Ten Little Indians (1987)

Talking to a fellow IMDber on the Horror board during the 2013 October Challenge,I found out about a highly praised adaptation of 10 Little Indians which had been filmed in the Soviet Union.With having recently seen a wonderful stage adaptation of the novel,I felt that with my 600th review coming up,that it was the perfect time to see the novel transferred to the big screen.The plot:Each receiving a letter from a Mr and Mrs Owen inviting them to an isolated (private) island near Devon,a group of 8 strangers get off a boat,and walk towards the Owens country mansion.Entering the mansion,the group is shocked to find no sign of the Owens at all,with the only people around being 2 newly hired servants,who have been given written instructions about when dinner should be served.Getting comfortable in their bedrooms,the guests discover a framed poem in each of the rooms,which is about how a group of 8 people are killed 1 by 1.Sitting down for dinner,the servants put a record on.To everyone surprise,the record appears to be a recording made my Mr Own,who lists all the activates that the guests have done,which led to the (wrongful) deaths of individual's.Trying to make sense of what's taking place,one of the guest suddenly drops to the ground after taking a drink.Checking the glass,it is discovered that the glass contained a small amount of poison.Taking a look at the 10 figures on the table,the group discover to their horror that 1 figure has weirdly disappeared…View on the film:While the title was shot in a location that was not exactly Agatha Christie's English country house mansion, (in this case, Crimea)writer/director Stanislav Govorukhin cooks up an extraordinary,chilling atmosphere.Closely working with cinematographer Gennadi Engstrem, Govorukhin gives the film an unexpected poetic quality,with the windows in the mansion being used to reveal the overlap in each of the guests lives.Along with the stylish window shots, Govorukhin also builds a strong feeling of isolation,thanks to Govorukhin using tightly coiled side angles to show the endless waves and rocks that the mansion is surrounded by.Showing a real Giallo edge, Govorukhin gives each of the mansion murders an ultra-stylised appearance,with Govorukhin using various stocks of film to go back in time to show the events that cause each of the deaths.Sticking extremely close to Christie's novel (with this being the only adaptation to feature the original ending,and also not to change any of the characters from the book) Govorukhin avoids the risk of the adaptation being a dry affair by giving the movie a real burst of infectious energy,with Govorukhin painting each of the group with a deep sense of dread,as they start to see the cursed poem come to life.

This version of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Non-PCs is head ans shoulders above the previous versions notwithstanding that one was the work of Rene Clair. It's a testament to the quality of this version that I watched an unsubtitled version containing to the best of my knowledge none of the four Russian words I know - please, thank you, yes, no - yet had no problem in following the story. Director Stanislav Govorukhin has opted for atmosphere/acting about 60-40 and it pays off. He lets us know from the first just how isolated the 8 guests and 2 servants will be on not so much an island as a large rock, a huge block of granite rising almost sheerly out of the sea. The camera pans around the rock as the passengers disembark and when the boat turns back there is not even a glimpse of mainland. There's a nice touch on the soundtrack with versions of both My Baby Just Cares For Me and Stardust, including the verse. All of the actors were completely unknown to me and I was sufficiently impressed with the judge and Vera to ascertain their names, Vladimir Zeldin and Tatyana Drubich respectively.

I must say first off that I am a HUGE Christie fan; Ten Little Indians was the first Christie novel I had read and I was just blown away! The story was so complex and the resolution so brilliant that I was left speechless. What made this story so great is the fact that everything one usually suspects to happen in a book... for instance, one realises early in to tha book that everyone on the island is marked for death... but almost always there are usually two heroic characters who fall in love and overcome the antagonist. When one thinks that, one tends to look at Miss Claythorn and Lombard as the two who likely fit the bill... but this is not so, for they never fall in love, nor are they by any means likable people (they both were murderers and one even killed a little boy). Then, of course there is the fact that they both die. One would think that this would be the subject of a thousand wonderful adaptation... Well, it's almost right. There were many film versions but none matched up to the book's splendor. Then I finally get my hands on this (not easy) and I was stunned at how good it was... it follows the book all the way down to the original ending. The characters were well played, the plot was quick, and the scenery was beautiful.... all in all I I've this film a 9/10.

ahh.....After a difficult search, I managed to find a video copy (with subtitles) of the film described above. The other reviewer was the reason I was prompted to find this film. It is indeed the best adaptation of A. Christie's classic suspense thriller. The most gratifying thing is being able to see everybody end up exactly where they are supposed to be in the book. After all, it is called, "And Then There Were None," not called, "And Then There Were Two." Acting, direction, and photography are exquisite. Keep eyes on auction sites for people who have copies of this one....it IS out there somewhere!!