And Then There Were None is a 1945 mystery film directed by Rene Clair. It is possibly the most well-known of the many, many stage, film, and television adaptations of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel of the same name.
Ten people arrive at a mansion on an island that is little more than a bare rock, each having been invited there by one U.N. Owen. As it turns out, all ten have committed some terrible crime. They include: Sir John Mandrake (C. Aubrey Smith), an army general who sent his wife's lover off to die; Emily Brent (Judith Anderson), a pietistic spinster responsible for the death of her nephew; Dr. Edward Armstrong (Walter Huston), who killed a patient by operating while drunk; Prince Nikita Starloff (Mischa Auer), who killed two people in a hit-and-run acccident; Vera Claythorne (June Duprez), suspected of killing her sister's fiance; Phillip Lombard (Louis Hayward), who left 21 African soldiers in his unit to die in the desert; William Blore (Roland Young), whose perjured testimony led to an innocent man's death by hanging; Judge Francis Quincannon (Barry Fitzgerald), who caused a different innocent man to be hanged; and Thomas and Ethel Rogers (Richard Haydn and Queenie Leonard), servants at the house, who poisoned their previous employer.
The guests find this out when Thomas, acting on written orders, plays a phonograph record which recounts all their crimes. Soon after, Prince Nikita dies from a poisoned cocktail. The guests at the house realize that "U.N. Owen", who hasn't shown up on the island and whose name sounds like "unknown", must be one of them. Then, one by one, they are murdered...
Tropes:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Like most adaptations, this film changes the grim ending to the book in which all ten people do in fact die. In this version "Phillip Lombard" is actually Charles Morley, another man impersonating Phillip, who committed suicide after getting his invitation to the island. Charles and Vera fall in love and thus save themselves.
- Adaptational Heroism: While Book Vera is guilty (of killing a child, not her sister's lover), Vera in the movie took the blame for her sister, who was mentally disturbed. Then there's Phillip, who is innocent because he isn't actually Phillip.
- Adaptation Name Change: MacArthur is changed to Mandrake (with his wife's name being changed from Leslie to Juliet), Lawrence Wargrave to Francis Quincannon, and Anthony Marston to Prince Nikita Starloff.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Since the film was made at the height of the The Hays Code, Emily Brent’s crime was drastically altered to suit the censors. Beatrice Taylor, Miss Brent’s tragic pregnant servant girl is replaced with Peter Brent, her wayward nephew who ends up hanging himself after Miss Brent cruelly locks him up in a reformatory.
- Adapted Out: Like every other adaptation, the epilogue is omitted, so Sir Thomas Legge and Inspector Maine don't appear.
- Alcohol Hic: Rogers hiccups when he's drunk after dinner, having drunk all the cocktails to prove they weren't poisoned.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: How Judge Quincannon tries to talk Vera into hanging herself, pointing out that if she doesn't hang herself, she'll be hanged for nine murders."The only survivor found on an island with nine corpses will certainly be hanged. Take a piece of friendly advice; do it now, privately."
- Black Comedy: Loaded with this.
- Rogers reacts to the accusation that he poisoned the cocktails by indignantly drinking all of them; he then serves dinner drunk. After Rogers' death, Blore tries to reason that Rogers could have been the murderer, at which point Lombard says that Rogers then picked up an axe and split his own cranium, before saying he'd like to see Blore try to do that on himself, and quipping that it would take practice.
- At the end, when the boatman shows up, Vera and Charles walk out the front door. The boatman asks about the others and Charles says "You call them!"
- Book Ends: The film starts and ends features the boatman eating a sandwich.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: After the guests arrive at the island, five of the characters introduce themselves to each other, and all look straight at the camera when they do it. Later, Blore looks straight at the camera and says "I get it!" right before his head is caved in by a falling turret.
- Captain Obvious: Blore and Lombard burst into Vera's room to find her gone.Blore: She's not here!
Lombard: You grasp a point very quickly, Blore. - Chekhov's Gun: Lombard's suitcase with its "C.M." monogram. He isn't really Phillip Lombard.
- Cute Kitten: The only other resident of the island is a cute little house cat.
- Dead-Hand Shot: All that's shown of the death of Emily Brent is her hand dangling off the bed, after the other guests follow the trail from her ball of yarn, which the cat was playing with.
- Dead Hat Shot: Blore's demise is indicated by a dead binoculars shot, as the binoculars he was holding are shown lying on the ground.
- Dead Person Impersonation: "Phillip Lombard" is really Charles Morley. Morley's friend Lombard killed himself, and Morley, suspicious about the letter from U.N. Owen, took his place.
- Death Faked for You: Judge Quincannon tricks Dr. Armstrong into helping him fake his murder, so that he, Quincannon, can catch U.N. Owen.
- Dramatic Thunder: There's a dramatic clap of thunder sound right after the doctor confirms that the third victim was murdered. There's another instance of dramatic thunder right after Judge Quincannon says that the murderer must be one of them.
- Dropping the Bombshell: Near the climax, "Phillip" drops The Reveal: "I am not Mr. Lombard!" Moments later on the beach he explains to Vera that he took the real Lombard's place.
- Drunk Driver: Prince Nikita killed two people while driving drunk.
- Dwindling Party: The cast is killed off one by one.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: In the flashback, right after Judge Quincannon kills Dr. Armstrong on the beach, he takes the last swig from Armstrong's flask before tossing it aside.
- Exact Words: Lombard is asked about the accusation that he left 21 natives in his unit to die. He says, "Mr. Lombard is unable to deny a thing." That's because the real Mr. Lombard isn't there.
- Failed a Spot Check: Two characters argue about whether Rogers is the killer, while dead Rogers' shoes are visible in the foreground of the shot, just a few yards away and in plain view.
- Fainting: Mrs. Rogers faints after the phonograph record accuses her and her husband of murder.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: Dr. Armstrong determines that Prince Nikita's cocktail contained "a lethal solution" of something by dipping his finger in the dregs and tasting it.
- Hanging Judge: Judge Quincannon manipulated a trial into getting an innocent man executed, just to make a defense lawyer look bad.
- Implied Death Threat: As the men turn in for the night, Lombard warns the others that if one of them is the mysterious killer, they should know that he's easy to awaken.
- Inheritance Murder: Mr. and Mrs. Rogers poisoned their previous employer after the old lady included them in her will.
- Intro Dump: The Judge suggests that they all get acquainted, so five of the characters (Prince Nikita, Judge Quincannon, Dr. Armstrong, Gen. Mandrake, and Lombard) all introduce themselves in succession. Then as they're leaving the drawing room they run into Blore and the Judge asks his name too.
- It's All About Me: Prince Nikita's very hammy recounting of hitting two people with a car ends with him saying how depressed he was after his driver's license was confiscated. Then Vera asks about the two people and he says, oh, he ran them over.
- Large Ham: Mischa Auer (Prince Nikita) is the hammiest, giving a very hammy recounting of how he ran two people over and even managing a hammy death scene, staggering around and knocking stuff over before he dies of poison. (Maybe it's because he had the least screen time.)
- Lighter and Softer: This movie goes with the ending originating in Christie's 1943 play where Phillip and Vera both turn out not to have committed any murders and save each other by falling in love, which renders them less vulnerable to paranoia. It also mixes in a lot of comedy, both light and dark varieties.
- Never My Fault: Miss Brent does not feel any guilt or accountability for her nephew’s suicide. She simply shrugs it off as “one of his many sins.”
- Poetic Serial Killer: The killer arranges deaths for his victims (except for Blore) in a manner similar to that of the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme (e.g., Prince Nikita, like the tenth Indian, chokes after downing a poisoned drink). Lombard lampshades it, saying that the killer likes to line up his murders with the nursery rhyme.
- The Power of Trust: What saves "Phillip" in this film is that he showed enough trust in Vera to give her his gun for self-defense. (In the novel Vera steals the gun from Phillip before she shoots him.)
- Right-Hand Cat: The Cute Kitten house cat seen throughout the movie becomes more ominous at the end when the killer sits down in an easy chair, and pets the cat as he explains his evil plan.
- Second-Face Smoke: The rather more comic tone of this film (compared to the book) is established in the opening scene, when Miss Brent is continually annoyed by the smoke from Blore's pipe blowing back into her face.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The Lighter and Softer ending has Phillip and Vera falling in love and saving themselves. This ending originated with Christie's 1943 play and is found in most English-language adaptations.
- Staged Shooting: Vera and Charles fake her shooting him on the beach to get the killer to reveal himself.
- Ten Little Murder Victims: The novel is the Trope Maker. Ten people who have done terrible things are invited to a remote island, and killed off one by one.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: When the others start discussing the possibility that he's the killer, Rogers breaks in to point out the unlikelihood of it, given that his wife was killed by the same murderer. Judge Quincannon lightly answers that he's seen multiple cases in which husbands killed their wives.
- Title Drop: Prince Nikita sits down at the piano and sings the "Ten Little Indians" song.
- Trouble Entendre: Seeing that Rogers hasn't gotten breakfast together, Miss Brent comments that if she employed such a servant, she'd get rid of him quickly. This comes across more ominously to the men, who have just found Rogers' corpse.
- The Uriah Gambit: General Mandrake's crime, sending his wife's lover off on a doomed mission.
- Vigilante Execution: Judge Quincannon invites nine (more or less) murderers to the island, so he can kill them one by one.
- Vigilante Man: Judge Quincannon indulges in a twisted form of justice by killing people who have murdered others. However, he makes a mistake: Vera Claythorne, whose sister actually murdered the victim.
- Your Days Are Numbered: In his Motive Rant at the end, Judge Quincannon says that he was motivated to put his scheme in motion when he found out that he's terminally ill.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Phillip says "You won't shoot me" to Vera on the beach when she thinks he's the killer. Unlike the book, they're in love, so he's right.
