Focus Features

In 1966, Ten Little Indians, British director George Pollock’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous mystery novel opened in New York. Pollock had previously directed the hugely popular series of Agatha Christie movies with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. But Pollock’s film was not an original, having already been turned into a film in 1945 by René Clair under the title And Then There Were None. Christie had struggled with the mystery’s high concept, that being ten people in an isolated space with each being murdered one by one, for a while. She wrote “because it was so difficult to do … the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer becoming obvious.” Christie’s book was originally released in Britain with the unfortunate title Ten Little Niggers, which was quickly changed to And Then There Were None for its US publication. The novel’s simple, compelling conceit made it Christie’s bestselling mystery––indeed the best selling mystery of all time. In addition, she conceived of the novel, even as she was writing it, as a stage play. And so the play opened a year after the novel was published, and the first film version came in 1945. While Pollock’s remake stayed true to the plot, it changed some basic ideas. While the original book and film were set on “Indian Island,” Pollock’s remake takes place on a mountain estate accessible only by a tram. And the story’s spinster was turned into a movie star, giving the production a zap of sex appeal. But the most interesting aspect of the new production was the introduction of a “whodunit” minute, a beak in the film that give the audience time to put the clues together and guess the murderer. The novel was adapted into two more films, a television film, and a video game.

In 1966, Ten Little Indians, British director George Pollock’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous mystery novel opened in New York. Pollock had previously directed the hugely popular series of Agatha Christie movies with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. But Pollock’s film was not an original, having already been turned into a film in 1945 by René Clair under the title And Then There Were None. Christie had struggled with the mystery’s high concept, that being ten people in an isolated space with each being murdered one by one, for a while. She wrote “because it was so difficult to do … the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer becoming obvious.” Christie’s book was originally released in Britain with the unfortunate title Ten Little Niggers, which was quickly changed to And Then There Were None for its US publication. The novel’s simple, compelling conceit made it Christie’s bestselling mystery––indeed the best selling mystery of all time. In addition, she conceived of the novel, even as she was writing it, as a stage play. And so the play opened a year after the novel was published, and the first film version came in 1945. While Pollock’s remake stayed true to the plot, it changed some basic ideas. While the original book and film were set on “Indian Island,” Pollock’s remake takes place on a mountain estate accessible only by a tram. And the story’s spinster was turned into a movie star, giving the production a zap of sex appeal. But the most interesting aspect of the new production was the introduction of a “whodunit” minute, a beak in the film that give the audience time to put the clues together and guess the murderer. The novel was adapted into two more films, a television film, and a video game.