by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 13, 2008   Last Updated: February 14, 2008

"The List of Adrian Messenger" is a top-notch mystery thriller. A retired investigator is handed a list of people, only to discover many of them are dying under mysterious circumstances. After contacting the investigator, Adrian is also killed - leaving behind only his tantalizing list.

Some of Hollywood's most-talented artists worked on the picture. Its director, John Huston, received 15 Oscar nominations during his lifetime, and he'd directed some of the greatest noir classics (including "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Treasure of Sierra Madre.") Actor George C. Scott was only 36 when he made this film, just beginning a career which would eventually lead him to a Best Actor Oscar, and somewhere in its mysterious mix, Kirk Douglas is lurking too. The screenplay was heavily revised, including one draft by the screenwriter behind Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo." And this would be the second-to-last story for Oscar-winning writer Anthony Veiller, who would die the next year after penning the screenplay adaptation for a Tennesse Williams plays.

The movie also features one-of-a-kind practical joke. Its credits promise appearances by Frank Sinatra and Tony Curtis - but it's not until the closing credits that their role in the film is identified. For these few seconds they're shown laughingly removing the costumes and heavy makeups for the brief cameos - but the film's promotional slogan played it up as an additional mystery. ("Five great stars challenge you to guess the disguised roles they play!") It ends the film on a light-hearted note, leaving a palate-cleansing moment of Hollywood glamour after all its sinister killings. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly declined an appearance, because she thought the heavy makeup would be too uncomfortable!

It accentuates the movie's already creepy theme. It's an unseen killer who's murdered the people on Adrian's list, and he's doing it with a series of clever disguises. What could the killer's motive be? Suspects are eliminated, until the investigators close in for one final outdoor chase. It's got "the big reveal," like any good mystery thriller.

But then it also offers its five "little reveals!"

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.