Customer Reviews

Ten Little Indians [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off, I'm a huge Christie fan, and Ten Little Indians is my favorite of her stories. This is a solid, enjoyable retelling of the story, though it lacks the top drawer quality of the 1939 original. The entire 39 cast was terrific. This one has some great performances, some competent ones, and some laughably bad ones. Standout in this cast are Wilfrid Hyde White as the Judge, Stanley Holloway, Daliah Lavi, Shirley Eaton, and Hugh O'Brian. Equally bad are Fabian as the playboy, and the butler, can't remember the actor's name. The butler delivers some lines as though he's sleepwalking, and overacts at other times. I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying that Fabian's performance is so over-the-top grating that's its a relief when he's the first character to drop.

Other interesting developments-though still tame by today's standards, this version has considerably more sex and violence than the original, in which most of the bodies were kept offstage. In this one, most of the murders occur on camera, including one in which a character plummets to their death in a cable car, a spectacular development not in the book. Indeed, Christie's murders were usually very clean, a gun, a knife, poison. Not something as pure Hollywood as this. The fact that this death also bears no resemblance to the nursery rhyme, a key plot point in all versions of the story, doesn't seem to bother the screenwriter at all. Oh well.

One other interesting change-the spinster character of the book and original movie is changed here and in the other remakes to a glamorous actress. Although Christie purists will probably be upset, I don't think it did any harm, particularly since I enjoyed Daliah Lavi's performance.

All in all, this production is flawed, but still entertaining and well worth seeing, especially if your a Christie fan. Not as good as the 39 version, and much better than the God-awful 1975 and 1989 remakes.

8 people are invited to a remote mountaintop chalet by their host U.N. Owen; two people are already there as the butler and cook. Once there they find that their mysterious host has accused each of murder and commences to dispatch the guests in the order of a song of Ten Little Indians. Finding that they are cut off from the outside world they must find Mr. Owen and neutralize him before they are all dispatched.

All the clues are present; can you detect whodunit and why?

Pretty well acted version of an Agatha Christie classic. Everyone remembers the standard movie version the was made "And Then There Were None" (1945) with Barry Fitzgerald. Several other attempts were made such as "And Then There Were None" (1974) with Elke Sommer and even one movie with the original book title "Ten Little Niggers" (1949) with John Bentley.

This version with Hugh O'Brian as Hugh Lombard even keeps much of the dialog and is with adding to you Agatha Christy collection. Many of the actors are popular and will be recognizable form similar plays. The Voice of 'Mr. Owen' is Christopher Lee. The only annoying part is the constant intrusion of sixties music by Malcolm Lockyer. The good part is that the most obnoxious actor gets bumped off first.

The 1965 film is enjoyable and energetic. The characters are well-cast, especially the doctor, judge, Blore, and general. Some are more feisty than elsewhere, like the maid, butler, and spinster Brent, revamped as conceited actress Ilona and given a different, but entertaining, character and past crime. Only in this film are the maid and butler convincingly menacing. Fabian is obnoxious as a re-named Marston, but he is supposed to be; the film nicely places that character in a dissolute career, and he gives the best piano rendition of Ten Little Indians. The film livens up the methods and depictions of the murders. It changes some words of the nursery rhyme, but it closely adheres to its own version, right down to a bear statute toppled onto one character. Interactions between characters are more heated and less dainty than in 1945, as they should be, given the events.

However, the 1965 film is not as tightly and richly told, nor as well-acted, as the 1945 version. Hugh O'Brian and Shirley Eaton are appealing and have strong screen presence. But their Lombard and Vera seem relatively superficial and wooden. He does not give as smart and layered a performance as Louis Hayward, nor is she as strong as June Duprez. Dennis Price and Wilfrid Hyde-White each strike a better balance between seriousness and playfulness in their roles than did Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald, but are not as energetic, commanding, and entertaining. Ilona is amusing, but exaggerated, and displaces the distinctive Brent.

Lombard's past crime, and even more harmfully the general's, are changed in 1965 to something trite and unexplained. To no effect, Lombard is changed from explorer to engineer. Showing the killings on screen in a visually interesting way can be dramatic and vividly convey murderous host Owen's malice. But it can also make them seem implausible, as when Owen brandishes a hypodermic needle from across a room at one fully aware victim, who simply sits there, mouth gaping.

As in 1945, attempts to make characters comical or appealing sap the suspense. The final scene has more explanation than in 1945, but remains thin and undramatic. Again, Owen has a weary, rational, amiable armchair chat with the final victim precisely when the character should come alive as someone triumphantly and credibly capable of inflicting such horror. Ironically, it is left to the weak 1989 version to provide an ending that is dramatic, reflects Owen's menace and lunacy, and most fully explains Owen's behavior.

By comparison to its predecessors, the 1974 film took a decidedly different tone, for good and ill. Gone from both 1945 and 1965 is the lighthearted opening sequence and its catchy, upbeat music. The 1974 film has no opening music, just simple credits and silence invaded by the sound of an approaching helicopter. Its storytelling is cold and clinical. This matches its setting -- a palatial, ornate, immaculate hotel, shuttered and alone amid ruins in the Iranian desert.

The 1974 movie captures more of a sense of fear, dread, intensity, and suspense, elements too much neglected before. This includes the selection of Orson Welles to narrate the tape recording charging the guests with past crimes and also the way in which the killings are filmed. The characters are more serious. For example, Richard Attenborough's judge is more stern, less folksy, than in prior versions. Stephane Audran is excellent as Ilona, radiant and charming on the surface but troubled and lonely at the core. In their short screen time, the maid and butler are believable as hard, smooth con artists. In this important sense, the 1974 version is truest to the book and to those who want to see it presented as a serious mystery.

However, overall, the 1974 film is less substantial and entertaining than prior versions. The storytelling is so spare and unartful that it tends to be sterile and uninvolving. The movie lacks wit, ingenuity, eloquence, and energy. Its only moment of real charm comes early and abruptly, when Charles Aznavour, as a re-named Marston, performs a song, "Dance in the old-fashioned way," with Audran looking on, enchanted and lovely. By contrast, Aznavour's rendition of Ten Little Indians is disappointing. At "six little Indians," he starts pounding the piano keys and shouting the words, only to let the music die out in anticlimax before "one little Indian."

The outstanding actors play their parts with authority and more like real people than caricatures. Even so, they are unable to breathe much life into the characters or interactions. Herbert Lom lends an air of authority and intelligence (perhaps too much) to the doctor. But his restrained, stiff performance lacks any truly memorable quality, like Huston's buffoonery and charm or Price's vanity and arrogance, and he is unconvincing as a drunkard. Adolfo Celi can do nothing much with his role, and Gert Froebe little more with his. Elke Sommer makes no impression as Vera and has no chemistry with Oliver Reed. Reed gives an impish, bizarre performance as Lombard.

The 1974 film copies from the 1965 version, but loses something in the translation of even that imperfect script. Some of the more memorable dialogue is cut. By 1974, Lombard is not even given a career. The 1974 film is least faithful to the nursery rhyme. Events are out of Owen's control, as when a snake is used to kill, an uncertain murder weapon; one character simply wanders off into the desert; and another screams when a candle blows out, in prior adaptations a diversion engineered by Owen. The location is so faraway and desolate that it raises questions about why the guests would be willing to go there, without at least investigating the circumstances, and how Owen could have made the arrangements. The film lapses back to the 1945 version's short final exposition scene. Re-writes to reflect the end of hanging as a form of capital punishment and to make Owen choke out incoherent last words rob that crucial scene of even the inadequate dramatic effect of its predecessors.

The 1930s Agatha Christie novel AND THEN THERE WERE NONE was a sensation: ten unconnected people are invited to an isolated resort only to discover they have been lured by a hidden psychopath intent on bumping them off one by one in retribution for crimes they have committed in their pasts. Nothing like it had been seen before, and Christie adapted the novel to the stage where it proved equally popular. A 1945 film version of the stage adaptation by director Rene Clair was also extremely successful with both critics and the public. But in the 1960s Christie sold the film rights to a number of her novels, and the result was string of low budget films starring Margaret Rutherford as Jane Marple. Christie openly despised these films, but Rutherford's enjoyable comic performances made them very popular at the box office, and a remake of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE became inevitable.

Director George Pollock, who worked on Rutherford's Jane Marple films, was also responsible for AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, which was released under the work's American title TEN LITTLE INDIANS. But on this occasion Pollock bit off a great deal more than he could chew, for the plot of TEN LITTLE INDIANS cannot be reduced to a single comic turn; to be effective it requires an ensemble cast, and in spite of one or two worthy peformances Pollock's tampering with the story's details and dumbing-down of the plot renders the whole film extremely flat. The only enjoyable performance in the film is by Wilfrid Hyde-White; the rest of the cast is either impossibly over the top (Daliah Lavi), tiresomely wooden (Shirley Eaton), or embarassingly bad (Fabian.)The direction, script, cinematography, and art direction range from the merely serviceable to the absolutely unimaginative, and the absolute best that can be said for the whole thing is that it achieves a fairly consistent mediocrity.

Even so, Christie's basic premise gives the film enough interest to keep you watching--and along the way something happens: the movie becomes entertaining in a cult-film sort of way. Much of this is due to the film's extremely inept effort to cultivate a "swinging sixties" tone, which combines very oddly with its utter lack of inspiration and the very weird range of performances. It all adds up to something faintly ridiculous, faintly "hooty," and that alone makes the film the whole thing oddly enjoyable. Even so, I wouldn't go out of my way for this particular film: you're better off catching this on the late-late show than actually buying it. (And you should absolutely, positively avoid still later remakes, which are truly sorry.) Save your money for the 1945 Rene Clair version--which is, by the way, now available on DVD as well as videotape.

This 60's version of Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is an excellent update of a classic mystery story. If you are a purist you will like the 40's version better. But if you don't mind a few "hip" changes, then you will have a lot of fun with this version. It's a clever mix of classic British actors sprinkled with a few "icons" from the period. The styles and fashions of the women in the film are very cool. The location change to a Swiss chalet sitting atop a snow covered mountain adds to the isolation and "chill" of the situation. And the performances of the cast are just what they should be for their character. "Over the top" from some? Yes! "Subtle and witty" from others? Yes! "Taking it all too serious" from the rest? Yes! But it all adds up to the "fun" of this interpretation of the Christie story. The black and white filming, the on-screen murders and the castle itself all contribute to the suspense factor of the film. The "jazz" score helps to lighten up the proceedings and gives the film a good balance.

The print of the film used for the dvd is mostly very good. There are a few sections where the scratches and specks are all over the screen. It could definitely use a "restoration" clean-up. I'm just grateful to have my personal favorite version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE on dvd. (I also prefer the title change to TEN LITTLE INDIANS better!)

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10 little Indians went out to dine

1 choked on his little self and then there were 9

9 little Indians staying up quite late

1 ran away and then there were 8

8 little Indians travelling to Heaven

1 met a pussycat and then there were 7

7 little Indians chopping up sticks

The chopper finished 1 of them and then there were 6

6 little Indians playing with the hive

A bumble bee stung 1 and then there were 5

5 little Indians going in for law

1 got chancery and then there were 4

4 little Indians feeling all at sea

A red herring swallowed 1 and then there were 3

3 little Indians walking in the zoo

A big bear hugged 1 and then there were 2

2 little Indians sitting in the sun

1 gets all frizzled up and then there was 1

1 little Indian boy left all alone

So he went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

The above poem is the idea behind this murder mystery/thriller movie. This is the second movie version of (Dame) Agatha Christie's novel "And Then There Were None" (1939).

Although this version's background story is the same as the first movie version (ten people invited to a stranded area by a mysterious stranger and murdered in accordance to the lines in a children`s poem), this one takes place in a mansion that's on an isolated snowy mountain. This version is also the first adaptation of the novel to show the murders on screen. (The mansion used in the movie was a famous one located in Rush, North County, Dublin in Ireland. It no longer exists.)

Who are these ten invited guests? They are:

1. Engineer Hugh Lombard (Hugh O'Brian)

2. Secretary Ann Clyde (Shirley Eaton)

3. Singer Mike Raven (Fabian)

4. General Sir John Mandrake (Leo Genn)

5. Detective William Blore (Stanley Holloway)

6. Judge Arthur Cannon (Wilfred Hyde-White)

7. Actress Ilona Berger (Daliah Lavi)

8. Dr. Edward Armstrong (Dennis Price)

9. Maid Elsa Grohmann (Marianne Hoppe)

10. Butler Joseph Grohmann (Mario Adorf)

(Note that the recorded voice of the mysterious stranger who invited these guests {who has the appropriate name of "U.N. Owen"} is the voice of Christopher Lee.)

Purists may not like this adaptation as it was altered to fit the attitude of the "swinging sixties." Examples include changing the character of the spinster into a glamorous actress and adding much more action to compliment the mystery such as a fight scene and even a bedroom scene.

As well, the ending was changed to a less pessimistic one, borrowing heavily from the upbeat finale Christie wrote for the stage version of this story.

All the actors do a good job in their roles but I felt that Hugh O'Brian, Shirley Eaton (the Bond girl painted gold in the movie "Goldfinger"), Wilfred Hyde-White, and Stanley Holloway did very good jobs. Some people don't like Fabian's character. But he's supposed to be obnoxious. Fabian does a good job of singing the lines of the above poem.

The DVD itself (the one released in 2006) has good audio. The picture has occasional flaws but they are not distracting. There are two extras, one being a "whodunit intermission."

Finally, the only real problem (there are some minor ones) I had with this movie was the jazzy background music that occasionally plays. Although it sounds good, it did not seem to belong in a movie of this type.

In conclusion, this is an interesting adaptation of Agatha Christie's most famous novel!!

(1965; 1 hr, 30 min.; black and white; wide screen; 24 scenes)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

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Ten crimes committed, justice was ignored or flawed. You will wonder, who is Mr. Owen? Watch the film, and you will find out. This film was made in the 1960's, and it is called 10 Little Indians. This film is of the mystery \ suspense genre. The movie is based on the poem: The Ten Little Indians. The writer, Agatha Cristi, was a master of suspense during her lifetime. George Pollock directed the movie, which is worth watching, if you have nothing better to do.

The story begins with eight of the main characters, Mr. Raven, Hugh Lumbarge, Anne Clyde, General Mandrake, the Judge, Vera, and the Doctor. They were all invited to a mansion who is owned by a man named Mr. Owen. The two other main characters are already there, they are Frav Groman and Edna Groman, the Butlers. The Butlers showed them to their room. Soon after, dinner started. Mr. Owen had not arrived. At dinner, all of the characters discussed why Mr. Owen had not arrived. After dinner, Mr. Raven had gotten drunk. As the poem says, one went and chocked his little self, and then there were nine. He had been poisoned. After that, a tape played that accused all of the nine left main characters of crimes that they committed. I will not reveal if they actually did commit the crime, but if you watch the film, you will find out.

The next person to die did not die according to the poem, the butlers wife tries to escape on the cable car, but the cable was cut and it snapped, sending her to her death. The butler was devastated at this news. They then search the basement for Mr. Owen, but then the general gets stabbed. Soon following these events, a fight breaks out between the Butler and Lumbarge. Lumbarge wins, and the butler gives up. He tries to climb down the mountain and the line gets cut, sending him to his death. Then, Vera was stabbed by a needle, poisoned and killed. That is as far as the plot that I am going to tell you.

My rating of this movie would be a 4 out of 5. This movie is a great movie of its time period. If you are into old black and white mystery genera movies, than you will like this movie. It was the first movie with a who-done-it break.

The acting is kind of corny, like when Vera is stabbed by the needle, she does not even yell. And when Raven was choking he just fell and died really quick without making much noise. My favorite character was Mr. Raven. He had no conscience, he just kept drinking until he died.

If this movie was in color, if it was a little more realistic (Bodies and blood in fight scene) and some special effects, then it would be an even better movie than it already is.

1 of my favorite movies--great cast great photogrophy---2 differant houses used---inside shots Kenure House--outside shots a castle in Austria---Fabian's best acting--In the begining as the sled goes through the snowy town I think thats his Rolls Royce in the background among the parked cars---The murder of the actress character was a little unbelievable---worst parts of the film the theme music----just awful for this type of film----also the DVD artwork is very childish---If I hadn't seen the movie allready the box design would have turned me off & not purchased---But I love the movie

I remember seeing this movie when I was a young boy and it scared the wits out of me. The ending is stupendous and catches the viewer completely off-guard. Christie is truly the master of mystery, suspense, and twists. Every mystery buff or Christie fan should have this in their video library.

THE CLASSIC 1939 NOVEL BY AGATHA CHRISTIE GETS ITS SECOND OF FOUR FILM TREATMENTS. THE 1945 FILM VERSION IS STILL THE BEST(THE TITLE IS "AND THEN THERE WERE NONE") AND THE 1989 VERSION IS A LITTLE BETTER. I HAVEN'T SEES THE 75 VERSION THOUGH IT HAS THE SAME WRITER AND PRODUCER OF THIS VERSION. THE FILM IS SET IN THE ALPS IN THE MID-SIXTIES WITH AN ALL STAR CAST GETTING BUMPED OFF ONE BY ONE TO A NURSURY RHYME. (FOUR LITLLE INDIANS GOING OUT TO SEA, A RED HERRING SWALLOWED ONE AND THEN THERE WERE THREE.) THE FILM IS GOOD BUT IT ADDS SO CALLED VIOLENCE AND SEX THAT IS JUST LAUGHABLE. A FIST FIGHT UP AND DOWN THE STAIRCASE COMES TO A HALT WHEN THE JUDGE SAYS "NOW, NOW THAT'S ENOUGH." THE SEX SCENE IS THE COUPLE LYING DOWN ON THE BED THE CAMERA CHOWS US THE FOOTBOARD FOR THREE SECONDS AND THEN IT IS OVER. BASIC STORY IS STILL VERY GOOD BUT I'D SEARCH OUT THE 45 VERSION INSTEAD.