When first published near simultaneously in the UK & USA at the end of 1939 beginning of 1940 "And Then There Were None" - as the book was titled for the American market - was acclaimed as a breakthrough by aficionados and critics alike of the murder mystery genre. Agatha Christie had broken many of the unwritten narrative storyline rules thought previously necessary for successfully writing a murder mystery. Rules that she herself used when writing. Such as ... The need for a detective character on hand to help solve the mystery for the reader ... The need for opposing protagonists - every character is a protagonist in the assembled cast ... The need to illicit sympathy from the reader for the plight of some of her characters - not a necessary requirement when all are guilty ... Other than the ending, the need for surprise - from the outset all concerned are made aware of their fate ... The need to provide either true or false clues / hints - no need to do so when there is no detective character on hand to interpret them for the reader.
Indeed, Agatha Christie wrote in her autobiography "I had written the book And Then There Were None because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact, it had to have an epilogue in order to explain it. It was well received and reviewed, but the person who was really pleased with it was myself, for I knew better than any critic how difficult it had been. I don't say it is the play or book of mine that I like best, or even that I think it is my best, but I do think in some ways that it is a better piece of craftsmanship than anything else I have written."
While having few equals when creating narrative story lines, critics of Agatha Christie (myself included) have frequently pointed to her use of stereotype one-dimensional characters. This becomes particularly evident when her work is adapted for the three- dimensional medium of film and TV thereby removing the need for a reader's imagination. Though spread over a mere 272 pages, the book And Then There Were None avoids the need for detailed characterisation because of such a strong narrative plot that drives the story along ably supported by a relatively large ensemble cast. However, this particular filmed TV version still felt the need to support certain characterisations by the liberal use of flashbacks which I found irritating at times. But then again, this was done inform viewers coming to the story for the first time and not for the benefit of those familiar with the book and / or previous adaptations.
Being that there have been a fair few attempts in the past to put variations of And Then There Were None on film. Though this is first time a faithful-to-the-book English language version has been filmed. Previous efforts have tended to pass-over or attempt to mitigate away certain unsavoury aspects of the characters while sanitising elements of the ultimately doom-laden outcome of the story. It could be argued that this particular version is somewhat bleaker and leaves less to the viewer's imagination than that of the book. It certainly comes across as more graphic than other gentler adaptations I have seen.
In particular, Charles Dance (as Judge Wargrave) and Burn Gorm (as former policeman William Blore) play malevolent menace better than most. While not previously aware of Australian-born Maeve Dermody (as Vera Claythorne), she convincing plays the conniving femme fatale character - methinks a good piece of casting. Though in all honesty, one could have cast any good looking actor as Philip Lombard, the ne'er-do- well soldier of fortune. I suspect Aidan Turner got the part because of his popularity with female viewers as the titular lead of the current TV series Poldark and, very much a blatant casting appeal to pull in a female audience. A little gem of a performance was that of Anna Maxwell Martin as the timidly dominated servant and cook Mrs Rogers. Unfortunately for her, she was not required to hang around for too long being the second of the 10 to be bumped off - but, what she called on to do, she made the most of.
The somewhat disappointing omission for me that appears at the end of the book but was left out of this adaptation was the epilogue. While Agatha Christie felt the need to add an epilogue as an explanatory device for the reader, I suspect the use of flashbacks negated the need to visually include it. That minor gripe aside, if anyone can do a better filmed telling of this complex and much applauded murder mystery in less than three hours of screen time then I can't wait to see it.
Indeed, Agatha Christie wrote in her autobiography "I had written the book And Then There Were None because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact, it had to have an epilogue in order to explain it. It was well received and reviewed, but the person who was really pleased with it was myself, for I knew better than any critic how difficult it had been. I don't say it is the play or book of mine that I like best, or even that I think it is my best, but I do think in some ways that it is a better piece of craftsmanship than anything else I have written."
While having few equals when creating narrative story lines, critics of Agatha Christie (myself included) have frequently pointed to her use of stereotype one-dimensional characters. This becomes particularly evident when her work is adapted for the three- dimensional medium of film and TV thereby removing the need for a reader's imagination. Though spread over a mere 272 pages, the book And Then There Were None avoids the need for detailed characterisation because of such a strong narrative plot that drives the story along ably supported by a relatively large ensemble cast. However, this particular filmed TV version still felt the need to support certain characterisations by the liberal use of flashbacks which I found irritating at times. But then again, this was done inform viewers coming to the story for the first time and not for the benefit of those familiar with the book and / or previous adaptations.
Being that there have been a fair few attempts in the past to put variations of And Then There Were None on film. Though this is first time a faithful-to-the-book English language version has been filmed. Previous efforts have tended to pass-over or attempt to mitigate away certain unsavoury aspects of the characters while sanitising elements of the ultimately doom-laden outcome of the story. It could be argued that this particular version is somewhat bleaker and leaves less to the viewer's imagination than that of the book. It certainly comes across as more graphic than other gentler adaptations I have seen.
In particular, Charles Dance (as Judge Wargrave) and Burn Gorm (as former policeman William Blore) play malevolent menace better than most. While not previously aware of Australian-born Maeve Dermody (as Vera Claythorne), she convincing plays the conniving femme fatale character - methinks a good piece of casting. Though in all honesty, one could have cast any good looking actor as Philip Lombard, the ne'er-do- well soldier of fortune. I suspect Aidan Turner got the part because of his popularity with female viewers as the titular lead of the current TV series Poldark and, very much a blatant casting appeal to pull in a female audience. A little gem of a performance was that of Anna Maxwell Martin as the timidly dominated servant and cook Mrs Rogers. Unfortunately for her, she was not required to hang around for too long being the second of the 10 to be bumped off - but, what she called on to do, she made the most of.
The somewhat disappointing omission for me that appears at the end of the book but was left out of this adaptation was the epilogue. While Agatha Christie felt the need to add an epilogue as an explanatory device for the reader, I suspect the use of flashbacks negated the need to visually include it. That minor gripe aside, if anyone can do a better filmed telling of this complex and much applauded murder mystery in less than three hours of screen time then I can't wait to see it.