10 Rillington Place ( UK, 1971 )

 

Language - English

Director - Richard Fleischer

Starring - Richard Attenborough, John Hurt

Country - United Kingdon

Year - 1971

The other day, I was going through the earlier posts in FilmBulb, strange, I noticed that I had not introduced any proper British film ( Before The Rains was directed by Santhosh Sivan from India ). Then, I had a chance to see this film 10 Rillington Place. I took this film, when it came across to it in the filmspotting.net podcast, the show in which they discussed about the book by an author named Robert Elder, book name- The Best Film You've Never Seen: 35 Directors Champion the Forgotten or Critically Savaged Movies They Love.

This film, stuck to the cause of the book by Robert. One cannot label it as “the” best British film, but was good and filled with suspense. The other thing that made me eager to look forward this film was Richard Attenborough ( Director, Gandhi ). He is the main lead and I was kind of “ahhh” when I learnt that he acted as a serial killer.

Richard Attenborough as John Christie

The film is based on a true story, which happened in 1940’s. 

Plot

The film starts in 1944, London, John Christie ( Richard Attenborough ) gives some kind of medical treatment to a women in his house (10 Rillington Place). In the process, he gases her, makes her unconscious, rapes and kill her by strangling. From his outfits, we learn that he is a police. The film then moves to 1949. Tim Evans and Beryl move to the same apartment 10 Rillington Place with their infant daughter Geraldine. The new tenants occupy the first floor, while Christie and his wife are living in the ground floor.

Already in the jaws of the poverty, Beryl learns that she is pregnant. This creates a tussle in the family. Evans doesn't want another baby now. Christie, overhears this issue and convinces the couple that he can perform abortion ( At that period abortion is unlawful in UK ), but he ( Christie ) has other plans. Using his soft speech, Christie informs Evans that this will be a risk and one-in-ten will die. The couples takes a chance, Christie rapes, strangles and kill Beryl. He uses the abortion as the cover-up and softly-threatens Evans that he might be behind the bars, because this process in illegal.

Christie asks Evans to go somewhere until everything is blown over. Evans moves to a nearby town, but within few days he turns to police as he couldn't stand the guilt. During the court proceedings, Christie turns the table to make Evans as the murderer. Court convicts Evans and then immediately hanged. What happened to Christie, did he roam scot-free later is the rest of the story.

“the entire movie is like a Hitchcock template.

Evans Family

As I said earlier, I can't imagine to see Attenborough as a serial-killer, after seeing him as happy-smiling-papa in Jurassic Park. The way in which he portrays the character is soft, but still he creates an aura of horror. He is presented as a Hitchcock'ian protagonist. In fact, the entire movie is like a Hitchcock template. It is not gore, one can't find a drop of blood in any frame. The film keeps us hooked from its suspense.

Some scenes from the film