Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

vostf The title appealed to me and I was expecting a fine spy thriller, alas The List of Adrian Messenger is nothing but an old-fashioned whodunit. It very precisely includes a (repeated) reference to Agatha Christie's Ten Little Ni99ers ('and then there were none...') but the tag-line stated it precisely too: we are dared to guess who is the murderer.John Huston's directing is adequate for a thriller but when the thriller never materialises you get really bored at this dull mystery. Pairing the gigantic George C. Scott with Marcel Dalio works for about 15 minutes then it's a drag as they say. Whodunnits may work for cheap reading, but they render as flat and dumb movies. The idea here was to add some humour and play with the viewer to dare him to spot the cameos... which is utterly counter-productive (and it is the very reason why Hitchcock, who rejected whodunits, ended up making his cameo very early in his movies).The worst in my opinion are the deceptive credits who clearly bill Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum and Frank Sinatra alongside the actors playing the main characters while they barely are disguised cameos. On the whole you expect something big and they only deliver a cheap little mystery. Forget it and (re)watch 'Kind Hearts and Coronets (qv)' which really knows what kind of a story it is telling.

kmoh-1 There has been much discussion about the accents in the movie. For the record, George C. Scott's English is nearly OK but very variable - no Englishman would say 'dah-ta' for 'data'. Jacques Roux is barely comprehensible. But the worst performance is that of Tony Huston, his first and mercifully final film performance, as Derek. No English nobleman would be called Derek - even Kevin or Trevor would be more plausible names. And his attempt at English is lamentable; it makes Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins seem like Sir C. Aubrey Smith. Young Derek is possibly the most murderable child actor in the history of cinema.But strangely, the duff Englishisms add to the film's sense of an end-of-term pantomime. It is great fun, not serious, and not worth taking seriously.

Pierre M-M This little charmer has been one of my favourite films for over 30yrs and now I have the DVD I regularly re-watch it, like tonight for instance.About 3yrs ago I purchased a copy of the book that it's based on and found that this film is one of those very rare occasions when the film is not only better then the book (rare enough) but a huge improvement on the book.I attribute this in no small measure to George C. Scott's consummate acting skills! Whilst "Patton" is justifiably put forward as his greatest acting performance, and one of the greatest ever recorded on film, "The List of Adrian Messenger" is my favourite of his roles with "Patton" and "The Film-Flam Man" slugging it out for second place! I'm an actor myself and if I ever become even one tenth as good as Scott then I think I will have done very well indeed!One of the regrets I have in life is that I never got to meet the man! Vale George C. Your abilities are sorely missed!

jonathankamiel This film is really one of a kind and handled with such aplomb by Huston, taking elements of film noir and mixing it with off-beat comedy. Describing the film as unorthodox might be right but scary is way off the mark. It's not the sort of film that makes you feel uneasy. It's just strange. It's a straight laced murder mystery with some bizarre disguises and cameos. I think the most unsettling feature is the remarkable resemblance between most of Kirk Douglas' disguises and the Jigsaw Killer in the Saw movies. Maybe that was one source of inspiration for Saw's makers? And to top this all, you've got some of the greatest screen legends, the beautiful Dana Wynter and a superb Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack. What more could you ask for?