10 Rillington Place (1971) – Film Review
Film Review By: Andy Robus, Ireland.
(THE BELOW CONTENT CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE FILM)
I highly recommend this film based on real actual events of a Mr. John Christie played excellently by highly acclaimed and seasoned actor Richard Attenborough, later to be Lord Attenborough (Jurassic Park, Miracle on 34th Street, and hundreds of other films).
John Christie was a retired policeman who served in the war. Quietly spoken eerily creepy character.
In 1949, a young couple with their baby, Geraldine, moved in to the terraced house of 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London (demolished in 1971).
The husband Tim is played by another excellent experienced actor, John Hurt who has been in many films and won many oscars.
They move into the upstairs apartment.
Christie and his wife live on the ground floor.
Many arguments (heard by neighbours and other residents) exist between Tim and his wife Beryl mainly over money issues and Beryl becomes pregnant again, they of course discuss that they can barely afford to feed and look after themselves let alone another baby, Beryl is keen on having an abortion, Tim isn’t.
Christie, creeping around the house overhears this and mentions to Beryl that when he was a policeman he carried out ‘procedures’, and that if she wanted he could terminate the baby for her…. only if she can persuade Tim.
On a night out down the pub Beryl Discusses with Tim about it, and the next day Tim speaks to Christie about it, he finds Christie reading a book (the book just turns out to be a plain St. John’s ambulance first aid book.
Tim was not very well educated and could not read or write. Christie told him he was brushing up on ‘his medical training’ and Tim authorises him and asks him to go ahead with the abortion.
Christie has form of murdering victims in the past, he gasses them (literally with gas from a gas pipe coming up from the floorboards) …. and then has his wicked way with the body!
When all is agreed, Christie goes upstairs to a nervous Beryl and asks her to get ready for the ‘procedure’ – “it’s not going to hurt, the special concoction of gas and special fluid will make you feel woozy” – a knock comes at the door and it’s the builders, they have come to the house to fix the roof in the backyard coal shed.
He leaves the doors open and lets them carry on with their work, meanwhile going back upstairs to finish what he started with Beryl – as she lays down he sets up the gas for the gas mask and places the mask over her face – she struggles and tries to push the mask off.
Christie forces himself on top of her to stifle her screams and holding the mask onto her face and when she does not go quiet he hits her across the face and murders her.
Tim comes in later “Oh Tim, it’s not good news” Christies wife tells him.
Christie follows Tim upstairs to Tim and Beryl’s bedroom where Tim’s wife Beryl is laid out on the bed – Christie comes in and sympathises with Tim “Oh Tim, poor poor Tim …. if only she had come to me sooner – there were complications!” .
In the kitchen Tim suggests they will have to contact the police and tell them. Christie is have no part of this and tells Tim that if Christie and Tim went to court, who do you think the jury would believe out of the two of them?
Christie who is an upstanding and respecting member of the public who served in the police force, or Tim who has been heard shouting and arguing at his wife on numerous occasions and has on occasions been known to lie and exaggerate and brag down the pub in the past about almost everything.
“You can hang for murder Tim” he tells him.
Christie tells Tim that he has a plan and he could get him out of trouble.
“You go away, back to Wales and see your family for a couple of weeks and I will take care of things here”.
What about the body? (the body of Beryl, his wife) Tim asks. “Don’t worry about that” says Christie, I will dispose of that in the drain outside the house.
– “and what about Geraldine our baby?” asks Tim, “you don’t worry about that, I will take the baby to a lovely couple in Acton who can’t have kids and they will look after your baby and you can collect Geraldine when you come home, she will be waiting her for her daddy”.
Tim agrees to all this and travels to Wales to see his aunty. – Meanwhile back at 10 Rillington Place, Christie has other plans for baby Geraldine and murders the baby (strangling the baby with a tie).
Whilst in Wales, Tim overridden with guilt goes into a sleepy police station there and says he wants to give himself up, hand himself in, and says he has murdered his wife and disposed of her body in the drains outside the property of 10 Rillington Place in London.
Of course the police then send some inspectors around to their and lift up the manhole cover …. but she is not there!
Back at the police station in Wales, Tim is interviewed again and the Sergeant says we looked down that manhole cover – it took three policemen to move the drain cover there is no way you could have put a body down there on your own, and in any case no body was found.
Confused, Tim then confesses he was lying to protect a man called Christie. Inspectors call around to the house again and open the door to an outdoor shed in the yard with a sink in it. Police go inside and find a ‘bundle’ underneath the sink, when they open it up it’s a body … It’s Beryl … “there’s another one here sarge, says another policeman….. it’s a Baby!”
Tim was arrested then transferred to the London Police station whereby on the way there on the train he was asking about his daughter Geraldine “is there any news, is she safe?” to which there was stone cold silence . When he arrived in London police station the inspector read out to him that they found the dead body of his wife at 10 Rillington Place ….. “and your baby Geraldine!” – when asked where you responsible for their deaths a bewildered Tim replied “Yes!”
The next scenes are played out in court where Christie is cross examined and lied about everything and at one stage the judge felt sorry for Christie, who said he had a bad back and the standing was doing him no good.
Tim was cross examined on the stand and things were certainly not in his favour and it was established that he was an habitual liar, so how could the court be satisfied that he was telling the truth when he said that it was not him who murdered his wife and child.
Tim was sentenced to death by hanging by the Judge.
After Tim’s death sentencing in court – overwhelmed at ‘getting off with murder’ Christie broke down and cried at the court benches.
Timothy Evan’s was sentenced to death by hanging on 9 March 1950, in Pentonville Prison for the murder of his wife and child. He was wrongfully accused.
Back at home, Christie’s wife said she could no longer stay at 10 Rillington Place with him – “we have no friends, you can’t work with your bad back” I am going up north to stay with my sister – “I can’t work not with my bad back” he said to his wife, “I should be in hospital” ….. “I know where you should be!” Said his wife!
That sealed her fate too …..
He murdered her whilst she was asleep then buried her under the floorboards of the house.
After meeting another lady in a train station cafe, with migraines, he made out he was a qualified doctor and took her back to 10 Rillington Place, murdered her then put her body behind a wooden partitioned wall.
Out of work and no money, he decided to sell all the furniture that he could out of the house then leave it to walk down by the Thames and stay in homeless shelters until some new tenants moved into 10 Rillington Place.
While the new tenants were decorating they found bodies of the other people Christie murdered and buried at the property.
Christie was arrested down by the river with a policeman on routine police patrol.
John Reginald Halliday Christie was sentenced to Death by Hanging at 9:00 am on 15 July 1953 at HM Prison Pentonville. His executioner was Albert Pierrepoint, who had hanged Timothy Evans.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WATCH THE FILM IN ITS FULL ENTIRETY YOU CAN WATCH IT ON DAILYMOTION HERE:
Directed by: Richard Fleischer
Stars: Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
Colour 1971.
IMDB Description: What happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans
Rating UK: 15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Rillington_Place
The BBC in 2016 brought out a 3 part Dramatisation of 10 Rillington Place which was also a good and compelling watch and was slightly different and brought up to date and quite different from the 1971 film.
It starred : Tim Roth and Samantha Morton
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5568438/
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