Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

elvircorhodzic AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is truly refreshing mystery drama with elements of a thriller. The film version of the novel by Agatha Christie is pretty censored. This is expected. Deviations with respect to the novel, are obvious, but do not make a lot of damage.Ten foreigners, people who seemingly have nothing to do with each other, but are in fact all the blame for a murder for which have not been convicted or rather prosecuted. Verses songs "Ten little Indians" following the death of one by one of the protagonists. Serial killer or even better killer among us is the essence of the story.Complications are excellent. A complete stranger, an unknown host, bonding, suspicion, secrecy and deception. It's exciting, uncertain and worrying to know that all the protagonists destined for murder. I was wondering what order, although I must admit that I knew who was the protagonist of the key for the culmination of the story.With all the murders that are impressively performed in a very good atmosphere, I must admit that I enjoyed the occasional morbid humor. The protagonists are apparently accepted their fate.The characterization is excellent. The killers or victims. Judge for yourself.

Maddyclassicfilms And Then There Were None is directed by Rene Clair, has a screenplay by Dudley Nichols, is based on the novel by Agatha Christie and stars Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Roland Young, Judith Anderson, C. Aubrey Smith, June Duprez, Louis Hayward, Mischa Auer, Richard Haydn and Queenie Leonard.This 1945 adaptation of the novel which is possibly Christie's best is atmospheric and strangely funny considering the dark subject matter. There is plenty of suspense and a good spooky atmosphere. The characters behaviour and interaction is often very humorous, because they are all so different and some have very quirky personalities. You feel like you have actually gotten to know these characters and you are kept guessing until the end (unless you've read the book)as to who the killer is.Ten strangers are invited to spend a weekend in a house on an island as guests of Mr U.N. Owen. Once they arrive they discover their host is absent and that none of them has ever met him. On the first night a gramophone recording starts playing accusing them all of being murderers. One by one they start to be killed and the survivors must try and work out who amongst them is the killer.The films ending is very different to the books and is quite disappointing in comparison. It's odd that such a major change was made but I suppose it was done to make the story less bleak and disturbing.The entire cast are excellent with Judith Anderson, Barry Fitzgerald and Walter Huston deserving special praise. There's some wonderful camera-work, especially in the scene where Huston's character looks through a keyhole at someone else who is looking through another keyhole.

Scarecrow-88 Entertaining whodunit is perhaps the best of the mysteries which uses the Ten Little Indians formula of a group of characters killed one after the other by someone among them. The methods of execution and the visual ideas (the use of knitting string which leads to a dead victim laying on her bed after a hypodermic with poison sent her to the great beyond, a fallen pair of binoculars after a brick pillar is pushed on top of a victim, chopped wood laid out strewn in front of the servant quarters of an ax victim, the clever use of cherubic statuettes representing the victims (each of which is shattered or broken once someone among the group is murdered), etc.) are directed in spirited fashion by an inspired crew under René Clair's guidance. The setting is perfect (a manor on an isolated island where a series of murders could take place without the concern of interference of others beyond the group themselves) for the Agatha Christie mystery. The cast is full of colorful faces and characterizations with particular standouts, Walter Huston (celebrated director, John Huston's, father) as a doctor and the delightful Barry Fitzgerald as a judge, both of whom "were selected" by an unknown party named Mr. UN Owen (get it, unknown?) to end up on the island as guests to be selectively offed in a variety of ways. Here's the deal: ten "Indians" arrive on the island at the request of a man their friends supposedly know. There's a butler and his cook wife, already at the location, but they are unaware of who Mr. Owen is. They will soon be a part of the killer's masterplan. Each person selected is supposedly responsible for the death of someone. Whether it is their actions causing a suicide (Judith Anderson, completely calm and without distress, just knitting, not a care in the world, responsible for putting away a kid because "he was bad"; the kid would kill himself as a result), wrongly convicting someone or being a reason for someone being imprisoned (Fitzgerald and cop Roland Young), or a problem with booze (Huston, his doctoring resulted in a patient's death, "social drinker and entertainer" (and a "prince" no less) Mischa Auer, who had a DUI resulting in the vehicular homicide of a couple; Mischa's bouts with the drink are obvious, as his obnoxiousness wearies the group almost immediately); this group has a sketchy past that someone among them believes is enough to see them meet poetic justice. Louis Hayward arrives with a medicine case (one a traveling doc would carry) with a different name than what he calls himself which might be a clue as to his reasons for being on the island. The very pretty June Duprez is the innocuous and sweet secretary called to the island by Owen for a job position…or so she thought. June continues to deny she was involved in any murder while most of the others confess to contributing or directly causing a death. Some do so with little regard for what happened, devoid of guilt, more worried about their own skin that recognizing *why* they are going through this.What makes the film fun for me is seeing them eventually question each other on who among them is the killer, deducing and speculating, looking over each other's shoulder, and forming alliances. Louis and June are both about the same age and share a budding romance blooming, while Fitzgerald and Huston (it seems) are in cahoots together to achieve an unveiling of the identity of the killer. A wonderful C Aubrey Smith ("The Four Feathers" and Hitchcock's "Rebecca") is the elderly, near-deaf General Sir John Mandrake, often speaking aloud about his wife, befriends June; I think out of the cast, he's the least suspect (his bouts of senility, which often has him mentioning his wife, kind of indicate this whole ordeal is speeding up his eventual demise).Clair's À Nous la Liberté, a precursor to Chaplin's Modern Times, came a decade before this, and you can see all that returning visual mastery on display in how the mystery developed itself often by using the camera as a pair of eyes (very Hitchcockian), as it follows (with the remaining survivors) the ensuing plot's unraveling. The murders are sometimes discovered by characters off screen (maid servant Queenie Richards is so overwhelmed at a record played (the one produced by Owen that details each murder committed by those present on the island) by her butler husband (Richard Hayden) that she goes to bed and never awakens, found dead the next day), and through dialogue tell the viewer how they occurred.But I think the movie is at its best when Clair carefully shows crime scenes through stylistic ways that paint a picture of what happened, imaginatively setting out the bodies to be found by the characters with tricks on what his camera does and doesn't see. The really talented directors could often take the limits placed on them by censorship and adopt a different strategy, incorporating a less is more approach. There's no in-your-face in 1945. Still, the cast expertly play along. This is all sweet music, with everything falling into place beautifully.

Scott LeBrun This highly regarded mystery favourite is based more on the subsequent play, rather than the original novel, by the legendary Agatha Christie. The story has been told many times over the years, officially and unofficially, and one could even see it as an ancestor to the entire "body count" genre, as characters exist mostly for the purpose of being bumped off. Producer & director Rene Clair manages the neat trick of making this atmospheric and suspenseful as well as lighthearted at times. The script is quite witty and ingenious, and the plotting keeps you on your toes; even people who think they've figured it out can still have great fun watching things develop.Eight people - who all have in common some sort of tragedy in their past - are invited by the mysterious Mr. Owen to a secluded island. "Mr. Owen" never does show up, but soon the invitees begin to be killed in a variety of ways. As their numbers decrease, the survivors try to be as proactive as possible, while also dealing with the fact that the killer just might be one of them.The cast really makes this come to life. Barry Fitzgerald, who looks like he's having a whale of a time, is the jovial judge Francis Quincannon. Walter Huston is likewise excellent as Dr. Armstrong, and the talented ensemble also consists of Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez, Mischa Auer, C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, Richard Haydn, Queenie Leonard, and Harry Thurston.Clair injects the humour into the twisty story with ease; in fact, things begin on a somewhat comical note, but soon take a darker turn.70 years later, "And Then There Were None" holds up remarkably well, keeping its audience engrossed and involved with its characters.Eight out of 10.