

And Then There Were None (1974)
Ten people are invited to a hotel in the Iranian desert, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. Could one of them be the killer?
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Ten Little Indians (AKA: And Then There Were None) is directed by Peter Collinson and adapted to screenplay by Peter Wellbeck (AKA: Harry Alan Towers) from the Agatha Christie novel. It stars Charles Aznavour, Stephane Audran, Elke Sommer, Gert Frobe, Herbert Lom, Oliver Reed and Richard Attenborough. Music is by Bruno Nicolai and cinematography by Fernando Arribas.Agatha Christie's famous novel gets another make-over, this time the action is located at a near empty hotel in the Iranian desert. Premise is exactly the same as the 1965 version, 10 people gather at the location on the request of the mysterious U.N. Owen (here voiced by Orson Welles), who via a tape recorded message calls them out for dastardly deeds committed in their respective lives. When they start being killed off one by one it becomes apparent that the price they have to pay for said crimes is death. But who is doing the killing?Well it's the first version in colour and it has what can only be described as a pretty formidable cast, yet it's as bland as bland can be. Especially if you have seen the superior 45 and 65 versions. The murders lack vitality, the cast go through the motions, seemingly just happy to be on location in Iran, while suspense is in very short supply. The only mystery is who is doing the killings? And once revealed at pic's finale it just isn't enough to warrant having sat through over an hour and half of mundane scripting and zero chills. 4/10
This mediocre version of Agatha Christie's famous thriller has already been discussed extensively on this site and there is not much that I can add.It undoubtedly suffers from its ill-matched international cast, flying in to do their cameos and flying out again, without having time to build up any chemistry together. Moreover, any movie that casts Oliver Reed as a hero is always going to be in trouble. There are some gaping holes in the plot, which other reviewers have noted, but I suspect that these are the result of cuts being demanded by the producer in order to bring this somewhat torpid picture down to a releasable length.All this is fairly obvious, but I am surprised that nobody has commented on the curious way in which this movie was filmed. One reviewer did mention the large number of low angle shots (the camera is rarely above waist level) but that seems almost conventional besides Collinson's unaccountable decision to film the whole movie as a succession of lengthy takes in extreme long shot. This is particularly noticeable in the scenes in which the actors are dispersed over the huge hotel lobby and conversations take place so far from the camera that you are not always sure who is actually talking. In these wide angle, deep focus shots the camera is often completely static for a minute or more before tracking slowly around the edges the action. Occasionally, someone will walk right up to the camera and loom ominously over the audience before moving away again, but Collinson rarely cuts into the master shot in order to let us see a close up or a reaction.I cannot recall any other commercial movie being shot or edited in such a primitive way since the very early days of Silent cinema.Collinson was no novice when he made this movie, so all this must have been a deliberate decision on his part. I can only speculate about what he was trying to achieve. Perhaps he was bored with 'claustrophobic' thrillers and wanted to try and make one that was 'agoraphobic' instead. Maybe years of working in television had made him sick of shooting all those 'talking heads' and he wanted to see if he could tell a story without them. Who knows?Whatever his reasons might have been, I don't think this experiment really worked. The camera is so remote from the action that I found it difficult to get involved, either with the characters or what was happening to them. The picture has its moments of tension but overall it has a soporific, drifting, enervated feel that ultimately lulls you into indifference.On the other hand, its stylistic peculiarity might be the only reason to bother watching it today
In October 1974 Variety announced that producer Harry Alan Towers was to begin filming his second version of Ten Little Indians in Iran. This was confirmed at the Tehran Film Festival, which was endorsed by the Shah of Iran. It was to be filmed mainly at the fabulous Shah Abbas Hotel. Confirmed actors included Oliver Reed, Herbert Lom, and James Mason (who was cast as Judge Cannon).Unfortunately James Mason relocated to Switzerland for tax purposes just before the film was to begin, and had to bow out. He was replaced by Richard Attenborough-a great actor (Attenborough was knighted the year after this film was released-for his acting, as he had only directed two films up to that time). Although Attenborough has the best role in the film-and arguably gives a fine performance, one wonders what it would have been like had the marvellous Mason taken the part.All in all this is a pretty good film-the story can't be ruined (although they tried their best in 1989 to do just that). Herbert Lom is always worth watching, and Oliver Reed gives an understated, subtle performance. Alberto De Mendoza and Maria Rohm (wife of harry Alan Towers) are good and believable sinister as the servants. Stephane Audran is also quite good, looking charming and elegant, and Charles Aznavour gets to sing one of his own songs as well as "Ten Little Indians." Orson Welles also lends dignity as the voice of Mr. Owen, although there's an annoying music playing while he's denouncing the guests. The film was co-produced and financed with multiple countries, and did its best box-office in Spain, where it took in 30 million dollars. There was also a "foreign" version with about 10 minutes added, including several other actors, but no one seems to know how to get hold of it.Once again, one wonders what it would have been like with James Mason, and possibly a few other British actors playing Blore and the General-the way Agatha Christie wrote it.
This was the third version of Agatha Christie's immensely popular "Ten Little Indians", the story of a group of strangers who are mysteriously invited to a remote hotel where they soon discover they are to face judgement for the crimes of their past.No stunning performances from the cast (which included Oliver Reed, Herbert Lom, Elke Sommer, Sir Richard Attenborough and the voice of Orson Welles) and some may find the music a little too much, but all this hardly matters as the real fun is trying to figure out who is bumping off all the guests.Christie fans will enjoy trying to crack her complex puzzle, in another good film murder-mystery lovers should relish.Sunday, September 19, 1993 - Video