I am a fairly avid Agatha Christie fan, having read dozens of her works. Few of her books, if any, are better than her tale of ten doomed people who are marooned on an island and die one by one at the hand of an unseen foe (early on, they are all accused by a disembodied voice of committing murders that are untouchable by the law). I have been wishing to see an excellent film adaptation of And Then There Were None (or Ten Little Indians...or Ten Little N*****s if you're a real purist--in which case this edition may satisfy you even more thoroughly) for many years. I don't know how I did not know this Russian version existed until last night, but I am extremely happy I found it. It leaves the others, including the fairly charming 1945 edition, in the dust. (To be fair, I've seen the '45 and '65 edition, but not the English-language ones from the 70s and the 80s, which I've heard are not worth watching according to multiple sources.) Most of this review will come from the POV of someone who enjoys the Christie book (though I will be careful not to give away the biggest stuff).
I'll start by saying the racist element is troubling for a modern American audience. The Russian title is along the lines of the original 1939 book title Ten Little N*****s, and in some versions of this film, the subtitles use this term consistently (the one I saw uses "Indians", which is admittedly still offensive, but considerably less so IMO). Certainly the figurines representing each of the guests are African in depiction. If you are able to look past this, it's the best version there is. But if not, it would be completely understandable. A couple of other negatives: the subtitles are often a bit comical or not grammatically accurate, but that part, for me, was easily overlooked after a few minutes in the face of its overwhelming positive qualities. Finally, while the music is generally pretty good, it occasionally became a bit over-the-top for my taste.
The cast, direction, cinematography, screenplay, and atmosphere are all fantastic. The vast majority of the words (though obviously in Russian) are lifted directly from Christie's novel (if the subtitles I saw are to be believed), and the names and situations are almost exactly as in the book as well. These are tremendous positives, in my eyes, though it could be seen as being slavish to the original work. Two significant changes (there are others, but I feel they're in line with the original novel's intent): 1) Phillip Lombard has a dream about the East African natives he abandoned (this is hardly a spoiler as he is one of the only people to readily admit he is guilty of the crime of which he is accused). 2) Lombard and Vera Claythorne have sex (somewhat disturbing, almost non-consensual sex). While there is certainly some sexual tension between them in the novel, it does not come close to boiling over like in this movie. #1 made me giggle a time or two, while #2 was perfectly fine for me, right in line with the atmosphere and situation established in the movie.
As far as it goes, I'd say I would have had the audience discover who the killer was about 90 seconds later than this movie does, and I'd have had the killer linger in a little more detail about how they did it, but the fact that they have more or less kept the novel's ending (instead of the play/movie adaptations' endings since) is such a big win for me, the Christie fan viewer.
I cannot recommend this work enough if you want to see a good Christie adaptation. I'd say my previous favorite was the '70s Death on the Nile with Peter Ustinov (though Suchet is a better Poirot) and Mia Farrow, but that pales significantly in the face of the universally good performances and excellent atmosphere of Desyat negrityat.
I'll start by saying the racist element is troubling for a modern American audience. The Russian title is along the lines of the original 1939 book title Ten Little N*****s, and in some versions of this film, the subtitles use this term consistently (the one I saw uses "Indians", which is admittedly still offensive, but considerably less so IMO). Certainly the figurines representing each of the guests are African in depiction. If you are able to look past this, it's the best version there is. But if not, it would be completely understandable. A couple of other negatives: the subtitles are often a bit comical or not grammatically accurate, but that part, for me, was easily overlooked after a few minutes in the face of its overwhelming positive qualities. Finally, while the music is generally pretty good, it occasionally became a bit over-the-top for my taste.
The cast, direction, cinematography, screenplay, and atmosphere are all fantastic. The vast majority of the words (though obviously in Russian) are lifted directly from Christie's novel (if the subtitles I saw are to be believed), and the names and situations are almost exactly as in the book as well. These are tremendous positives, in my eyes, though it could be seen as being slavish to the original work. Two significant changes (there are others, but I feel they're in line with the original novel's intent): 1) Phillip Lombard has a dream about the East African natives he abandoned (this is hardly a spoiler as he is one of the only people to readily admit he is guilty of the crime of which he is accused). 2) Lombard and Vera Claythorne have sex (somewhat disturbing, almost non-consensual sex). While there is certainly some sexual tension between them in the novel, it does not come close to boiling over like in this movie. #1 made me giggle a time or two, while #2 was perfectly fine for me, right in line with the atmosphere and situation established in the movie.
As far as it goes, I'd say I would have had the audience discover who the killer was about 90 seconds later than this movie does, and I'd have had the killer linger in a little more detail about how they did it, but the fact that they have more or less kept the novel's ending (instead of the play/movie adaptations' endings since) is such a big win for me, the Christie fan viewer.
I cannot recommend this work enough if you want to see a good Christie adaptation. I'd say my previous favorite was the '70s Death on the Nile with Peter Ustinov (though Suchet is a better Poirot) and Mia Farrow, but that pales significantly in the face of the universally good performances and excellent atmosphere of Desyat negrityat.