SUMMARY: Running Time: 1 Hr., 37 Min. (Black & White)
Produced and directed by René Clair, this film was produced/released by 20th Century Fox, but the movie has since lapsed into the public domain. Eight British strangers are piloted by a sandwich-munching boatman across rough coastal waters on a Friday afternoon to remote Indian Island, which is occupied by a sole manor home. Awaiting them is a dim-witted servant couple: Thomas & Ethel Rogers, who aren’t thrilled managing a weekend house party.
The guests consist of: curmudgeonly Judge Francis J. Quincannon; sleazy physician Dr. Edward Armstrong; bumbling private detective William H. Blore; suave explorer Phillip Lombard; willowy secretary Vera Claythorne; self-righteous spinster Ms. Emily Brent; elderly General Mandrake; and Prince Nikita Starlov, a boozy, freeloading Russian expatriate. According to a letter sent to the butler, their unseen hosts, Mr. & Mrs. Owen, evidently won’t arrive until later that evening.
After dinner, the houseguests are stunned when their mysterious host, U.N. Owen, accuses each of them of a ghastly crime through the use of a gramophone record. Worse yet, they find themselves effectively marooned on Indian Island. Three deaths in short order confirms that Owen intends to execute them all, one by one.
Eerily, this scheme is an allegory of the manor’s “Ten Little Indians” nursery rhyme theme, as it ominously hints at the next victim’s method of death. Secret alliances are made, but it remains to be seen if anyone will escape Indian Island alive.
Notes: This film’s content reflects Dame Agatha Christie’s stage play, which she adapted from her own 1939 suspense novel. Yet, this film changes the names of three characters. Presumably, the names of the judge and “Anthony Marston” were swapped out for ones befitting the actors. As for the movie’s “General Mandrake,” in all likelihood, no wanted to confuse the novel’s “General Macarthur” with the real U.S. General.
REVIEW:
Despite its implausibly light-hearted final twist, And Then There Were None is vintage Hollywood entertainment! Tinged with delightfully droll gags, it’s a low-key movie relic populated by top-notch character actors, including two Oscar winners and three nominees.
Barry Fitzgerald headlines this likable cast as the curmudgeonly Judge Quincannon. Demonstrating the most layers of characterization, Walter Huston is superb depicting his Dr. Armstrong’s descent from a seemingly dignified physician into sleazy self-preservation. Among the cast’s youthful members, June Duprez’s gracious Vera and Louis Hayward’s dapper Lombard amiably display terrific on-screen chemistry.
Well-played contributions come from Dame Judith Anderson’s snooty Emily Brent and Roland Young as a perpetually-befuddled Blore. Most of the others (i.e. Mischa Auer’s oblivious Nikita Starlov; C. Aubrey Smith’s senile General Mandrake; and Richard Haydn’s cartoony Rogers) are caricatures, but their performances fit perfectly with the film’s endearing ambiance.
In a nod to good taste, blood and graphic violence are implied off-screen. Even some of the novel’s appalling unseen crimes (i.e. Vera Claythorne’s) were clearly altered to appease the era’s film censors. More so, the guests’ past sins are mostly glossed over, presumably to not hamper the audience’s entertainment. Even if one takes issue with such a cavalier attitude, this adaptation’s inspired dark comedy wouldn’t be nearly as effective, if they had exactly duplicated the novel’s unlikable characters. Hence, Christie’s intriguing psychology re: the captives’ deliberate order of execution is ignored.
If you can accept this black comedy more as a semi-spoof (i.e. occasionally hammy acting; sprinkles of morbid humor; campy suspense music; and even the clichéd eye-darting gag amongst suspects on a dark, stormy night), then you won’t likely be disappointed. Unlike its mediocre remakes, the breezy And Then There Were None is a cinematic gem worth re-discovery.
For an ideal double-feature, one might pair it with similarly tongue-in-cheek whodunnits like: Murder By Death; Arsenic & Old Lace; Clue; 1927’s silent The Cat and the Canary; Dark and Stormy Night; and Knives Out.
BONUS FEATURES:
Some manufacturers offer a bonus black-and-white comedy short or a black-and-white TV episode … or some trivia notes … or cast biographies. This 2006 VCI Entertainment release adds an obscure Leon Errol black-and-white comedy short entitled “Twin Husbands.” The VCI version also includes a ‘Narrative for the Blind.’
QUALITY CONTROL:
Finding a re-mastered version is unlikely (perhaps its Blu-ray release is), so the visual quality varies upon the manufacturer. Having purchased a shoddy copy elsewhere once before, this reviewer opted replacing it with VCI Entertainment’s DVD release. VCI’s upgrades meets all reasonable expectations re: visual and sound qualities. VCI also offers basic control access, making it easy to navigate viewing options (including scene chapters). If pristine picture and sound quality is a priority, another option is purchasing And Then There Were None in a digital format.
PACKAGING:
VCI Entertainment solidly protects this DVD with a firm casing.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 9 Stars
MISCELLANEOUS CAST TRIVIA:
- Mischa Auer was Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor re: 1936’s “My Man Godfrey,” starring William Powell.
- Dame Judith Anderson received her Oscar nod as Best Supporting Actress for 1940’s “Rebecca,” directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
- Barry Fitzgerald is the Oscars’ only acting dual-nominee. For 1944’s “Going My Way,” he was nominated as both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Fitzgerald won the latter. Thereafter, the Academy Awards changed its rules – such double-nominations are now impermissible.
- Roland Young earned his Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor for 1937’s “Topper,” starring Cary Grant.
- Working with Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar came for 1948’s “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” directed by his son, John Huston.
- The captives consists of nine Britons and one Russian. Yet, the movie’s sole distinguishable accent is Fitzgerald’s Irish brogue.
- This international cast features one Canadian (Huston); one South African (Hayward); one Irishman (Fitzgerald); one Russian (Auer); an Australian (Anderson); and five Britons (Duprez; Haydn; Leonard; Young; and Thurston).
