‘And Then There Were None’ is a film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s best-selling mystery novel of the same name, directed by René Clair. Even after being one of the best thriller movies ever made, this movie has got its fair share of criticisms. Yet its eccentric plotline has made it be one of the best ones in the genre.
In the movie, eight strangers, are invited to a small, isolated island off the coast of Devon, England, by an enigmatic couple Mr. and Mrs. Owen. Ferried to the island by a sailor, they lodge in at an outlandish manor tended by two servants, Thomas and Ethel Rogers, who were newly hired as well. Oddly enough their hosts are absent and nobody seems to be too familiar with them. Baffled by the odd circumstances at hand, they settle down to see what unfolds for them. All the guests were called to the island for different purposes.
As the guests sit down to have dinner, they notice the centerpiece, ten figurines of Indians in a circle. Initially, they think of it to be some sort of décor. Afterward, Mr. Rogers puts on a gramophone record, from which a voice alleges them all of the murder of different people. All the guests are terrified at the accusation and soon enough, sit down to discern their own crimes. They also discover the name of the owner of the mansion U.N. Owen is a word play on the word ‘unknown’.
Guests gathered around the centrepiece
While discussing their crimes, one of the guests accepts his crime of over speeding and running over innocent people. Then he takes a drink and dies from poison. The next morning, the guests find out that Mrs. Rogers has died in her sleep. Then they notice that two statues of Indians from the centerpiece were missing.
Still from the movie
One by one everyone starts dying according to a nursery rhyme, ‘Ten little soldier boys’. All the guests are scared to death (quite literally) and they try to figure out who the killer is and where is he or she hiding in this island, disconnected from the whole world. Yet, they end up blaming and hating on each other and reaching to no definite conclusion. Yet, they keep dying one by one and without clear explanations.
Ten little soldier boys
The end gives you Goosebumps as gradually, all of them reach their demise and unfolds the most shocking truth of all.
In this movie, the killer creates his own justice for criminals who have eluded their sentence. Innovative and immensely intelligent, this movie is a must watch for all. A really old movie, perhaps marking its own authenticity, this movie is one of a kind!
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