After subletting his upstairs London flat to a mentally deficient young man named Timothy Evans and his pregnant wife Beryl, John Christie announces to the impoverished Evans that he is an accomplished abortionist and agrees to perform the illegal operation on Beryl in order to help them out of their jam. Aroused by the sight of her naked and unconscious form, however, Christie rapes and strangles her instead, then convinces the half-witted Evans that although she died from surgery, the police will probably believe Evans guilty of foul play and charge him with murder. Evans flees but is caught, tried, convicted of murder, and hanged. Based on the true story of British mass-murderer John Reginald Christie, who drugged, raped, and strangled eight women (one of whom was his wife) between 1940 and 1953, hiding their bodies in the garden as well as in a large cupboard, which he then covered up with wallpaper inside his home. A shy and sickly man (he was gassed during World War I), Christie could also be quite persuasive, which explains how he was able to lure many of his victims to his murderous lair at 10 Rillington Place, an address that eventually became as well-known to Londoners as 10 Downing Street.
| Release Date: | May 1971 |
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| Genre: | Biography / Crime / Drama / Thriller |
| 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), 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), 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...) |