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.

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Anthony Veiller (screenplay), Philip MacDonald (based upon a story by)

Stars:

Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Curtis	...	Organ Grinder (Cameo)
Kirk Douglas	...	George Brougham / Vicar Atlee / Mr. Pythian / Arthur Henderson
Burt Lancaster	...	Animal Rights Protester (Cameo)
Robert Mitchum	...	Slattery
Frank Sinatra	...	Gypsy
George C. Scott	...	Anthony Gethryn
Dana Wynter	...	Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm
Clive Brook	...	Marquis of Gleneyre
Gladys Cooper	...	Mrs. Karoudjian
Herbert Marshall	...	Sir Wilfrid Lucas
Jacques Roux	...	Raoul Le Borg
John Merivale	...	Adrian Messenger
Marcel Dalio	...	Max Karoudjian
Bernard Archard	...	Insp. Pike
Tony Huston	...	Derek Bruttenholm (as Walter Anthony Huston)

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

fox hunt | multiple murder | crime investigation | disguise | misleading star billing | 

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Taglines:

Someone committed murder. Can you guess who's behind the disguise?

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Genres:

Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

10 June 1963 (UK)

Also Known As:

Die Totenliste

Filming Locations:

Powerscourt Estate, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Joel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The bearded man with the rope in the hunt scene was intended to be a red herring, the Irish character actor Noel Purcell played the uncredited part of an unidentified countryman, whilst he was in the middle of a long and distinguished career in British TV and films.

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Goofs

A hay rake was put next to the rock wall by the killer after dragging the fox in the bag around the hunting area. In a later shot near the end of the fox hunt, the hay rake is pulled away by a tractor for a clearer shot of the field of hunters. After the dog sniffs out the killer, the killer jumps a horse over the wall and gets killed on the hay rake as he falls from the horse.

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Quotes

Raoul Le Borg: [Referring to Brougham] So, the masquerade is over
Anthony Gethryn: [sighs] Yeah, no need for disguises now. All that ended when the last name was struck off the list. All he has to do now is be his own charming self.
Raoul Le Borg: What arrogance... making himself welcome at Gleneyre!
Anthony Gethryn: Heh, makes it easier for him to get at the boy, hmmm, from the inside. You know, I hate to admit it, but I must confess to a sneaking admiration for him.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the last scene, the words "The End" (and production company and distributor credits) are superimposed. But then Kirk Douglas says in voiceover "Hold it! Stop!" The text now disappears again and the music score also stops. He continues: "That's the end of the picture, but it's not the end of the mystery." Scenes featuring four of the film's minor roles are now quickly reprised, with a suitable musical score, and the four actors each remove face masks and other makeup to reveal that the respective parts were played by Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, and Frank Sinatra. Finally, Douglas similarly reprises five disguises that his character wore during the course of the story, and after the last one, reveals his face (which we had already seen when his character was undisguised). He says to the camera, "Ladies and gentlemen -- The End", and continues picking off bits of face mask glue while the musical theme concludes.

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Connections

Referenced in Remington Steele: Premium Steele (1985)

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Soundtracks

Nocturne In E-Flat Op. 9 No. 2
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Played on two pianos by Dana Wynter and Kirk Douglas

User Reviews

A swell party except for the gatecrashers..

Shortly after Huston's engaging oddity was released in the U.K in 1963 a Sunday Newspaper article 'exposed' the stars-in-disguise as a hoax. I'd just seen the film the previous week and though I'd half-suspected something of the sort I still felt cheated - mainly through the smug 'last bows' of the 'guests' who hadn't even come to the party. Mitchum was obviously an honourable exception, you couldn't mistake him and he had given us an excellent dialect-cameo. Douglas' villain gradually assumed command of the piece and could be excused, I suppose, for sub-letting a disguise or two. His creepy Mr.Phythian was certainly all his own. Mr.Lancaster, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found on the hunting-field. His role was played by Marie Conmee (the surname is peculiarly appropriate under the circumstances) an Irish actress reportedly sworn to secrecy. Sinatra's gypsy was filled-in, it transpires, by Hollywood look-alike Dave Willock. It was an additional marketing-ploy, of course, to bring in the punters and we fell for it. I enjoy the film certainly as an old-fashioned Holmes vs Moriarty intriguer which could have stood alone without the gimmicks.