And Then There Were None
|
|
AndThenThereWereNoneDVDCover.jpg
And Then There Were None (also known as Ten Little Indians and Ten Little Niggers) is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie. It takes its name from a nursery rhyme, in common with several other Christie titles (e.g. One, Two, Buckle my Shoe).
It was first published as Ten Little Niggers in England in 1939, and in 1940 it was republished in New York as And Then There Were None, a less offensive title taken from the same rhyme.
| Contents |
Stage and screen
Christie herself adapted the book for a stage performance in 1943, interestingly, she decided that the play demanded a more upbeat ending than the book. Since then it has been performed regularly as a stage play. It was adapted for the cinema as And Then There Were None in 1945 and again in 1974; and also filmed as Ten Little Indians in 1959, 1965, and 1989. There was also a very faithul-to-the-novel film adaptation made in Russia in 1987, the title of which ("Desyat negrityat") translates pretty much as the novel's original title, Ten Little Niggers. It is the only adaptation that didn't change any of the characters or the ending of the book.
The 1945 film version was the most successful and took less liberties with Christie's plot than some of the other versions, though its faithfullness to the original source is nowhere as close that of its Russian counterpart. It was directed by Rene Clair from a screenplay by Dudley Nichols.
The basic concept of the plot has been recycled countless times, often without crediting Christie (who wasn't above ripping off her own concept for future stories). The most recent example is probably the 2004 crime thriller Mindhunters, which includes many elements of Christie's original story, including an island, a mysterious killer who turns out to be one of the victims and various plot twists.
List of movie adaptations
- And Then There Were None (1945 movie) - directed by René Clair (IMDb listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037515/))
- Ten Little Indians (1959 movie) - live television presentation, directed by Paul Bogart, Philip F. Falcone, Leo Farrenkopf and Dan Zampino (IMDb listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278766/))
- Ten Little Indians (1965 movie) - directed by George Pollock (IMDb listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061075/))
- And Then There Were None (1974 movie) - directed by Peter Collinson (IMDb listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072263/))
- Desyat negrityat (1987) - directed by Stanislav Govorukhin (IMDb listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092879/))
- Ten Little Indians (1989 movie) - directed by Alan Birkinshaw (IMDb listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098454/))
Plot synopsis
Ten people are invited to an isolated island off the southern coast of Devon, England (although this location was changed for several adaptations) by an eleventh person who never arrives. They die or are murdered one by one. The antagonist turns out to be one of the ten, but by the end of the book all ten of them are dead leaving a "locked room mystery." They die one by one, with the tension steadily increasing, the manner of death ranging from potassium cyanide to a head crushed by a clock.
The book ends with eight of the characters getting killed, and two committing suicide. Most adaptions, even the play, feature two of the characters surviving and stopping the killer. The Russian version is unique at keeping the book's grim ending.
The rhyme
The book's original title "Ten Little Niggers" was taken from the chorus of an American comic song, written by Septimus Winner in 1868; there are many variants of the lyrics, of which "Ten Little Injuns" is probably the most familiar to modern audiences. The song is now considered by many to be racist and offensive.
Variants or portions of the song were taught to a couple of generations of American and European children as a nursery rhyme. The verses have been increasingly altered over time to become more politically correct, and many modern versions don't refer to people at all: "Ten Little Tigers", "Ten Little Apples", and so on.
When objections to the book titles "Ten Little Niggers" and "Ten Little Injuns" were raised on the grounds of racism, the title was changed to "And Then There Were None", from the last line of the song.
- Ten little Injuns standin' in a line,
- One toddled home and then there were nine;
- Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate,
- One tumbled off and then there were eight.
- One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys,
- Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injuns boys.
Variant chorus:
- One little, two little, three little Injuns,
- Four little, five little six little Injuns,
- Seven little, eight little, nine little Injuns,
- Ten little Injun boys.
- Eight little Injuns gayest under heav'n,
- One went to sleep and then there were seven;
- Seven little Injuns cutting up their tricks,
- One broke his neck and then there were six.
- One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys,
- Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injuns boys.
- Six little Injuns kickin' all alive,
- One kick'd the bucket and then there were five;
- Five little Injuns on a cellar door,
- One tumbled in and then there were four.
- One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys,
- Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injuns boys.
- Four little Injuns up on a spree,
- One he got fuddled and then there were three;
- Three little Injuns out in a canoe,
- One tumbled overboard and then there were two.
- Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun,
- One shot t'other and then there was one;
- One little Injuns livin' all alone,
- He got married and then there were none.
In other media
"Ten Little Indians" is a song by The Yardbirds along the same lines with the rhyme, although more dismal.
"And Then There Were None" is also the title of a short story by Eric Frank Russell (first published in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1951) on a form of anarchism based on Mahatma Gandhi's passive-resistance methods.[1] (http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.htm)
External link
- Study guide about the book and its adaptations (http://www.bookrags.com/guides/tenlittleindians/)fr:Dix petits nègres