And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None, also known as Ten Little Indians, is the cinematic adaption of the Agatha Christie most classic story from 1939. The original Christie's novel was titled Ten Little Niggers, but later was changed to Ten Little Indians. There have been many trials of porting the movie to the cinema, with different results.
The 1945 film is the first adaptation of the novel.
The cast is:
Barry Fitzgerald as Judge Francis J. Quinncannon
Walter Huston as Dr. Edward G. Armstrong
Louis Hayward as Philip Lombard/Charles Morley
June Duprez as Vera Claythorne
Roland Young as Detective William Henry Blore
Mischa Auer as Prince Nikita "Nikki" Starloff
C. Aubrey Smith as General Sir John Mandrake
Judith Anderson as Emily Brent
Richard Haydn as Thomas Rogers
Queenie Leonard as Ethel Rogers
Harry Thurston as Fred Narracott
There are many differences between the book and the movie. The most important one is probably the end of the movie, that is completely different from the book one. This film changes the shooting of Philip Lombard and the suicide of Vera Claythorne's character in favour of a more happy ending.
Other differences are:
- Backstories behind Miss Brent's and Vera Claythorne's crimes have been changed, since a film that imply themes as child murder and teenage pregnancy would never be allowed to be viewed by the general public at that time.
- Some characters' names and crimes were changed. Judge Francis J Quincannon was known as Justice Lawrence J Wargrave in the book. General Sir John Mandrake was called General John Gordon Macarthur and Prince Nikita Starloff replaced Anthony Marston. In the novel, Marston had killed two children—John and Lucy Combes—while driving recklessly.
- The death of William Henry Blore also is perceived differently as well. In the novel, he is walking into the home to the kitchen, and is crushed when a grandfather clock shaped like a bear falls on him from the floor above. In the film, he is surveying the area with binoculars. From a window, a hand creeps out, and pushes a small triangular turret from the house that is unstable, and crushes him.
- This film follows the altered denouement Christie herself had rewritten for her 1943 stage version of the book. There is one major alteration: in the play, Vera thinks she has shot Lombard, after which the murderer appears and attacks her; Lombard, who was only grazed, comes to at the last minute and shoots the murderer as he is about to strangle the terrified girl. The film, however, simply has Vera help Lombard fake his death, then confront the culprit who commits suicide after revealing his motive and murder techniques. The end result is the same; the two major characters are left alive and innocent of the crimes they were accused of. Later remakes in 1965, 1974, and 1989 (all using the title Ten Little Indians) also used one of these two revised finales.
In 1965 a second film was made. This version takes place on an isolated snowy mountain and is the first adaptation of the novel to show the murders on screen.
The cast is:
Shirley Eaton as Vera Elizabeth Claythorne
Hugh O'Brian as Philip Lombard
Stanley Holloway as William Henry Blore
Dennis Price as Dr. Edward George Armstrong
Wilfrid Hyde-White as Lawrence John Wargrave
Daliah Lavi as Emily Caroline Brent
Leo Genn as John Gordon Macarthur
Fabian as Anthony James "Tony" Marston
Marianne Hoppe as Ethel Rogers
Mario Adorf as Thomas Rogers
Christopher Lee as Ulick Norman Owen
This adaptation has been retooled to fit the attitude of the "swinging sixties," adding a lot more action to complement the mystery, a fight scene and even a sex scene. Many of the characters are fundamentally different from their book counterparts, and even the 1945 film. The General is no longer slightly senile and withdrawn, but more effectual with his past crime more similar to Lombard's from the book, giving him the highest body count of 5 soldiers. Lombard's crime is changed completely, to supposedly murdering his partner and unborn child out of wedlock. The character of the repressed spinster, Emily Brent is changed into a glamorous movie star, Ilona, who drove her husband to suicide. The servants are now German and the playboy (Marston in the book) character is now an American pop-star. Only the Judge, Doctor and Blore remain relatively unchanged.
This version makes notable changes to several verses of the lines from the rhyme, particularly the second and third verses:
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon; one said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
is changed to,
Nine little Indians sat up quite late; One ran away and then there were eight.
Eight little Indians travelling into Heaven; one met a pussycat and then there were seven.
This corresponds to the changed deaths in this version, Frau Grohmann trying to escape in the cable car, and General Mandrake being stabbed after chasing a cat.
The ending was changed to a less pessimistic one, heavily borrowing from the upbeat finale Christie had adapted for a variety of reasons.
In 1974 a new film was made.
The cast is:
Charles Aznavour as Michel Raven, entertainer
Stéphane Audran as Ilona Morgan, actress
Elke Sommer as Vera Clyde, secretary
Gert Fröbe as Wilhelm Blore, police official
Herbert Lom as Edward Armstrong, doctor
Oliver Reed as Hugh Lombard, businessman
Richard Attenborough as Arthur Cannon, judge
Maria Rohm as Elsa Martino, servant
Alberto de Mendoza as Otto Martino, servant
Adolfo Celi as André Salvé, military general
Orson Welles as "U.N. Owen"
And Then There Were None (original russian title: Десять негритят) is a 1987 Soviet film, another adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel.
The cast is:
Vladimir Zeldin as Judge Lawrence Wargrave
Tatyana Drubich as Vera Claythorne
Alexander Kaidanovsky as Philip Lombard
Aleksei Zharkov as Detective William Blore
Anatoli Romashin as Doctor Armstrong
Lyudmila Maksakova as Emily Brent
Mikhail Gluzsky as General Macarthur
Aleksei Zolotnitsky as Mr. Rogers
Irina Tereshchenko as Mrs. Rogers
Aleksandr Abdulov as Anthony Marston
Igor Yasulovich as Accuser's voice on a phonograph record
This version is unique because no part of the novel is altered. Unlike the previous Hollywood/British adaptations of the story, none of the characters or their respective crimes are altered in any way and the film concludes with the grim finale from Agatha Christie's original nove.
Here, is a small variant on the tema. Ten people are invited to go on an African safari, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one.
Recently, the BBC made a new movie, (miniseries broadcast on three consecutive nights) that keeps the original end of the novel.
