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Let's be realistic.

Just what I expected

Absolutely brilliant

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

In spite of a rather significant departure from the original ending of the book (which I was still able to enjoy in my childhood with the original title, still immune to the so-called political correctness unfortunately so prevalent nowadays!), this turns out to be the best of the film adaptations done so far. The Austrian setting works perfectly, to say nothing of the exquisite (grey) cat. All cats are grey in the dark, as the saying goes... Almost 50 years after its original release, the movie has a fortunate new lease on life, thanks to its availability in DVD format. The actors preserve a certain innocence of the mid-60-s, which gives the movie an added note of freshness and originality.

If you've seen the 1945 version, And Then There Were None, you will only be disappointed with this version. Like so many films of the era - late 50s through the early 70s - this is a dated old specimen of a movie, and there's no escaping it. From the women's fashions, hairstyles, and make-up to the the younger men's insubstantial characters and world- view,.this is all 1965 - with the added claustrophobia produced not by the story itself (which takes place within a single structure) but by staging that failed to move from the stage. It actually looks like a filmed stage play, so much so that you could hear the director saying, OK, you stand there, and you there, then the two of you . . . You get the drift. Watchable, yes, but only until you start missing the 1945 actors. D-

Based on what is probably the most ingenious whodunit premise ever created, this film animates the classic Christie story, and does so at least as well as its forerunner, "And Then There Were None" (1945).Set in a remote castle at the top of a mountain on a cold, snowy weekend, "Ten Little Indians" tells the story of ten guests invited to this place of isolation by their unknown host, Mr. Owen. As one person dies, and then another, and with no chance of escape, the remaining guests get caught up in a game of suspicion and paranoia, as they attempt to solve the basic riddle and save their own lives. At dinner, one character asks frantically: "Are we going to sit around trying to guess who is Mr. Owen while we're murdered one by one?"Pacing is perfect. Dialogue is mesmerizing. In one scene, two characters face each other in big wing chairs in a dark room with shadows, enhanced by a fire in the fireplace. One character blurts out: "Cold." The second character responds: "Yes cold, quite cold." The first character then adds: "Lonely." The second agrees: "And lonely; quite, quite lonely." The exchange thus continues: "It might not be Grohmann." "It might not be." "Then who?" "Tell me doctor, do you lock your door at night?" "Invariably; do you?" "I think I will tonight."The ensemble cast is quite good. Overall acting is memorable, if not quite award worthy. The film's score enhances the cold, snowy setting. Stark, B&W lighting, combined with a pronounced echo in the large rooms, contribute to a tone that could best be described as ... creepy.One can nit-pick this film all day. But no amount of nitpicking can deny the brilliance of Christies's underlying story premise, borrowed by innumerable films and television series through the years, including the TV reality show "The Mole". For viewers who appreciate whodunit films, "Ten Little Indians" is hard to beat.