And Then There Were None - BBC version

[Bobblit]

I was frankly surprised by how good this was. It's one of the few adaptations that didn't make me think "but it'd been better if they had followed the book more closely!" (perhaps because they actually followed the book quite closely, but whatever :smalltongue:).

It's been a while since I read the book, but I think some deaths were changed, and that in the adaptation they were more hostile to each other from the beginning, and much less calm later on. I believe that made it more realistic, though; I always found that in the original story they were too composed for people who are trapped and being murdered one by one. What I didn't like so much was the ending,

the judge shouldn't have shown himself until Vera was dead; it broke the flow of things. But okay, I understand that on screen it's difficult to explain what the nunchucks has been going on if there's no one left to explain it to.
Also, the "it has to be one of us" part wasn't explained enough. Lombard and Blore looking around for a bit didn't justify it; the whole time it would have been more obvious to think that there was someone else hidden in the island. In the book it was easier to say "there was nowhere on the island where someone could be hidden", but in the series, if they show an island with actual cliffs and ups and downs and things that look like caves, it's much more difficult to believe that nobody could be hiding there, especially if they didn't do an in-depth search.

So, did anybody watch it? What did you think?

[Ebon_Drake]

It aired here over Christmas. I'd not read the book before and really enjoyed it, the cast was solid and the cinematography was fantastic.

The changes to the characters' deaths were mostly minor, I think the only real major change was to "a big bear hugged one". The main changes were to several of the characters' back-stories to make them more obviously and directly guilty of murder: Blore's was completely different, the housekeepers outright suffocated their old employer instead of just withholding medicine, Lombard killed 21 men in Africa to get diamonds instead of just stealing their supplies and leaving them to die. It also went for typical "hotter, sexier, gorier" changes which were pretty obvious. I thought the goriness served the overall atmosphere well, but a few things like the drunken/drugged up party were more jarring.

I love the fact they went for the book ending. It was dark, brutal and really stuck with me. Obviously I didn't have any expectations going in as I'd not read the book beforehand, but having looked it up afterwards I think it worked better than the precise book version. Wargrave's confession in the epilogue was just a case of Christie writing herself into a corner as she needed to give an explanation but didn't have a smooth way of inserting it into the narrative. The way the series positioned it, Wargrave got to have his moment of gloating to someone about creating an unsolvable mystery (and explaining it to the audience) while still actually leaving it as unsolvable. The only point that stuck out for me was Wargrave somehow setting up the shot so that he flung the gun precisely across the table, but I can roll with that. I also liked how Vera tried to convince him to let her down, since by that point I hated her and didn't have any illusions about her true character. It was obvious that she was desperately trying to save her own skin and was planning to kill Wargrave the second he let his guard down.

On that note, one thing a friend pointed out is that the book ending is a great deconstruction of the "Final Girl" trope - Vera's role in the story seems to fit the mold, but the point of her character arc is actually to explain why she's the most despicable of them all. She's clever, articulate, capable and resourceful, which are great qualities until you realise she used them to kill a child for money and get away with it. Christie demolished that trope before it had even been built.

[Bobblit]

True, I thought Blore's backstory didn't sound familiar. Probably many of those changes were also made for dramatic purposes (withholding someone's medicine is going to kill them all the same, but the suffocating made for a much more graphic scene, for example). The party scene was weird but somehow it fitted, like it was something those people would do when finally deranged enough.



It was obvious that she was desperately trying to save her own skin and was planning to kill Wargrave the second he let his guard down.

Well, yes. She'd be a fool if she didn't plan to betray Wargrave. Not that not being a fool helped her much.

Although I don't agree with her being the most despicable of all. She's not a good person, of course, but (I had understood, at least) that she'd killed Cyril because of love for Hugo, not money. (While for example Lombard, who was portrayed in a rather likeable way, killed a lot more people for nothing but money, and didn't regret it.) And it was sort of a redeeming point for her that she felt bad about it and ended up comitting suicide... which was why I disliked that the judge interfered with it in this version. I mean, she's as horrible as everybody else in that house, but she doesn't seem to be worse than the rest.

[factotum]

It was nice to see an adaptation that cleaves to how the book ended, although it's worth noting that we can actually blame Agatha Christie herself for the usual "the last two are innocent and don't end up dying" way it goes--that's how she adapted the book for the stage in the 1940s, and the movie adaptations since have gone with that rather than the book version.

[Brother Oni]

Although I don't agree with her being the most despicable of all. She's not a good person, of course, but (I had understood, at least) that she'd killed Cyril because of love for Hugo, not money. (While for example Lombard, who was portrayed in a rather likeable way, killed a lot more people for nothing but money, and didn't regret it.) And it was sort of a redeeming point for her that she felt bad about it and ended up comitting suicide... which was why I disliked that the judge interfered with it in this version. I mean, she's as horrible as everybody else in that house, but she doesn't seem to be worse than the rest.


I wouldn't say Lombard was portrayed in a likeable way, just honest - he has no regrets and freely admits that he murdered men for money. In comparison to the others who either refused to acknowledge or hide their guilt, he was refreshing. Plus I couldn't get either Kili the Dwarf or John Mitchell the vampire out of my head whenever Aiden Turner popped up on screen. :smalltongue:

As for Vera, yes, she killed Cyril out of love for Hugo but so that he could have the inheritance money that would have otherwise gone to Cyril. This would have made him rich enough to be independently wealthy and given him sufficient social status to propose to her. The only problem is, she underestimated Hugo's love for his nephew.

[Bobblit]

I didn't know that Christie herself was responsible for that other ending. Why'd she do that? It just takes the sense out of the whole story.


I wouldn't say Lombard was portrayed in a likeable way, just honest - he has no regrets and freely admits that he murdered men for money. In comparison to the others who either refused to acknowledge or hide their guilt, he was refreshing.

Yet, he was the love interest and I think he was portrayed in a more sympathetic way than the rest. He was the only one who had just one short flashback scene (apart from Marston, but he died so soon that it doesn't count), and I think it didn't even show him murdering those men.


Kili the Dwarf

Ouch! This explains a lot xD


As for Vera, yes, she killed Cyril out of love for Hugo but so that he could have the inheritance money that would have otherwise gone to Cyril. This would have made him rich enough to be independently wealthy and given him sufficient social status to propose to her. The only problem is, she underestimated Hugo's love for his nephew.

Exactly. She killed Cyril so that she could marry Hugo, which was a stupid move, but it does seem as if her getting rich was only a side effect of that plan. She'd be even a worse person in my eyes if she'd done it mostly because of the money, instead of mostly because of being in love.

[comicshorse]

Yet, he was the love interest and I think he was portrayed in a more sympathetic way than the rest.


I find General MacArthur's (Sam Neil's character) the most sympathetic. He acted in a moment of rage and betrayal and regrets his actions while the rest seemed utterly unrepentant as to their murders

[Bobblit]

True, I had forgotten the general. He died too soon. :smalltongue:

I think, though, that most of them regret their actions in one way or another, or they wouldn't be so haunted about them. (Excluding Lombard, who apparently didn't care at all.)

[comicshorse]

Booth didn't exactly appear racked with guilt :smallsmile:

[factotum]

True, I had forgotten the general. He died too soon. :smalltongue:


That was the entire point of the order of death in the original book, though--the ones who the murderer thought had committed the least reprehensible crimes died first, so they had a much shorter time of having to live with the terror. That's why the chap who killed two children by running them down in his car was killed first.

[Dienekes]

That was the entire point of the order of death in the original book, though--the ones who the murderer thought had committed the least reprehensible crimes died first, so they had a much shorter time of having to live with the terror. That's why the chap who killed two children by running them down in his car was killed first.

Interestingly in the book he is also completely remorseless for it. He was driving recklessly and just didn't care that people died other than it made his life more difficult.

Always thought he was worse than Vera in the book because of it. They were both at fault, but Vera only killed 1 to his 2 and she did feel guilty.

[An Enemy Spy]

Interestingly in the book he is also completely remorseless for it. He was driving recklessly and just didn't care that people died other than it made his life more difficult.

Always thought he was worse than Vera in the book because of it. They were both at fault, but Vera only killed 1 to his 2 and she did feel guilty.

I'd say the difference is that Vera's crime was premeditated, while Anthony's was an accident. It was his attitude after the fact that put him on Wargrave's list, not necessarily the actual crash.

[Bobblit]

I always found that the "those less guilty died first" thing was dumb. What makes Marston less guilty than, for example, the doctor? If he was operating, he was actually trying to save someone, even if in a very misguided way. And if I recall correctly, Emily Brent had not only not done anything illegal but did even believe that what she did was the morally correct thing to do. Nah, that guilt order isn't very consistent.

[factotum]

I always found that the "those less guilty died first" thing was dumb. What makes Marston less guilty than, for example, the doctor?

I said "the ones who the murderer thought had committed the least reprehensible crimes" for a reason--it's Wargrave's judgement call on that, and let's face it, the guy is not exactly the most rational person in the world or he wouldn't have planned such an elaborate scheme to kill 9 people and then commit suicide! His main problem with the doctor was that he betrayed the trust his patient had in him, and that, to Wargrave's mind, was far more serious than not feeling guilty for what, when all's said and done, was an accident. I think that's why Vera was last, despite killing only one person--that person was a child who implicitly trusted her, and Vera set out to murder that child for the sole purpose of allowing her prospective lover to inherit money and thus marry her.

[comicshorse]

While I don'y think it was explicitly shown I got the impression the patient died because the Doctor was drunk while operating on him

[Bobblit]

I said "the ones who the murderer thought had committed the least reprehensible crimes" for a reason--it's Wargrave's judgement call on that, and let's face it, the guy is not exactly the most rational person in the world or he wouldn't have planned such an elaborate scheme to kill 9 people and then commit suicide! His main problem with the doctor was that he betrayed the trust his patient had in him, and that, to Wargrave's mind, was far more serious than not feeling guilty for what, when all's said and done, was an accident. I think that's why Vera was last, despite killing only one person--that person was a child who implicitly trusted her, and Vera set out to murder that child for the sole purpose of allowing her prospective lover to inherit money and thus marry her.

No, Wargrave certainly wasn't the most sane guy in the world. Yet, even if his sorting of "guilt" was based on trust betrayal or such, the order of the deaths still comes off as pretty random. The general also betrayed his officer's trust, the Rogers betrayed an old woman under their care, Brent possibly didn't even betray anyone since it's likely she had made clear from the beginning she wouldn't tolerate the kind of thing her maid had done, etc.


While I don'y think it was explicitly shown I got the impression the patient died because the Doctor was drunk while operating on him
Yes, the doctor operated drunk and killed his patient as a result. Obviously that's bad, but I don't see how it's worse than nearly everyboby else's crimes except Blore's, Lombard's and Vera's, who were killed after him.