10 Rillington Place

  

 

Year of release

1971

Directed by

Richard Fleischer

Written by

Clive Exton (script)

Ludovic Kennedy (book)

Starring

Richard Attenborough

John Hurt

Judy Geeson

Pat Heywood

10 Rillington Place

 

 

Plot - Detailing the true story of the notorious Christie killings which took place in London in the 1940s and 50s. John Christie (Attenborough) is an unassuming, seemingly innocuous man living at 10 Rillington Place with his wife. While he may not look it, Christie happens to be one of Britain's most infamous serial killers, with a body count totalling at least eight women. In particular this film details events that occurred in 1949. Timothy (Hurt) and Beryl Evans (Geeson) are a young couple with an infant daughter looking for a new home. Sadly for them, they wind up taking the top flat in the same tenement where Christie resides. When he learns that Beryl has an unwanted pregnancy, he offers his apparent expertise at being able to terminate the baby for the couple. What he really does is rape and kill her, passing her death off as an accident as a result of the operation. He is able to manipulate Tim into leaving town and allowing him to take care of everything. This tragically includes the well-being of the young child, Geraldine, who Christie also kills. As a result of his manipulative ways and false confessions on Tim's half, it's Tim who ends up being tried and executed for the crime. Christie would go on for a further three years, killing his wife and three prostitutes in the process, before finally being detected.

HO.....LEE.....SH*T!!! This film, and one performance in particular, absolutely chilled me to the bone! That performance came from Richard Attenborough. I grew up associating Richard Attenborough with films like Jurassic Park and Miracle on 34th Street. As a result I considered him to be quite a kind and gentle presence. Maybe even cuddly! I mean to me he was Santa Claus for goodness sake! Why did no-one warn me when I was growing up that the man was pure evil?!

It's become almost cliché these days that following a notorious killing, the media will track down neighbours who will talk about how 'shocked they are', how they 'could never have imagined they would do something like that', how they were 'one of the nicest people I've ever met', how 'they were really quiet and just kept to themselves.' Well Attenborough's John Christie is one of those guys. Mild of manner and soft of speech, there is just nothing about him that would immediately warn you off. He's not a raving lunatic or a James Bond style villain, he appears to be an ordinary guy. A tremendously ordinary guy in fact! Quiet, actually rather meek and apparently harmless. Attenborough does however hide something in his eyes that just hints at the darkness which lies within him. Part of what makes his actions so disturbing is the fact that we aren't given any background for the murders, no motivation. A truly chilling performance

As chilling and impressive as Attenborough is however, it would be a disservice to the film and in particular John Hurt if that was the only performance I talked about. As the rather simple-minded Timothy Evans he strongly portrays quite a complex character who is not actually a likeable personality whatsoever, so the sympathy we feel for him is not cheaply earned. It's only when the horror of the situation begins to close in on him, and that he attempts to mount a defence which comes too late that we begin to feel so terribly for him. He has just been manipulated and twisted so much that his fate is set in concrete. The character is not romanticised as the greatly wronged man of the piece as he likely would in a fictional film. And in the same fashion the film doesn't really seek to add extra condemnation on Christie. There's no dramatic score reserved for him to let you know that 'oh he's evil.' The film just presents events in a very matter of fact way, with our natural sense of morals guiding our emotions.

Film trivia – Rather creepily the film was actually shot on location on the actual Rillington Place, though following the killings its name had been changed to Ruston Close. The interior scenes were not filmed in the actual house however as the three families who lived there refused to move out for filming. As a result it was filmed in the empty no. 6 block. The street was demolished the following year.

With the action taking place predominantly in tight, confined quarters the film has an uncomfortably claustrophobic feel to it. It almost makes you feel like you're actually there, perhaps sitting across the room from these characters as they interact. You almost feel like you should do something to try and stop these horrible deeds that are taking place, as if you've somehow become complicit if you don't do anything. This very voyeuristic fashion gives it a real Hitchcock vibe in line with films like Rear Window and Psycho. In fact the predicament the viewer finds themselves in seems quite similar to that of L.B. Jeffries in Rear Window. We can see what is going on but are powerless to stop it. Though the film it most strongly evoked for me was another Hitchcock effort, Frenzy. Aside from the obvious sharing of London as its location, both films detail the uncomfortable exploits of a monster with psycho-sexual inclinations and presents it in a very seedy manner. Particularly the moments in both films where we are actually witnesses, up-close and personal to their acts of rape and murder are immensely disturbing and tough to stomach.

It really has the feel of a docudrama. And this is just heightened by the removal of several typically cinematic touches, for example there is barely any examples of score music throughout the whole film. This means that the frequent crying of the Evans' young daughter has great prominence and creates such a feeling of dread. And while it may remind me of Hitchcock's work in some ways, it is certainly lacking in the types of flourishes he would normally include. The whole film shies away from anything stylised or dynamic when it comes to appearance, leaving a very drab and grim palette which certainly fits the atmosphere perfectly. It also gives the film the feel of a kitchen-sink drama, just with a much darker than normal current running through it.

As noted in the plot summary this is based on a true case. As a result the film also works as a fascinating and troubling historically significant artefact. The case of the Christie murders, and that such a tragic miscarriage of justice could occur, played a huge part in the UK abolishing the death penalty in 1965. I also imagine that it acts as an accurate portrait of post-war London, and Britain in general, and the grim economic situation it was in. The film may begin just a few short years after the war had ended, but any sense of jubilation has already seeped far away from this place. We find ourselves in a grim, dingy atmosphere of despair.

Conclusion - While I perhaps admired this film I'm not sure it's one I'd go around recommending to people. I don't imagine too many people 'loving' this film, more than likely most people may find it a tough watch instead. And I don't see it being a film I would revisit all that often. However there is no doubt that it is an effective and chilling film featuring a quite astonishing turn from Attenborough.