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The List of Adrian Messenger

  • 19631963
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
5.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
A former intelligence officer is tasked by the heir to the Gleneyre estate to investigate the unusual deaths of a disparate group of eleven men on a list.
Play trailer1:03
1 Video
99+ Photos
  • Mystery
  • Thriller

A former intelligence officer is tasked by the heir to the Gleneyre estate to investigate the unusual deaths of a disparate group of eleven men on a list.A former intelligence officer is tasked by the heir to the Gleneyre estate to investigate the unusual deaths of a disparate group of eleven men on a list.A former intelligence officer is tasked by the heir to the Gleneyre estate to investigate the unusual deaths of a disparate group of eleven men on a list.

IMDb RATING
6.8/10
5.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • John Huston
  • Writers
    • Anthony Veiller(screenplay by)
    • Philip MacDonald(based upon a story by)
    • Alec Coppel(first draft)
  • Stars
    • Kirk Douglas
    • Robert Mitchum
    • Tony Curtis
Top credits
  • Director
    • John Huston
  • Writers
    • Anthony Veiller(screenplay by)
    • Philip MacDonald(based upon a story by)
    • Alec Coppel(first draft)
  • Stars
    • Kirk Douglas
    • Robert Mitchum
    • Tony Curtis
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 69User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:03
    Trailer

    Photos105

    John Huston and George C. Scott in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    "The List of Adrian Messenger" George C. Scott 1963 Universal Pictures
    The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Kirk Douglas in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Frank Sinatra in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Robert Mitchum in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Burt Lancaster in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Tony Curtis in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Kirk Douglas in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Jacques Roux and Dana Wynter in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    John Huston, George C. Scott, and Clive Brook in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Kirk Douglas
    Kirk Douglas
    • George Broughamas George Brougham…
    Robert Mitchum
    Robert Mitchum
    • Slatteryas Slattery
    Tony Curtis
    Tony Curtis
    • Organ Grinderas Organ Grinder
    Burt Lancaster
    Burt Lancaster
    • Animal Rights Protesteras Animal Rights Protester
    Frank Sinatra
    Frank Sinatra
    • Gypsyas Gypsy
    George C. Scott
    George C. Scott
    • Anthony Gethrynas Anthony Gethryn
    Dana Wynter
    Dana Wynter
    • Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholmas Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm
    Clive Brook
    Clive Brook
    • Marquis of Gleneyreas Marquis of Gleneyre
    Gladys Cooper
    Gladys Cooper
    • Mrs. Karoudjianas Mrs. Karoudjian
    Herbert Marshall
    Herbert Marshall
    • Sir Wilfrid Lucasas Sir Wilfrid Lucas
    Jacques Roux
    Jacques Roux
    • Raoul Le Borgas Raoul Le Borg
    John Merivale
    John Merivale
    • Adrian Messengeras Adrian Messenger
    Marcel Dalio
    Marcel Dalio
    • Max Karoudjianas Max Karoudjian
    Bernard Archard
    Bernard Archard
    • Insp. Pikeas Insp. Pike
    Tony Huston
    Tony Huston
    • Derek Bruttenholmas Derek Bruttenholm
    • (as Walter Anthony Huston)
    Ronald Long
    Ronald Long
    • Carstairsas Carstairs
    • (as Roland Long)
    Alan Caillou
    Alan Caillou
    • Insp. Seymouras Insp. Seymour
    • (uncredited)
    Constance Cavendish
    • Maidas Maid
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • John Huston
    • Writers
      • Anthony Veiller(screenplay by)
      • Philip MacDonald(based upon a story by)
      • Alec Coppel(first draft) (uncredited)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Messenger asks a friend to check into a list of names before leaving on a trip. When his plane is blown out of the sky, the matter becomes more serious. As his friend checks into the list, each seems to have died in mysterious circumstances. As he goes down the list, the deaths become more recent and a race to find the remaining survivors and what put each of them on this list ensues. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
    • fox hunt
    • disguise
    • misleading star billing
    • british
    • accident
    • 67 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • Someone committed murder. Can you guess who's behind the disguise?
    • Genres
      • Mystery
      • Thriller
    • Certificate
      • Not Rated
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In an article for Video Watchdog magazine, actor Jan Merlin reports playing several of the star cameos in the movie, primarily Kirk Douglas when he is disguised in his various make-up. According to Merlin, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra (doubled by actor Dave Willock), and Burt Lancaster never appeared in the film proper and only shot close-ups for an epilogue peeling off their heavy make-up. Merlin used his experiences as the basis of a thinly-veiled novel about the filming of the movie titled 'Shooting Montezuma'.
    • Goofs
      When Derek rides Avatar for the first time, the horse has no reins or bridle. When he returns, it has both.
    • Quotes

      Adrian Messenger: There's nary a conspiracy. And if I'm right about this, it's a far older sin than politics.

    • Crazy credits
      The opening credits are handwritten, appearing as if cut out of the villain's notebook. Also during the credits, several faces of major and minor characters float by. The makeup worn by Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra and Robert Mitchum always manages to be on screen with each actors credit.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)
    • Soundtracks
      A Wand'ring Minstrel, I
      from the operetta "The Mikado"

      Music by Arthur Sullivan

      Played by the orchestra as Tony Curtis removes his makeup

    User reviews69

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    A hunting we will go
    (There are Spoilers) Visiting his good friend novelist Adrian Messanger, John Merivale, former WWII British intelligence officer and member of the secretive MI5 agency Anthony Gerthryn, George C. Scott, is puzzled by Messengers' somewhat cryptic sheet of paper that he gave him to investigate. The paper has ten names on it all seemingly having nothing to do with each other.

    It's not long afterword that when Messenger goes on a business flight to Canada that things begin to get a bit clearer for Gerthryn when the plane that Messenger is on suddenly explodes, from a time bomb that was secretly placed on it, in mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean. It just happened that Messenger survived the airplane crash by shearing a raft with another passenger of the doomed flight WWII ace French intelligence man Raoul La Borg, Jacques Roux. La Borg who took down, in his photographic mind, the dying mans last words that reveal, if deciphered, the truth about his list and the person who's not only responsible for his impending death but the deaths of all the persons, some who at the time were still alive, on it!

    Despite its novelty of guessing just who are the actors, Burt Lancaster Frank Sinatra and Tony Curtis etc. etc., playing in the movie with them having very obvious disguises. It's only Kirk Douglas as George Brougham, together with some half dozen other disguises, and Robert Mitchum as James Slattery who had any real role in the movies plot line. Instead of just showing up in the end and, when the film was finally over, taking off their disguise revealing to the startled viewers just who they were playing.

    Gethryn and Borg who both worked together in WWII against the Nazis team up to get to the bottom of what the late Adrian Messenger meant in his list of names and as the two check out the names one at a time.It turns out that all of them, with he exception of James Slattery, died mysteriously over the last five years. Trying to get to Slattery before the killer did the nutty and paranoid rummy gave the two the run around. Claiming that he's James brother Joe, who doesn't exist not who he really is James. Which in the end, with Gethryn & Borg giving up on him, lead to his death when the killer pushed him, wheelchair and all, off the docks and into the bay where he drowned.

    The killer***SPOILERS***finally reveals himself at a fox-hunt at the estate of the Marquis of Gleneyre, Clive Brook, as his long dead brothers son George Brougham. And gaining his confidence and being excepted by the Marquis as a member of the family he then manically plans to do him in on the next fox-hunt. Where Brougham sets a trap for the old man, who's expected to be riding on the lead, at the end of hunt.

    It now becomes crystal clear that the reason that the murderous George Brougham had murdered all the people on Messengers' list, as well as Messenger himself. In that they all knew about Bougham's treachery toward his fellow POW's whom they all happened to be. The one thing that all the men on Messengers' list had in common in being POW's in a brutal Japanese prison camp in Burma during WWII. With having them gotten out of the way Bougham is now trying to murder the Maquis of Gleneyer and make it look like an accident so he, as his nephew, can inherited his estate and all the riches and royalties that goes along with it. But there's one or two things that he never figured on and thats Gethryn & Borg and that in the end would be his undoing.
    helpful•12
    4
    • sol-kay
    • Apr 24, 2007

    FAQ1

    • One of the makeups meant to be Kirk Douglas is clearly Jan Merlin. Does anyone know why Merlin was substituted for Douglas? Was Douglas' skin sensitive after wearing makeup so long that someone else needed to stand in for him?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 29, 1963 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Die Totenliste
    • Filming locations
      • Lehaunstown, Cabinteely, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
    • Production company
      • Joel Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 38 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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