Pictures

Trivia:

According to the commentary by John Hurt on the DVD, real life retired executioner Albert Pierrepoint was a technical advisor for the execution scene. This scene was the first British people had seen in a cinema of a British hanging, and as it was still Government Official Secrets Act, no details regarding the scene was available. This is where Albert Pierrepoint came in, under an assumed name, and was able to re-create the harrowing scene to maximize the true terror of what it must have been like

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Christie is explaining the procedure he's about to perform on Beryl, he says that natural gas contains carbon monoxide, then quotes its formula as CO2 (which is actually carbon dioxide). The correct formula for carbon monoxide is CO. However, the point appears to be to show him for the half-educated conman he is. It's just Christie's character creating an air of "expertise".

Quotes:

John Reginald Christie: Tim, I dislke this business as much as you do. Just I happen to have picked up this knowledge while I was in training as a doctor before the war.
Timothy John Evans: I didn't know you did all this medical stuff.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psychoville: (#1.5)" (2009)

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!