And Then There Were None (1945)

Director:

René Clair

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Dudley Nichols (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 October 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Agatha Christie tale of 10 people invited to an isolated place only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. One of them?

Plot Keywords:

Island | Record | Guest | Agatha Christie | Dinner

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Rene Clair's 'And Then There Were None' (USA) (complete title)
Ten Little Niggers (UK)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording) | Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:(Banned) (1946) | USA:Approved | Sweden:15 | UK:U (2002)

Company:

Rene Clair Productions

Trivia:

Emily Brent's line, "Those whom the gods would destroy..." is from the Greek dramatist Euripides. "The wicked flee . . ." is from the Book of Proverbs.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Vera starts playing a piano piece (Schubert's Scherzo No. 1 in B flat major), Philip says "E flat, Miss Claythorne." There is in fact no E flat in the piece until two measures later.

Quotes:

Detective William Henry Blore: I know who took the dining room key!
Philip Lombard: Who?
Detective William Henry Blore: Rogers! He had the key to the dining room, fact. He unlocks the door, takes a little Indian, goes out and chops up some sticks, fact. And then...
Philip Lombard: And then he takes the chopper, and splits his own cranium, fact. I'd like to see you do that to yourself, Blore. It would take practice!
[repeatedly throughout the moment, and right before he dies]
Detective William Henry Blore: I get it!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: The Steele That Wouldn't Die: Part 2 (#5.2)" (1987)

Soundtrack:

Ten Little Indians

Not Just Who Did It, But Who Will Survive?

Ten disparate people including a husband and wife butler and maid team have been employed and gathered on an island with a large mansion. During dinner as per instructions a record is played accusing each of the guests of the crime of murder in which they were never punished. Then one by one like the nursery rhyme about the ten little Indians, each dies.

And Then There Were None is your typical Agatha Christie murder mystery with a very closed circle of suspects. After concluding that there is no hidden eleventh person on the island, it's got to be one of the guests. Director Rene Claire assembled a fine cast of very stylish players each perfectly fitting their assigned roles.

With a group like this it's hard to pick out favorites, but I do have a few here. Walter Huston is a doctor accused of a malpractice murder is my favorite. He was drunk during the operation and he seems always ready for a shot for all occasions. What happens to him is rather fitting. Running a close second is Roland Young who is a seedy two bit gumshoe who committed perjury and sent a man to prison where he died. It's his profession to try and figure it out and he's constantly coming up with a wrong solution.

First billed in the cast is Barry Fitzgerald on the strength of his Oscar winning Best Supporting Actor performance in Going My Way the year before. He's a judge who knowingly sent an innocent man to the gallows. His role is about as far from Father Fitzgibbon as you can get. He's got some pet theories of his own and a scheme to catch the killer.

What's nice about this production is that there are no big box office names here to distract. Just a great ensemble cast working perfectly together.

As in most Agatha Christie murders when all is revealed, the whole thing makes perfectly logical sense. But what's good about this is, it's not just who did it, but who will survive?