10 Rillington Place (1971)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Ludovic Kennedy (book)
Clive Exton

Release Date:

5 March 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

What happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place?

Plot:

London, 1949. John Christie is an unassuming, middle aged man who, along with his wife Ethel, manages the apartment building at 10 Rillington Place...

Plot Keywords:

Abortion | Pregnancy | Murder | Serial Killer | Gas

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
Richard Coleman	...	Constable
André Morell	...	Judge Lewis
Robert Hardy	...	Malcolm Morris
Geoffrey Chater	...	Christmas Humphreys
Basil Dignam	...	Member of the medical board
Norman Henry	...	Member of the Medical Board
Edward Burnham	...	Member of the medical board
Edwin Brown	...	Hangman
Norma Shebbeare	...	Woman in cafe
Sam Kydd	...	Furniture Dealer
Rudolph Walker	...	West Indian
Tommy Ansah	...	West Indian
Reg Lye	...	Tramp
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Carr	...	Constable
Margaret Boyd	...	Old Lady (uncredited)
Edward Cast	...	Plainclothes Sergeant (uncredited)
Uel Deane	...	Irish Tenor (uncredited)
Arthur Gross	...	Man in Pub (uncredited)
Fred Hugh	...	Man in Pub (uncredited)
Robin Keston	...	Boy (uncredited)
Samantha Keston	...	Urchin (uncredited)
Howard Lang	...	Man in Pub (uncredited)
Tony Thawnton	...	Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Edward Woodward	...	Witnessing officer at hanging (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Fleischer

Writing credits
Ludovic Kennedy		(book "Ten Rillington Place")
Clive Exton

Produced by
Basil Appleby	....	associate producer
Leslie Linder	....	producer
Martin Ransohoff	....	producer

Original Music by
John Dankworth

Cinematography by
Denys N. Coop		(as Denys Coop)

Film Editing by
Ernest Walter

Art Direction by
Maurice Carter

Set Decoration by
Andrew Campbell

Makeup Department
Stuart Freeborn	....	makeup artist
Joan White	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Jilda Smith	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Terry Marcel	....	assistant director
Nick Farnes	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Vic Simpson	....	construction manager

Sound Department
Bob Allen	....	sound mixer
Colin Miller	....	sound editor
Ken Scrivener	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
John Harris	....	camera operator
Lou Bogue	....	best boy (uncredited)
Laurie Shane	....	gaffer (uncredited)
David Wynn-Jones	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Tiny Nicholls	....	wardrobe

Music Department
John Dankworth	....	conductor
David Lindup	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Valerie Booth	....	continuity
Ludovic Kennedy	....	technical advisor
Paul Thayre	....	police liaison
Albert Pierrepoint	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Filmways Pictures
• Genesis Productions Ltd.

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• RCA Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Video Ltd. (1987) (UK) (VHS)
• Video Collection International (1993) (UK) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

"The Strangler of Rillington Place" - Hong Kong (English title) (premiere title)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

10 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 covered under the government's Official Secrets Act, no details regarding the scene were 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:

Timothy John Evans:Don't you worry, Mr Christie, you'll get your money back. I'll be getting a new job shortly I shouldn't wonder. They've asked me if I want to train as a manager or as a managing director or something, you know.
John Reginald Christie:Won't you have to read and write for that?
Timothy John Evans:Oh no, no - you have secretaries, things like that, see.
John Reginald Christie:Yes, as long as I get my 10 shillings back.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Nekromantik (1987)

I Saw This Thirty-three Years Ago

I saw this in a theatre here in the United States in 1971, when I was eleven years old. I'd seen Richard Attenborough as the circus master in DOCTOR DOLITTLE and I wonder if I'd sold my mother on taking me to this one because I knew the name Richard Attenborough. In any case, this movie burned itself into my brain immediately and, for the next three decades I told many of my fellow American film-buffs that there was this British movie no American had ever heard about that was more blood-curdling than PSYCHO. I suspect the obviously limited release of this movie in the United States had something to do with the fact that one of its chief selling-points was that it was based on a murder not well-known to Americans. The Christie murders were famous in Britain, and, in fact, historic because of their effect on the elimination of the UK's death penalty. But the distributors in America had to market this on its qualities as a thriller. Attenborough had yet to make his name a household word here, GHANDI being about ten years in the future and the probable difficulty with accents couldn't have made people who did see it very eager to recommend it. On top of this, the movie is not a thriller but a truly disturbing exploration of evil. It makes the roughly contemporary FRENZY look like a sitcom. Movies became more realistic in the late sixties and early seventies than they have been before or since. 10 RILLINGTON PLACE may be the most realistic movie about a serial killer ever made. It may not be the scariest, but it's the most memorable. I haven't forgotten it, and I haven't seen it in more than a generation. It is a mournful movie for serious viewing.