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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1960s
    Movies - 1960s Movies - L 3 Mins Read

    List of Adrian Messenger, The (1963)

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    Novelist Adrian Messenger (John Merivale) believes a succession of ostensibly isolated “accidental” deaths are really related murders. He asks his friend Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott struggling with an inconsistent English accent), a former MI5 intelligence officer, for help but is killed himself in a crash when his plane is sabotaged.

    The sole survivor of the air crash, Raoul Le Borg (Jacques Roux) – acting on a message given to him by the dying author – works with Gethryn to decipher the mysterious and unusual deaths of eleven men on a list provided by Messenger.

    Gradually it transpires that the men named in the list were all Japanese prisoners of war in Burma with Messenger during WWII and that they and others were betrayed by George Brougham (Kirk Douglas), a wartime informer and a long-lost brother to a British aristocrat who is now murdering his way to the inheritance of a large estate.

    Gethryn realises that Brougham is only two killings away from claiming his prize and sets about ensnaring the villain before his sinister scheme is complete.

    The main gimmick here is the all-star cast – Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Curtis – who are all heavily disguised in character roles and only revealed at the end when they break the fourth wall, peel off their masks, and wink and gurn for the camera.

    A newspaper article in The People subsequently exposed the gimmick, revealing that most of the stars did not actually appear in the film, save for the brief unmasking scene at the end.

    Burt Lancaster’s role as a female anti-fox hunting protester was played by an Irish actress called Marie Conmee, who was sworn to secrecy, while Frank Sinatra’s gypsy was, in fact, Hollywood look-alike Dave Willock.

    The major part of Kirk Douglas’ role was reportedly played by American actor Jan Merlin.

    There’s an impressive soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith.

    Adrian Messenger
    John Merivale
    Slattery
    Robert Mitchum
    Organ Grinder
    Tony Curtis
    George Brougham/Vicar Atlee/Mr Pythian/Arthur Henderson
    Kirk Douglas
    Animal Rights Protester
    Burt Lancaster
    Gypsy
    Frank Sinatra
    Anthony Gethryn
    George C. Scott
    Raoul Le Borg
    Jacques Roux
    Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm
    Dana Wynter
    Marquis of Gleneyre
    Clive Brook
    Mrs Karoudjian
    Gladys Cooper
    Sir Wilfrid Lucas
    Herbert Marshall
    Max Karoudjian
    Marcel Dalio
    Inspector Pike
    Bernard Archard
    Derek Bruttenholm
    Tony Huston
    Carstairs
    Ronald Long
    Inspector Seymour
    Alan Caillou
    Lynch
    Bernard
    Whistling Man/Clergyman/Workman/Shepherd
    Jan Merlin
    Sgt. Flood
    Richard Peel
    Mrs Slattery
    Anita Sharp-Bolster
    Lord Ashton
    John Huston

    Director
    John Huston

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