Admirable film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE isn't one of my favourite Agatha Christie stories, but it is one of the most filmed with numerous screen adaptations seemingly made every ten years or so. This 1945 outing is the classy Hollywood black and white version, featuring an all-star cast of notables including Walter Huston and Louis Hayward. The depiction of the story isn't too bad at all, with crisp photography that plays up the isolated setting and experienced cast members who really enjoy the roles they're given. I still think the story is a bit slow, predictable, and drawn-out, and the shallowness of the characters present doesn't help much either, but nonetheless this is a perfectly adequate murder mystery and a classic of its kind.

Agatha Christie ranked at the top of the heap when it came to writing whodunits. "And Then There Were None," the most famous of all her novels dealt with a group of unsavory people ushered out to an island where they enjoy all the amenities of food, drink, comfort, and living arrangements. None of these colorful characters have a clue about what they have gotten themselves into until the butler plays a vinyl recording as part of his instructions and all but one of the participants has their shady past revealed. One by one, each of them is knocked off by a mysterious assailant, and their deaths occur according to the 'Ten Little Indians' nursery rhyme and nothing they can do seems to prevent their inevitable demise. Of course, filmmakers plant clues throughout the 97-minute narrative that serve to exonerate certain individuals, but if you aren't paying close attention, you might miss those pointers. Nobody dies the same way, and director René Clair and "Stagecoach" scenarist Dudley Nichols don't depict the manner of death in graphic detail. Typically, we see what was used to kill them, but these unfortunate victims are never shown actually dying. Primarily, the film shows these vastly different individuals either confessing their crimes and perishing or revealing that they aren't who they seem to be and surviving. At least two cinematic remakes ensued and later a television mini-series. Suspense is the card that Clair and Nichols play to keep us glued to the action. Age seems that the only way to distinguish who dies. The most youthful cast members survive the ultimate cut. Although the remakes follow the formula, they often change the settings. The only problem is that some of the characters seem rather dull and the chief criticism is why these suspicious types allowed themselves to be led so easily into this predicament. Of course, it is classic now for such an undertaking that these characters are isolated from the rest of humanity and have no way to turn until the last murder is enacted.Judge Francis J. Quincannon (Barry Fitzgerald), Dr. Edward G. Armstrong (Walter Huston), Philip Lombard (Lewis Hayward), Vera Claythorne (June Duprez), General Sir John Mandrake (Sir C. Aubrey Smith), Emily Brent (Judith Anderson), William H. Blore (Roland Young) and Prince Nikita Starloff (Mischa Auer) endure a choppy boat ride to the island, and the filmmakers use these few moments to introduce each. Modern filmgoers may criticize the obvious use of back projection to simulate the presence of rough seas. Happily, Clair doesn't deploy such obvious photography trickery in the remainder of the story. Afterward, the action is confined to remote mansion with the characters either perishing in the house itself or in the surrounding countryside. The characters in the boat, except for the older seafaring gent who munches on a sandwich throughout the voyage, aren't only ones. When they arrive at the mansion, they are greeted by the housekeepers, Rogers (Richard Haydn) and his wife (Queenie Leonard), who also have skeletons in their respective closets. Clair stages one amusing scene when several participants are caught eavesdropping on each other. One favorite technique that these curious individuals use to conceal themselves is to run the faucets in their adjoining bathrooms and then crouch down to peer through key holes. Naturally, inclement weather follows to build atmosphere into the proceedings. One of the drawbacks of this otherwise superior saga is the death of one of the individuals is faked in such a way as could never happen. Meaning, under the Production Code, violent death could never been portrayed, so we are lead to believe that a death has occurred when the person who is supposed to be death could never have survived some a death. None of the suspects are frightfully nasty types. Indeed, Judith Anderson's Emily seems haughty, but she doesn't behave like a murderer. Sir C. Aubrey Smith's elderly soldier seems more tragic than the others because his crime was sending his wife's illicit lover to his death in combat. Prince Nikita Starloff qualifies as the most obnoxious one of the bunch. At the same time, he seems to be more idiotic than deliberately homicidal. He ran over two people in a hit and run and wasn't prosecuted for his crime. The bumbler of the bunch is the retired detective William Blore. The only obvious plant occurs early in the action when one of the characters explains why the initials on his luggage doesn't correspond to his own name. The murderer keeps track of the deaths by breaking the figures in a ceramic sculpture of the aforementioned ten little Indians and this keeps the characters on edge about who is destined to die next.Clever, suspenseful, but ultimately shallow, "And Then There Were None" is still fun not only as a cinematic artifact but also as a whodunit.

Ten people are brought to an isolated island estate by the Owens. They don't know each other and the Owens are not there. At dinner, there is a centerpiece with ten little Indian figurines. A record is played and each one is accused of a murder. Vera Claythorne (June Duprez) is suppose to be Mrs. Owen's new secretary. She murdered her sister's fiancé. General Sir John Mandrake (C. Aubrey Smith) ordered his wife's lover to his death. The new servants Thomas (Richard Haydn) and Ethel Rogers (Queenie Leonard) killed their invalid employer. Emily Brent (Judith Anderson) killed her nephew. A drunk Dr. Edward G. Armstrong (Walter Huston) caused the death of a patient. Prince Nikita Starloff (Mischa Auer) killed a couple in a DUI. Judge Francis J. Quinncannon (Barry Fitzgerald) is responsible for an innocent man's hanging. Philip Lombard (Louis Hayward) killed 21 East African tribesmen. William H. Blore (Roland Young)'s perjury caused an innocent man's death. Soon, they realize that nobody has ever met U.N. Owen or unknown and the boat is not coming back until Monday. The people starts dying one by one and the figurines are lost one by one. It becomes apparent that one of the group is actually the killer.Based on the famous Agatha Christie novel, this is a contrived story but that's Agatha Christie. It is fun that way. It's a parlor game and the audience is there to guess the ending. They are all serious actors giving compelling performances. It has a few sly jokes and keeps the mood from being too dark. It is snappy and the deaths keep coming.

A definite eerie, brooding piece with ten people being invited to a remote British island and then being summarily killed off one by one. Problem was that all had committed some form of transgressions in the form of murder during their respective lifetimes.You would think that the usually sinister Judith Anderson would be up to her evil ways. Instead, she sits and knits in the way of Madame DeFarge and becomes an early victim. Walter Huston proves in his role of a doctor how vulnerable he is when he is easily duped by rascal Barry Fitzgerald, the latter in top form here.A piece proving that justice may be served.