The third of many film and TV adaptations of the popular Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians is the title of the American edition, the hit play, and most of the movies), this 1965 version moves the action from a remote island to an isolated ski resort and otherwise rearranges the plot. The basic premise, however, remains the same. Ten strangers, eight of them guests and two of them servants, are lured to a dinner party and then trapped there to be killed one at a time by an unseen host who wishes to punish them for their disparate perceived crimes. The old nursery rhyme provides both the framing device, and, in the source material, the method of execution for each victim. In this version, however, the revised murder scenes include a hapless servant (
Marianne Hoppe) falling to her death from a booby-trapped ski lift. Ten Little Indians features a varied cast that ranges from future
Bond girls
Shirley Eaton and
Daliah Lavi to former teen idol
Fabian and former
Wyatt Earp TV star
Hugh O'Brian. It also reunites
My Fair Lady co-stars
Stanley Holloway and
Wilfrid Hyde-White. The film was the final directorial effort of
George Pollock, who had previously helmed several adaptations of Christie's popular Miss Marple mysteries, starting with 1962's Murder, She Said.
Christopher Lee makes an uncredited appearance as the recorded voice of absentee host/villain Mr. Owen. Despite its mountain setting, the picture was filmed in Ireland. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide