And Then There Were None [1945] Rene Clair

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And Then There Were None (1945)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037515/

And Then There Were None is a 1945 film adaption of Agatha Christie's best-selling mystery novel And Then There Were None directed by René Clair.

Barry Fitzgerald ... Judge Francis J. Quinncannon
Walter Huston ... Dr. Edward G. Armstrong
Louis Hayward ... Philip Lombard
Roland Young ... Detective William Henry Blore
June Duprez ... Vera Claythorne
Mischa Auer ... Prince Nikita 'Nikki' Starloff
C. Aubrey Smith ... General Sir John Mandrake (as Sir C. Aubrey Smith)
Judith Anderson ... Emily Brent
Richard Haydn ... Thomas Rogers
Queenie Leonard ... Ethel Rogers
Harry Thurston ... Fred Narracott

If Alfred Hitchcock is considered to be the Master of Suspense, then by all means should Agatha Christie be declared Mistress of the same arena. Her works of mystery have sparked countless stage and screen adaptations, one of the best-known being 1945's And Then There Were None. Boasting an impressive cast that includes the likes of Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald, this film, based on the novel Ten Little Indians, has long since proven itself to be the veritable template for a big chunk of the murder mysteries to follow in the years after its release. At first it was considered cliché by genre standards, but by no means does that deter from the suspenseful magic that the picture manages to weave over the course of the running time.

The set-up is simple. Ten seemingly random individuals have been brought together under rather unusual circumstances. The group, which ranges from a wise judge (Fitzgerald) and an alcoholic doctor (Huston) to a shy secretary (June Duprez) and a dashing explorer (Louis Hayward), has been invited to a sprawling island mansion as the guests of host U.N. Owen. Not a one of them knows who the elusive Mr. Owen is, but he's certainly familiar with them, as a record he leaves to be played condemns each of the ten for a past crime they may or may not have committed. The situation turns more grim when one of the guests mysteriously dies, with another strange death following the next day. The survivors quickly determine that these deaths were no coincidences. They surmise that their homicidal host has taken it upon himself to punish them for their misdeeds, picking them off one by one in the style of the "Ten Little Indians" nursery rhyme. But as the guests start attempting to weed Mr. Owen out, they come to another shocking conclusion: the killer they're searching for may just be one of their own.

The film changes certain characters' names and adheres to the ending of the play rather than that of the novel. Though its subject matter is dark, the screenplay injects considerable humor into the proceedings, lightening the tone of Christie's grim book. It was directed by Rene Clair from a screenplay by Dudley Nichols. Its cast featured Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez, Mischa Auer, C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, Richard Haydn and Queenie Leonard as the people stranded on the island. The film could arguably be seen as a precursor to the modern slasher film.

The film won best film at the Locarno International Film Festival.

This adaptation of the novel took, overall, fewer liberties with Christie's plot than some of the other versions. Most of changes were done in order to comply with the strict Hays Code, which included changing the backstories behind Miss Brent's and Vera Claythorne's crimes, since a film that would imply such themes as rape, child murder and teenage pregnancy would never be allowed to be viewed by the general public. The film follows the altered denouement Christie herself had rewritten for her 1943 stage version of the book.