Touches You

To me, this movie is perfection.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The best version of the Agatha Christie classic is still the 1945 movie "And Then There Were None". Still, this is quite an impressive version. I admit that it doesn't offer anything that new to the story. It's instead just a completely faithful retelling. I recognized all of the situations and all the characters. It mostly just comes down to one thing. How was the acting?The acting was good and everybody seemed fairly serious in their role and understand their purpose. The pacing is probably what makes this version noteworthy. The deaths are spread out quite well, which is something they could have changed for any version. It makes me feel good for the characters at the end. We have a fairly unique cast. All in all, a good version. ***

This is a pretty good screen version of the classic Agatha Christie story: it successfully conveys the atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion among the "Ten Little Indians", and will probably surprise those (few?) still unfamiliar with the plot. If the whole enterprise is a little by-the-numbers, at least it follows the numbers adequately. The casting is generally OK (the breathtaking Shirley Eaton appears in her underwear twice, by the way!), and some of the deaths (the cable car in particular) are memorable. The main setback of this film - as with the underrated 1974 version - is that it follows Christie's somewhat forced "happy ending" that she wrote for the stage rather than her original nihilistic ending from the book. **1/2 out of 4.

Yes, let's consider the 2 coy changes to the original play and 1945 (original version)title. Trouble with this little bedtime tale is that it's good for one viewing once the guilty character is revealed and then you watch & compare the different casts & variances in plot. Clearly the many curious( and awful) remakes can't touch the excellent Rene Clair version nor its cast. I once attempted a review for IMDb and it was rejected because I mentioned the original UK release title which I can produce from a newspaper of the day. It seems that "Indians" is still OK today but never the original word! Further (appro pro the original) "And Then There Were None" is still not entirely accurate where the original has 3 remaining characters (I won't say who) at the end. It is a great,fun mystery and Louis Hayward would never be allowed to sleep with June Duprez in the day.It also seems the stage (and film) resolution had to be changed since the real book ending wouldn't have worked. The con has been repeated several times since. One of the best (& unlikeliest) was that used in Fritz Lang's "Woman In The Window". I have just got through watching the 1965 UK version that DOES contain the minute break,

After recently reading the actual book "And Then There Were None", a book which I read in less than 2 days, and is already one of my all time favourite books, and after seeing the 1945 version of the movie, which is by far the best adaptation, I was really keen to see the three other remakes, with this one being the second and a very decent adaptation.Well I must say that this version is a very good, fun and slightly campy movie. This version does differ in several ways however, like the back stories on some of the characters and names, and the Emily Brent character taken out completely and replaced by a younger Hollywood actress, probably in order to spice things up I suppose and she was an interesting aspect of the movie.In this version the setting is an isolated ski lodge/mansion, and only accessible by cable car, which does retain some of the tension the original book/film had and we also get a cheesy camp jazz opening as the film starts which introduces the cast, and what I liked as well as the murders are done on-screen unlike the other versions, which I loved as it made this version stand out from the others, and I still love the idea of ten people getting murdered to the words of a nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians" which in this is probably the last time that it centres and revolves around the entire movie, the further adaptations don't seem to use the nursery rhyme nearly enough. And another cheesy aspect which I loved is the 60 second whodunit break, which I have never seen before and loved me only wished it was used in the actual film instead of being an extra feature on the DVD release.All of the guests seem guilty of something and all of them act suspiciously, so everybody is a suspect. It makes for a perfect whodunit. More important, thanks to Ms. Christie's deft hand, we get to know each of the suspects as a distinct personality; they aren't the kind of interchangeable characters we so often encounter in shoddy imitations.The cast in this version may not be as strong as the original 1945 version, but here they are pretty decent and interesting. Hugh O' Brian, who plays the male lead Lombard, plays it cool calm and straight with his rugged good looks and all the makings of a classic Hollywood hero. Shirley Eaton whose probably best known for James Bond movie "Gold finger" gives a respectable performance as Ann Clyde and is well and truly beautiful and has great chemistry with Lombard and definitely a character to root for. The other actors also hold up well, we have Fabian playing a drunken pop star Mike Raven, who seemed really interesting but is dispatched way too early. Wilfred Hyde White playing the judge Arthur Cannon gave a stern and slightly lighthearted performance and progresses as the movie carries on. Stanley Holloway as detective Blore gave a sense of authority to his role. Daliah Lavi who plays the Hollywood actress Ilona Bergan was an interesting addition to the movie and plus she was beautiful despite the horrible sixties hairdo, Character actors Leo Genn and Dennis Price play General Sir John Mandrake and Dr. Edward Armstrong, respectively and the latter has interesting conversations with the Judge and were both a decent double act. And lastly Marianne Hoppe who plays the maid was decent but wasn't used nearly enough and Mario Adorf who plays the butler gave a memorable performance as the hot headed butler.All in all "Ten Little Indians" is a very decent adaptation of a brilliant book with decent production and a decent cast definitely a version worth watching.