Agatha Christie : Dix petits nègres

This is a very watchable adaptation, but any Christie purist should find there are some arbitrary modifications to the story for no good reason. Most of them can't be explained as necessary adaptations for translation to the screen. Some of them are relatively inconsequential, and a couple might even be enhancements Dame AC would have endorsed (such as the play on the "bee sting" that has always struck me as a weak point in the book, which Christie even seems to acknowledge in the epilogue); but other changes did nothing to improve the story and some arguably weaken it. Namely, one of the elements of the book that makes it so intriguing is that the prior sins of those being picked off on the island have some element of moral ambiguity, or at least uncertain culpability. Turning some of those into blatantly cold-blooded crimes takes away from the murderer's motivation of serving justice for crimes "the law couldn't touch" for various reasons. Anyone who's not a purist won't be phased, and the series is worth watching. Good production value and great cast.

For a series based on famous literature work, there is a persistent effort on BBC to create proper feel for characters and isolated vista from the novel pages. The series looks strikingly posh, beautifully made with crisp cinematography while the actors play as palpable deceptive characters. This is back to the core of mystery thriller inspired by work of masterful writer and it's certainly deliciously inviting.

One might have read or seen this trademark Agatha Christie's flair before, several dubious personalities come together in an alarmingly desolated albeit gorgeous location where surreal legend might just appear out of thin air. Each of them is as shady as the cloud of arrows from Thermopylae and when body count starts to rise, dark secrets begin to emerge.

Visual presentation is handled with care. Every shot is designed to create a mystifying environment, sufficiently detached from reality. It's eerily fascinating how they can produce this single mansion on a tiny island, nearly like something out of a dream, yet might just believable enough. There's good care on the interior shots, as it presents the claustrophobic house in light enough angle so it would still hide the clandestine nature and the audience can better familiarize the setting as integral part of story.

Script shows a meticulous flamboyant approach for the interactions. All of the personalities gathered are completely suspicious and the series showcases these deep rooted deceptions in small bursts. Banters happen in beautiful words, yet they are meant to cut deep, or just plain cursing when the timely moments arrive. This set-up it immaculate done, one can appreciated the small details meant to draw or mislead the attention.

This is the quintessential classic mystery thriller from one of the best writers who have graced the genre, it will be a delightful treat for the fans as well as intriguing watch for everyone in general.

This is certainly the best 'film of the book' there has ever been - so far. The title sequence alone deserves an Oscar, with those beautiful jade figurines disintegrating and morphing into a model of the island where it all happens.

The house, the cast, the pathetically fallacious cloud formations, sunsets and dramatic weather, the costumes, hair and makeup taking each character from groomed control to dishevelled à la Marat/Sade - everything contributes to this brilliant psychological drama of Agatha Christie at her finest.

The only thing missing was Agatha Christie's brilliance.

There is a lack of understanding in this film of the original plot, which is not only fatal to the interpretation but is actually quite horrible. It is, in the final analysis, typical BBC. Every time the BBC dramatises a classic (Austen, Dickens, Conan Doyle...) it should have, just under the title, the words 'Loosely based on an idea by' - as a kind of caveat.

Agatha Christie's book (originally titled, in the UK, as 'Ten Little Niggers', in accordance with the terminology of the time - this was after all 1939...) has a completeness and subtlety of plot which the BBC can for some reason never achieve. Every tiny detail, as in a fine tapestry, fits in with and contributes to the whole. Everything is in its place - and the reader overlooks it at their peril.

So why did the BBC (in the persons of the screenwriter, director, et al.) omit things like the red oilskin curtain, the hiding of the grey skein of wool (inexpertly wound into an unusable ball by Miranda Richardson), the pooling and securing of possible murder implements, the bee, the seaweed, and so on? Why were the original murders made physical to an obviously culpable extent when the whole point of the plot is that they were not so, because they were too 'hands off'?

It is, after all, in this last respect why every reader kicks themself as they turn the last page of Agatha Christie's most perfect work - because she provided not only all the clues but actually also the only possible solution, elegantly displayed along the way, for the Hastings-blind reader who missed it all.

And then there's the larding of the BBC's currently in-favour - but inappropriate to the time and to Agatha Christie's oeuvre and taste - swear words. Plus the physical manifestation of the particularly favoured word between Vera Claythorne and Philip Lombard. What the fuck is all that about?. (See - doesn't add anything, does it ?) Have the BBC never heard of dramatic tension (oh, wait...)? If they'd kept faithful to the original in every respect, they wouldn't have needed to add anything as silly as a one-night stand and a few tacky close-ups of thighs, stocking tops, torsos, and cleavage.

Good, verging on excellent - but in the event not good enough. Worth a watch, but not a buy.

We'll just have to wait another twenty-nine or forty-one years for the next one to come along...

Others have remarked on the way in which Sarah Phelps's screenplay transforms Agatha Christie's best-selling novel - which has endured a long life as a play, as well as being repeatedly remade for the screen - into a three-hour epic full of thunder and lightning, both meteorological as well as psychological.

In its latest incarnation, the novel works brilliantly as a Gothic thriller that takes the lid off the civilized veneer of a group of Brits (and one Irishmen) and exposes the guilty passions lurking underneath. General John MacArthur (Sam Neill), an ostensible pillar of the community, cannot forget the time during World War One when he shot one of his officers in cold blood for making love to his wife. Emily Brent (Miranda Richardson), a spinster trying to lead a morally pure existence with plenty of prayer at night, willfully contributed to one of her "companions" throwing herself under a train by refusing her assistance during times of need. Dr. Armstrong (Toby Stephens) has been traumatized by the experience of tending to the wounded during World War One, to such an extent that he was guilty of professional negligence after the conflict had ended.

All ten protagonists have similar secrets to conceal; as the drama progresses, directors Basi Akpabio, Rebecca Keane and Craig Viveiros expose every one of them, just like peeling the skin off a pudding. What we discover is that they are all psychologically disturbed in some way; the visual effects such as the thunderstorm, the flashing lights, the rolling waves surrounding the island (on which they are all marooned), and the biting wind, are physical manifestations of their inner turmoil.

Viewed from this perspective, what might seem visually or verbally excessive - for example, Stephens's capacity to overact during times of extreme stress - is entirely justified. This version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE explores the dark recesses of the human psyche to expose the protagonists' bestial natures. The 1939 setting is significant; in the year the Second World War broke out, everyone begins by behaving complacently, as if believing that their class- conscious attitudes would never alter. By the end, we understand just how precarious British society at that time actually was; few people had ever managed to come to terms with the horrors of the previous war, and the forthcoming conflict would only exacerbate their pain.

Sometimes Phelps's script seems somewhat anachronistic, with attitudes redolent of the contemporary world rather than pre-Second World War society. Yet the decision to adopt this strategy is justified as a means of helping us understand our past, as well as realizing just how difficult, if not impossible, it can be to conceal our sins. A memorable adaptation.

I read Agatha Christie's source novel several times and lost count of how many different versions of the story I watched on film as well as on stage, but one thing is for certain: I will never grow tired of "And then there were None". The very first film-adaptation, released in 1945 already, still stands proud as the best version (and my personal favorite), but this mini-series is the completest version and perhaps also the most accessible one, suitable to introduce the genius of Mrs. Christie to younger audiences! "And then there were None" was produced by the BBC to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth. My sincerest respect to the makers, because they truly took the time and effort to achieve a qualitative and detailed enactment of the story with top-notch casting choices, stunningly accurate filming locations, precise decors, continuous underlying tension an ominous atmosphere throughout.

The only real difference with the original story is the nature of the 10 little protagonists of the infamous nursery rhyme! For obvious reasons, the use of words referring to "black people" is unacceptable, but apparently it's nowadays also racist and discriminating to use little Indians! Hence, we're following the elimination of ten little soldier boys here, and they're illustrated via ugly modern art ornaments (???) standing on the dinner table. I guess the rest of the plot is universally known and doesn't need a further summary? Oh heck, just because I love the story: ten people, complete strangers to each other, are heading out towards the minuscule Soldier's Island off the English coast. They were all lured to the island, via a formal invitation or a job offer, by a certain Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen (read that out loud) but upon their arrival their host and hostess aren't present. After dinner, the guests are suddenly confronted with a recording in which every single one of them is accused of being responsible for the death of a fellow human being even though they weren't punished for it. Immediately after the recording and the initial panic, the guests are killed one by one in ways that are reminiscent to the "10 Little Soldiers" rhyme. Since they are the only people on the island, the rapidly shrinking group of survivors realize that U.N Owen doesn't exist and that one of them is the murderer.

This is probably the longest version of "And then there were None" ever filmed, but you never get the impression that it's tedious. It's slow-paced and atmospheric, with the screenplay digging deeper into the details of the guests' previously committed crimes. The horror fan in me somewhat regrets that the actual murders are either too briefly or even entirely off-screen, but the lack of spectacle is widely compensated by the subtle tension-building and the profound character portraits. The cast is downright fantastic. Admittedly I only knew two names at first (Charles Dance and Sam Neill), but the rest of the cast is experienced and multi-talented as well. I doubt if Mrs. Christie would have approved of the "drunken orgy" sequences that were inserted close to the finale, but apart from that I've never seen a more version more faithful to the source novel. Agatha Christie is more alive than ever, in fact, since writer/director Kenneth Brannagh recently also delivered a brand new version of "Murder on the Orient Express".