John Christie seemed harmless. He looked like an ordinary middle-aged man; balding, bespectacled, and stiff from chronic back pain. But he had a big secret. He was a serial killer of gullible women, whom he would lure to his apartment with promises of medical cures.
Richard Attenborough is better known for directing Gandhi, or appearing as the kindly scientist in Jurassic Park. But he gives an excellent performance in a thankless role as John Christie in 10 Rillington Place.
Christie acted as a landlord in a seedy, lower middle class London neighborhood. His drab wife Ethel is played by Pat Heywood. Christie takes a fancy to new tenant Beryl Evans (Judy Geeson), an attractive but somewhat pathetic woman saddled with an illiterate and stupid husband (John Hurt), a perpetually squalling toddler, and an unwanted pregnancy.
A cunning but completely despicable man, Christie ingratiates himself with the Evans, and spins lies about his medical training. Once the inevitable occurs, Mr. Evans is framed for the crime, and is put on trial for his life. The movie was filmed on the same street where the murders occurred. Court testimony is taken verbatim.
10 Rillington Place may remind the viewer of Dance with a Stranger (1985), another fact-based crime drama set in England during the 1950s. The public uproar over the execution of Timothy Evans (and to a lesser extent, Ruth Ellis) led to the abolition of the death penalty in England.
Liberals who oppose capital punishment might also be pleased with the film's pro-abortion leanings. Christie is able to victimize Mrs. Evans partly because she is unable to obtain an abortion, which was illegal during that era.
Many viewers will find the film very unpleasant, which may account for its obscurity outside of Britain. However, there is just enough exaggeration and unintentional black comedy to satisfy those who watch crime dramas.
It's sort of like watching an episode of Columbo. You know who the killer is, and that he will get caught eventually. It's just a question of how the pieces come together. But police inspectors aren't always as clever in real life as they are on the television set.
10 Rillington Place was the second high quality film in a row for director Richard Fleischer, following Tora! Tora! Tora!. That film was also based on a true-story, with exacting measures taken for accuracy. A few years earlier, Fleischer had a modest success with another, much flashier film about a real life serial killer, The Boston Strangler (1968). (75/100)
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