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.

Director Rene' Clair worked magic in 1945, to bring this definitive epic to life. For your pleasure, a true to the writers style... Who Done It? If one thinks they can do a better remake of a classic after 40 years, they should just settle for doing a revamp of the Movies Title Page.You may not of heard, when this was sent to the troops for viewing (1945), it was on two reals. Somewhere along the lines, the cans were separated. Many expletives and time well spent finally brought them together again.This is the original Stateside version, norms, values and dress code.

Agatha Christie's "And then there were none" is an absolutely delicious who-dunnit, one of her very best. Although this film version alters the ending, it is otherwise quite true to Christie'e novel. The cast is full of familiar faces and the well-known actors play their parts to the hilt. Ten strangers moored on an island in a creepy house full of dark shadows are bumped off one by one apparently murdered by the absent host Mr. Owen, who invited the guests. Mr. Owen is acting as executioner of each person, each of whom had secretly committed a murder, but the guests explore the mansion and island, seeking him in vain. The deaths follow a children's song about ten little Indians who dropped by the wayside in some form or other until there's only one little Indian left.The gaggle of guests is fascinating, especially the butler, Rogers, played by Richard Haydn with his hilariously mobile face and inimitable voice. Mischa Auer as the Russian prince Starloff hams it up outrageously, while Judith Anderson's Emily Brent as the persnickety and disdainful spinster is perfect. Barry Fitzgerald and Walter Huston as a judge and doctor attempt to act as good old boys and buddies, but when the lights go out grab a poker or a cue stick as weapons as they circle eye each other, wondering if the other guy is Mr. Owen. Roland Young, a detective, runs around in a somewhat scatter-brained fashion seeming to be everywhere at once while accomplishing nothing. C. Aubrey Smith, a retired general, is very deaf, and really hasn't a clue as to what is up, but is strangely sympathetic when he reminisces about his dead wife(although he probably killed her). June Duprez, playing a secretary, looks chic and quite modern in the role and of course the young Explorer, Lombard, again good casting with Louis Hayward, falls for her in spite of the mayhem.This movie is a real gas, it's just darned fun and there's plenty of suspense and big dollops of humor. Enjoy!

Don't know not watched it yet but as a collector the story is good no matter how the actors mess it up.

Article conforme à la description le DVD est en Anglais sous-titré en Français une régal de voir ce classique merci.

I love this movie and would love to get the 1970s or 60s version of it in Canada...very hard to find some movies and they are always erased off of YouTube, even when we can't buy them. ..my favorite scene is when they are all mistrusting one another and end up following each other until they are in a single line all looking at the guy peering into the room!:) great wry humor :)

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