And Then There Were None

Perhaps Agatha Christie’s best mystery/whodunit, “And Then There Were None” has been filmed numerous times, sometimes under its original title as a book and a play, “Ten Little Indians” (a title retained for this film in Britain). With its perfect English Gothic atmosphere and an outstanding cast of character actors, it is one of the great mystery films of the classic film era. An independent production, it was a decidedly international undertaking with a famed French director and mostly British Commonwealth cast filmed at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. The mystery takes place in one of Christie’s favored settings, an island off the coast of Devon (even “Evil Under the Sun” was set in such a location in its novel but moved to the Adriatic for the 1970’s film). There are enough nice exterior shots of the house and island to open the piece up a bit and make it seem less like a play. The island (of course) is private and there is no boat service between Friday and Monday. It is also subject to thunderstorms and bad weather.. Seven houseguests, a newly hired secretary and two staff, all unknown to each other, are invited to this place with its large house, by a mysterious Mr. U.N. Owen. Before long, they are being murdered one-by-one. The cast includes many of the best character actors of the era, many of whom had a tremendous amount of stage experience besides films. Though often given only small character roles they had occasionally appeared in a big role in a major film like Judith Anderson in “Rebecca” or Barry Fitzgerald in “Going My Way”. Walter Huston would soon do “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and C. Aubrey Smith had played an aristocrat or high-ranked military man in many films, becoming practically a symbol of the British Empire. Roland Young had been in dozens of films, most notably in the “Topper” series as the lead character. Richard Haydn, who often played eccentric characters will be seen practically forever, if not known by name, in the role of impresario Max Detweiler in “The Sound of Music”. Mischa Auer, known from “My Man Godfrey”, had his character’s name changed to suit his Russian ancestry. The lesser known actor, Louis Hayward holds his own with all these notables. June Duprez is the new secretary and is pleasant enough in her role as much as Queenie Leonard is dour in her role of the maid. It’s great to see this ensemble together and I only wish the film had been longer to give each more screen time. There are numerous loose ends and improbabilities in films of this kind, but in this case they are few, and the script plays pretty fair with the audience. As usual many possible suspects are revealed but there are no wildly misleading hints or impossible aspects to the murders. The actual murders are not exactly as the poem suggests, but the poem is more of a nursery rhyme. Of course, being 1945, there’s no blood and gore, bullets make tiny holes in skulls and most deaths take place offscreen. But who needs that anyway? This film shows that it’s unnecessary. The tone is a bit odd much of the time. Though everyone is in a highly fraught situation and in danger of imminent death, they read books, knit, have small talk and after dinner drinks as if they’re just spending a normal weekend in the country. Yes, the film itself is taut and suspenseful but the cast seems a bit blase about it all. They even retire each to their own room to sleep when I would imagine they would all want to stay together for mutual protection and to keep an eye on each other. This doesn’t really harm the film but seems a bit unnatural. The film moves along at a brisk pace leaving you no time to dwell on such things. Though it was a big hit film in its day and was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, “And Then There Were None” was allowed to fall into the public domain allowing just anyone to put out terrible reproductions which flooded the market for years. I’m happy to say that Amazon’s streamed version is sharp and clear and looks the way such a fine film should look. It runs the usual ninety minutes or so, standard for the period. The extra time is due to it being streamed in a package that includes a half hour episode of a Sherlock Holmes story.

Kept me guessing to the end!

This is my favorite filmed version of an Agatha Christie mystery. Everyone knows the basic premise of the story so it is not necessary to repeat it. Cinema lost something very special when movies made the change from black & white to color film. This is especially true for mysteries and horror films. The light and shadow in this film add so much to the creepy feel of the piece and this is a movie that requires atmosphere. The mix of characters is also a treat. The players are stereotypes, in a sense, of certain "types" among English character actors. This gives you, right from the beginning, a feeling of knowing who the characters are. There is some overacting too which adds some humor to the plot. The butler is particularly fun in this respect. Barry Fitzgerald, however, steals the show with his witty, tongue in cheek performance. As the murders progress and the number of survivors dwindles, there is genuine tension and dread in the film. The ending is one of the real surprises (at least at the time the film was made) in And Then There Were None. I give this film 5 stars for plot, characters, atmosphere and fun.

*** UPDATED SEP-05-2013 *** Ten people are invited to an island, and murders that seem to be inspired by a nursery rhyme ensue. One of Agatha Christie's most famous whodunits, "And Then There Were None", was adapted into one of the best whodunits on film, directed in 1945 by the great René Clair, who also directed comedy classics such as "I Married a Witch", "À nous la liberté", and "Le Million". This suspenseful and occasionally humourous film is no doubt on the most-favorite lists of many people. But sadly the new 2013 Blu-ray & DVD editions from VCI do not do it justice. Hence, the best-looking and sounding edition remains the Image DVD edition from way back in 2001. VCI claims that a brand-new restoration has been done for their new discs, and that seems to be true. Their new Blu-ray & DVD do look pretty clean, and are the cleanest-looking editions currently. But sadly, the source print itself is far from ideal. It has a significant lack of sharpness and details to the point that watching the Blu-ray seems like watching a DVD. See my comment section below for a link to a comparison between the VCI Blu-ray and Image DVD. It shows the Blu-ray doesn't gain any significant improvement in sharpness and details the way a Blu-ray should. Note that the VCI picture is cropped pretty significantly on all four sides of the image compared to the Image DVD. The 2.0 mono soundtrack on the VCI Blu-ray and DVD is lossless, but it also lacks in quality just like the picture. It has less clarity and more distortion compared to the fine 1.0 mono track of the Image DVD. One positve thing about the 2013 VCI discs is that they come with optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired, and also an audio description track for the visually impaired. All other discs include neither. The new VCI discs don't have any other supplements, however. If you already have the Image DVD, save your money. If you don't, and if you must have the best video and audio quality, get the Image DVD. If you must have subtitles, only the new VCI Blu-ray or DVD offer that. If you are interested in Amazon's instant video version of the film, rest assured that it uses the same print as the Image DVD. See my original 2001 review below of the Image DVD and other less desirable DVD editions. *** ORIGINAL REVIEW, WRITTEN, NOV-26-2001 *** The new Image DVD version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is a vast improvement in video/audio quality over previous DVD releases by VCI in 1999 and Madacy in 2001. All three versions are currently available at Amazon, so be sure to check the technical info page for each disc to see which company makes it. The video transfer on the Image DVD, said to be made from "original elements", is much, much sharper and more detailed than that on the VCI and Madacy versions. It also shows a little more picture on all four sides of the screen. The picture looks somewhat battered during the opening credits, but it looks great the rest of the way. There is a slight amount of graininess and other blemishes throughout, but it is not detrimental. I'm especially impressed with the scenes that take place in the dark, in which some of the background details, such as engravings on the wall, the subtle lights and shadows, etc., can be seen with much greater clarity. The VCI disc, conversely, looks much less sharp, and the Madacy disc even less so. The monophonic audio tracks on the VCI and Madacy discs are louder but have more noise compared to that on the Image disc. The problem of the dialogs not being synchronized properly on the VCI and Madacy discs has also been fixed on the Image disc. The Image disc has one extra: the film's British opening credit sequence, which uses the deplorably offensive title "Ten Little N******" (which is also Agatha Christie's original title for her whodunnit). The sequence is preceded with an explanation of its use so the viewer has the historical context in mind. The VCI disc has a biography section on the filmmakers and the 1946 comedy short TWIN HUSBANDS, starring Leon Errol. The Madacy disc has a 9-minute newsreel footage from 1945, a 12-minute blooper footage (of OTHER films), 3 screenshots of lobby cards, and a trivia quiz section. All three discs are region-free and without subtitles or closed captioning.

I made a mistake with a previous review where i said this movie is great in black and white. Albeit it's not in colour, it just adds to the suspense and atmosphere for this great classic movie. I have by mistake said something similar about 'Murder on the Orient Express' witch i absolutely love but this one was in colour. So sorry if you read my wrong review....my mistake.

Excellent b&w version of the Christie novel. Arrived on time amd in excellent condition.

Viele Regisseure und Darsteller haben sich an der cineastischen Umsetzung von Agatha Christie's Meisterwerk "And then there were none" versucht - und sind gescheitert. Denn bis heute kann es keine Verfilmung mit der ersten Version von René Clair aufnehmen. René Clair hat sich bei seinem Film an dem von Agatha Christie geschriebenen Theaterstück orientiert. Dieser Information ist wichtig, denn sie erklärt, warum das Ende des Films anders ist als das Ende des Buches. Der Grund dafür ist ein ganz einfacher: Im Buch wird die Auflösung, warum wirklich alle 10 der "kleinen Negerlein" auf der abgeschiedenen Insel sterben mussten, per Brief an die Polizei auf dem Festland erklärt. Als Agatha Christie ihren Roman für die Bühne bearbeitete, benötigte sie dringend ein anderes Ende, denn ein Polizeichef, der einfach nur einen recht langen Brief vorliest, hätte dem überraschenden Finale die Spannung genommen. Darum hat sie zwei "kleine Negerlein" mit plausiblen Begründungen überleben lassen, damit diese in einer Handlung mit Dialog, die das Stück im Fluss hält, die Auflösung der begangenen Morde herbeiführen können. Clair hat sich dieser von Agatha Christie selbst verfassten Alternativlösung bedient und ist auch ansonsten ihrer Vorlage weitestgehend treu geblieben. Ein oder zwei Namen und gewisse Details in den Charakteren wurden leicht verändert, doch dies fällt nicht weiter ins Gewicht. Der Film schafft es, die Atmosphäre des Romans und des Theaterstückes genau einzufangen. Die Darsteller sind exzellent und füllen ihre Charaktere so aus, wie Agatha Christie selbst ausgestaltet hat: Von der alten Jungfer über den egoistischen Alkoholiker und der "kühlen Blonden" bis zum attraktiven Draufgänger mit zynischen Zügen. Alle laufen unter René Clairs sicherer Führung zur Hochform auf. Eine solide, raffiniert mit Licht und Schatten spielende Kameraführung in schwarz-weiß und atmosphärische Musik runden den Film ab, der nicht nur die beste Verfilmung von "And then there were none" ist, sondern eigentlich die beste Christie-Adaption überhaupt.

Super film meilleur que la reprise francaise. Le noir et blanc ajoute le charme a ce suspense qui ne dement pas

Très bon vieux film. Sous-titre français possible.