Fancy Footwork and And Then There Were None: Difference between pages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Difference between pages)
Content deleted Content added
 
Jtomlin1uk (talk | contribs)
Correction
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{otheruses}}
{{Infobox Album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
{{Infobox Book
| Name = Fancy Footwork
| Type = Studio Album
|name = And Then There Were None
|title_orig = Ten Little Niggers
| Artist = [[Chromeo]]
|translator =
| Cover = Chromeo_Fancy_Footwork.jpg
|image = [[Image:And Then There Were None First Edition Cover 1939.jpg]]
| Released = [[June 19]], [[2007]]
|image_caption = Cover of first edition featuring the original ''Ten Little Niggers'' Title
| Recorded =
| Genre = [[Electro (music)|Electrofunk]], [[Dance Pop]]
|author = [[Agatha Christie]]
|illustrator =
| Length =
|cover_artist = Not known
| Label = [[Turbo records|Turbo]], [[Vice Records|Vice]]<br/>[[V2 Records|V2]]
| Producer = [[Chromeo]]<br/>[[Tiga (musician)|Tiga]]
| country = [[United Kingdom]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| Reviews = * [[Allmusic]] {{rating|3|5}} [http://wm09.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fvfuxzu5ldte link]
| series =
*[[Billboard]] [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3id1068ba907a57d3b99c74065096966e4 link]
| genre = [[Crime novel]]
*[[Rocklouder]] {{rating|3|5}} [http://www.rocklouder.co.uk/articles/3720/Chromeo---Fancy-Footwork.html link]
| publisher = [[Collins Crime Club]]
* ''[[This Is Fake DIY]]'' {{rating|2.5|5}} [http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/6248.html link]
| release_date = November 6, [[1939 in literature|1939]]
* ''[[BBC Music]]'' {{rating|4.5|5}} [http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/8bvr link]
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
* IM {{rating|4|5}} [http://www.infomusic.pl/recenzje_wiecej.php?id_rec=1226 link]
| pages = 256 pp (first edition, hardback)
*[[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]] (7.9/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/44203-fancy-footwork]
| isbn = NA
*[[The Phoenix (newspaper)]] {{rating|3|4}} [http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Music/64123-CHROMEO-FANCY-FOOTWORK/ July 1 '08]
|preceded_by = [[The Regatta Mystery]]
| Last album = [[She's in Control (Chromeo album)|She's in Control]]<br/>(2004)
|followed_by = [[Sad Cypress]]
| This album = ''Fancy Footwork''<br/>(2007)
| Next album =
| Misc = {{Extra album cover 2
| Upper caption = Alternate cover
| Type = Studio album
| Cover = Fancy Footwork Deluxe.jpg
| Lower caption = Cover for deluxe edition (2008)
}}
}}
}}
'''''And Then There Were None''''' is a work of [[detective fiction]] by [[Agatha Christie]] first published in the [[United Kingdom]] by the [[Collins Crime Club]] on November 6, [[1939 in literature|1939]]<ref name = "vuyqxh">''The Observer'' November 5, 1939 (Page 6)</ref> under the title of '''''Ten Little Niggers'''''<ref name="CC">Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions''. Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)</ref><ref name="pendergast"/> and in the [[United States]] by [[Dodd, Mead and Company]] in January [[1940 in literature|1940]]. The novel has also been published (and filmed) as '''''Ten Little Indians'''''. It has sold 115 million copies to date according to the editors of Publications International, Ltd., making it the world's best-selling mystery.


==Plot summary==
'''''Fancy Footwork''''' is the second album by [[Canadian]] [[Electronic music|electronic]]/[[dance pop]] group [[Chromeo]]. It was released on [[June 19]], [[2007]].
The novel takes place on an island off the coast of [[Devon]] in late 1930's, where eight people of different social classes journey to the Soldier Island mansion, having been invited there by a Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen. Upon arriving, they are told by the butler and his wife, Thomas and Ethel Rogers, that their hosts are currently away. Each guest finds in his room a slightly odd bit of [[bric-a-brac]] and a framed copy of the nursery rhyme "[[Ten Little Soldier Boys]]" ("Ten Little [[Niggers]]" in the original 1939 UK publication and "Ten Little Indians" in the 1940 US publication) hanging on the wall:
<!-- Editors please note: Barely a week goes by when someone doesn't change the rhyme back and forth between the old UK and US versions of 'Nigger' and 'Indian'. '[[Nigger]]' has precedence as the true first (UK) publication used this version but modern printings of the book use 'Soldier' to avoid controversy. This change is endorsed by the Christie estate. Please do not change the rhyme below to one of the older versions as someone will just change it back!-->


:''Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;''
A double CD deluxe edition was released on [[July 9]], [[2008]]. It features the original album along with a second disc of remixes and bonus tracks, as well as music videos.
:''One choked his little self and then there were nine.''
:''Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;''
:''One overslept himself and then there were eight.''
:''Eight little Soldier boys traveling in [[Devon]];''
:''One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.''
:''Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;''
:''One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.''
:''Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;''
:''A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.''
:''Five little Soldier boys going in for law;''
:''One got into [[Court of Chancery|Chancery]] and then there were four.''
:''Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;''
:''A [[red herring]] swallowed one and then there were three.''
:''Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;''
:''A big bear hugged one and then there were two.''
:''Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun;''
:''One got frizzled up and then there was one.''
:''One little Soldier boy left all alone;''
:''He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.''


(In some versions the seventeenth and eighteenth lines read ''Two little Soldier boys playing with a gun; / One shot the other and then there was One.'')
==Singles==


During a large dinner, the guests notice ten little figurines of soldiers on the dining room table. Later, when they gather in the parlor, a [[gramophone]] recording (bearing the label ''[[Swan Song]]'') is played, informing the ten that all of them are guilty of murder, though in each case they were not sentenced to death or heavy prison terms since the nature of the killings meant that the law could not touch them:
''Fancy Footwork'' spawned three singles, "Fancy Footwork" and "Tenderoni", and Bonafied Lovin'", all released on [[Turbo Recordings]].


* Anthony Marston ran over and killed two children while driving recklessly.
==Track listing==
* Mr. and Mrs. Rogers let their [[invalid]] employer die by withholding her medication, in order to claim a large inheritance.
# Intro&nbsp;— 1:08
* General John MacArthur sent his wife's lover on a suicidal mission during [[World War I]].
# Tenderoni&nbsp;— 4:14
* Emily Brent dismissed her maid after she became pregnant; the maid later committed suicide.
# Fancy Footwork&nbsp;— 3:18
* Justice Lawrence Wargrave gave the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] to accused murderer Edward Seton despite evidence supporting his innocence.
# Bonafied Lovin' (With Tough Guys Interlude)&nbsp;— 4:31
* Dr. Edward Armstrong performed a surgical operation while drunk and accidentally killed his patient.
# My Girl Is Calling Me (A Liar)&nbsp;— 2:20
* Inspector William Blore committed [[perjury]] during the trial of an accused bank robber, who died in prison.
# Outta Sight&nbsp;— 2:35
* Phillip Lombard abandoned a party of twenty-one native retainers to die in the African bush.
# Opening Up (With Ce Soir On Danse Interlude)&nbsp;— 4:58
* Vera Claythorne allowed Cyril Hamilton, a small boy in her care, to swim out to sea and drown; the boy was in the way of an inheritance which went to her lover, Hugo Hamilton, who later left her since he suspected her of deliberately causing the death of the boy whom he was very fond of.
# Momma's Boy&nbsp;— 2:49
# Call Me Up&nbsp;— 4:11
# Waiting 4 U&nbsp;— 3:46
# 100%&nbsp;— 6:00


The characters realize they have all been tricked into coming to the island, but now have no way to get back to the mainland, as the boat which regularly delivers supplies stops arriving. They are then murdered, one by one, each murder paralleling a verse of the nursery rhyme, and one of the ten soldier figurines being removed after each murder. First to die is Anthony Marston, whose drink is poisoned with [[cyanide]] (one choked his little self). The next morning, Mrs. Rogers never wakes up, and is assumed to have received a fatal overdose of sleeping draught (one overslept himself). At lunchtime, General MacArthur, who had predicted that he would never leave the island alive, is found dead from a blow to the back of his head (one said he'd stay there). In growing panic, the survivors search the island for the murderer or possible hiding places, but find no one. Justice Wargrave establishes himself as a decisive leader of the group; he asserts that one of them must be the murderer and is playing a sadistic game with them-an example of the killer's twisted humor is that-with the exception of Wargrave-each of the "guests" has been invited to come to the Island by Mr/Mrs "U.N.Owen" {i.e. "Unknown"!}.
==Disc 2 (Deluxe Edition)==
# Needy Girl&nbsp;— 4:17
# Rage!&nbsp;— 4:35
# You're So Gangsta&nbsp;— 4:03
# I Am Somebody&nbsp;— [[DJ Mehdi]] Feat. Chromeo&nbsp;— 3:10
# Tenderoni ([[MSTRKRFT]] Remix)&nbsp;— 4:45
# Fancy Footwork (Crookers Remix)&nbsp;— 5:28
# Needy Girl ([[Lifelike]] Remix)&nbsp;— 7:05
# Bonafied Lovin (Yuksek Remix)&nbsp;— 4:25
# Me & My Man ([[Whitey (musician)|Whitey]] Vs. Chromeo Fly Whitey Remix)&nbsp;— 4:03
# You're So Gangsta ([[Playgroup (band)|Playgroup]] Remix)&nbsp;— 5:48
# Destination: Overdrive ([[DFA Records|DFA]] Remix)&nbsp;— 5:38
# Fancy Footwork ([[Laidback Luke]] Remix)&nbsp;— 6:37
# Bonafied Lovin' ([[Jori Hulkkonen]] Remix)&nbsp;— 9:02


The next morning, Mr. Rogers is found dead in the woodshed, having been struck in the head with a large axe (one chopped himself in halves). Later that day, Emily Brent dies from an injection of [[potassium cyanide]] &ndash; the injection mark on her neck is an allusion to a bee sting (a bumblebee stung one). The hypodermic needle is found outside, thrown from the window along with a smashed china soldier figurine. The five survivors &ndash; Dr. Armstrong, Justice Wargrave, Philip Lombard, Vera Claythorne, and Inspector Blore &ndash; become increasingly frightened. Wargrave announces that anything on the island that could be used as a weapon should be locked up, including Wargrave's sleeping pills and Armstrong's medical equipment; Lombard admits to bringing a revolver to the island, but it has gone missing. They decide to sit in the drawing room, with only one leaving at any one time &ndash; theoretically, they should all be safe that way. Vera, the one most wracked by guilt, goes up to her room and discovers a strand of seaweed planted there; her screams attract the attention of Blore, Lombard, and Armstrong, who rush to her aid. When they return to the drawing room, they find Wargrave, dressed up in a judge's wig and gown, slumped against a chair with a gunshot wound in his forehead (one got into Chancery); Armstrong confirms his death.
==Notes==


That night, Blore hears someone sneaking out of the house. He searches the remaining rooms and discovers Armstrong missing from his room &ndash; so he must be the killer. Vera, Blore, and Lombard (whose revolver has since been returned to him) decide it best to go outside when morning arrives; when Blore's hunger later returns him to the house, he does not return; Vera and Phillip discover him dead, his head crushed by a Vera's marble, bear-shaped clock (a big bear hugged one). They assume that Armstrong has committed the murder and leave to walk along the shore. They find Armstrong's drowned body along the cliffs (a red herring swallowed one) and realize that they are the only two left; though neither could possibly have killed the Inspector, their mutual suspicion has driven them to the breaking point and each of them assumes the other to be the murderer. As they lift Armstrong's body out of reach of the water, Vera swipes Lombard's revolver, shoots him dead on the beach (out in the sun; or, one shot the other), and returns to her room, discovering a [[noose]] hanging from the ceiling and a chair underneath it. Having finally been driven mad (or "hypnotically suggestible") by the experience and latent remorse for her crime, Vera hangs herself, kicking the chair out from under her, fulfilling the final verse of the rhyme (And then there were none).
The song "Fancy Footwork" was used in the [[snowboard]] movie ''First Chair Last Call'' by Special Blend Outerwear Company in 2007.


===Epilogue===
The song "Tenderoni" was used in the second episode of Canadian TV Series [[jPod]].
<!-- Wikipedia contains spoilers. Please do not delete information regarding plot endings! -->
The epilogue consists of a conversation between Inspector Maine, in charge of the unsolved case, and the Assistant Commissioner at [[Scotland Yard]]. The man who made all the arrangements for U.N. Owen's purchase of the island was Isaac Morris, a shady dealer known to efficiently cover his tracks when doing business. However, he cannot tell the police anything: he died of a drug overdose the day the party set sail. During the period when the killings took place and immediately after, no one could have got onto or left the island without being seen and the weather was too bad anyway, ruling out the possibility that "Mr. Owen" was some unidentified person who committed the murders while evading detection from the guests.


The police have concluded from various characters' diaries that Blore, Armstrong, Lombard, and Vera were definitely the last to die. Blore could not have died last, as the clock was dropped onto him from above, and he could not have set up a way for it to fall on him. Armstrong could not have been last since his body was dragged above the high-tide mark by someone else; nor could Lombard, since he was shot on the beach but the revolver was found upstairs in the hallway, outside the door of Wargrave's room. This leaves Vera, who might have been the killer &mdash; her fingerprints are on the pistol and it was from her window the clock was dropped on Blore &mdash; except for the fact that the chair from which she lept with the noose around her neck was found pushed against the wall out of reach from where she would have stood on it.
The song "Fancy Footwork" is featured on ''[[DANCE! Online]]'', a [[Multiplayer Online Casual Game|multiplayer online casual]] [[Music video game|rhythm game]].


Hence, although one of the ten guests ''must'' have been the killer, none of them ''could'' have been.
The video for Momma's Boy was released on FNMTV July 25, 2008.


===Postscript===
The song "Tenderoni" was also used in French Electro Duo Justice's Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1.


The ''Emma Jane'' [[fishing trawler]] finds a letter in a bottle floating just off the [[Devon]] coast, and sends it to [[Scotland Yard]], who recognise it as a confession by the late Justice Wargrave. In this narrative, he reveals that he has suffered from a certain [[sadist]]ic temperament ever since childhood, when he performed torturous experiments on garden pests (a symptom which would later be defined under [[sociopathy]]). However, this quality juxtaposed uneasily against an innate sense of justice; he considered it abhorrent that any innocent person should die by his hand. Thus, with his mental make-up the way it was, he became a judge, ordering the [[death penalty]] in all cases where he firmly believed the accused person guilty, so he could enjoy seeing them crippled with fear by the knowledge that they would soon be hanged. But deep down Wargrave always desired to kill by his own hand and, after discovering that he was [[terminally ill]], decided to do just that by renting an island off the Devon coast, seeking out and luring nine people, all of whom have caused death and escaped justice, then picking them off one by one, revelling in the [[psychological abuse|mental torture]] each survivor experiences as their own fate approaches.
The song "Bonafied Lovin (Yuksek Remix)" is used in ''[[FIFA 09]]''.


Before leaving he successfully poisoned the [[hypochondriac]] drug-dealer Isaac Morris - whose help he had previously solicited when making his purchase of the island - in retribution for causing the [[suicide]] of a young woman by leading her into [[substance abuse]].
[[Category:Chromeo albums]]

[[Category:2007 albums]]
After disposing of the first five guests, Wargrave fooled Armstrong into helping him fake his own murder - under the pretence that it would rattle the 'real murderer' - then pushed the doctor off the island cliff and orchestrated the rest of the killings without suspicion.

After Vera (the guiltiest of the "condemned" according to the judge, since she deliberately allowed a child to drown but managed to pass herself off as a heroine who tried to rescue the boy) hanged herself, Wargrave, who had been watching from the bedroom closet, pushed the chair against the wall. He then wrote out his confession, putting the letter in a bottle and casting the bottle into the sea. He states that his only regret is that it was not enough to concoct an unsolvable mystery &ndash; he craves posthumous recognition of his brilliant scheme &ndash; therefore he explains three clues which should point to him as the killer in case his letter is not found:

# Wargrave mentions in the letter that Edward Seton's death was justified because Seton, despite his charm and excellent performance on the witness stand, was genuinely guilty of the crime of which he was accused. After his death, more evidence emerged putting his guilt beyond doubt. Therefore, Wargrave was the only guest who did not wrongfully cause the death of anyone (before coming to the island), though paradoxically, he would then be the [[executioner]].
# The "[[red herring]]" line in the poem suggests the fact that Armstrong was tricked into his death &ndash; and the respectable Justice Wargrave is the only one of the remaining houseguests in whom Armstrong would have been likely to confide.
# The bullet would leave a red mark in Wargrave's forehead similar to the [[Curse and mark of Cain|mark of Cain]], the first murderer described in the Biblical [[Old Testament]].

The conclusion of the judge's letter indicates that after writing he shot himself while sitting on his bed, so that his body fell onto the bed as if it had been laid there. He had fastened the gun to the doorknob with a piece of elastic cord in such a way that the recoil would snap the gun out into the hallway as the door to his room closed.

Thus the police found 10 dead bodies and an unsolvable mystery on Soldier Island.<!-- Editors please note: Please see the 'hidden' note at the start of the plot summary above before changing the latter reference from Soldier Island to either Nigger Island or Indian Island-->

==Characters in "And Then There Were None"==
*'''Anthony James Marston'''. An almost perfect specimen of a man born to a wealthy family. Amoral, vain and self-absorbed, with no time for worrying about those whom he may have harmed, intentionally or otherwise. He ran over and killed two youths, feeling no remorse for the incident as he lacks any kind of moral responsibility.
*'''Mrs. Ethel Rogers''', the nervous housekeeper and cook. She is a pale-faced, ghostlike woman with shifty light eyes, who is scared easily. One of the first people to come to the island; respectable and efficient but seems scared of something and is always looking over her shoulder. She helped her domineering husband, Roger, kill an elderly employer by withholding medicine, so they could inherit her money.
*'''General John Gordon Macarthur''', a retired [[World War I]] hero. Now a lonely but still proud man who has lost contact with his old friends in the military and has, according to the rumors, more than a few skeletons in his closet. He sent several men to their deaths so he could dispose of a love rival in his regiment.
*'''Mr. Thomas Rogers''', the butler, Mrs. Rogers' husband. One of the first people to come to the island; respectable and efficient but with no imagination. He is a very hard worker even in his old age. He bullied his wife into helping him kill an elderly employer by withholding restorative drugs from her, so they could inherit money.
*'''Emily Caroline Brent''', an elderly spinster and religious [[zealot]]. A woman of unyielding principles who uses the Christian [[Bible]] to justify her inability to show compassion or understanding for others, which may have caused suffering in the past. Her crime was dismissing her pregnant maid, Beatrice Taylor, who later threw herself into a river. Miss Brent feels no guilt whatsoever.
*'''Justice Lawrence Wargrave''', a retired judge, well known as a [[hanging judge]]. He was accused in the story of having caused the murder of a man by the name of Edward Seton by changing the jury's decision for ulterior motives, from not guilty to guilty, and Seton was executed.
*'''Dr. Edward George Armstrong''', a [[Harley Street]] surgeon and a former [[alcoholic]]. Worked his way up the social ladder but lately he has become tired of the long working hours and little reprieve.
*'''William Henry Blore''', a retired police inspector, now a private investigator. A big, hulking and bullying man who solved a series of robberies during his police days but may not have been entirely honest about his methods.
*'''Philip Lombard''', a soldier of fortune. Traveled most of the world and has a reputation of being a good man in a tight spot: he has apparently "sailed very near the wind" on occasion due to shady activities. Literally down to his last square meal, he comes to the island with a loaded [[revolver]].
*'''Vera Elizabeth Claythorne''', a young teacher, secretary, and ex-governess. She is forced to take mostly secretarial jobs since her last job as a governess ended in the death of her charge. She let Cyril Hamilton swim out to sea and drown so that his uncle, Hugo Hamilton, could inherit his money and marry her. Out of all the characters, Vera is the most tormented by her guilt and the thought of her ex-lover.
*'''Mr. Owen''', the unseen host whose voice is heard on the record (or tape in film adaptations) that accuses all of them of murdering various people. He has been voiced on film by [[Christopher Lee]], [[Orson Welles]] and [[Victor Travers]], among others.
*'''Fred Naracott''', the boat driver that only appears once in the story while bringing the guests to Indian Island.
*'''Sir Thomas Legge''' and '''Inspector Maine''', two policemen who discuss the case in the epilogue.
*'''Isaac Morris''', the short Jew who is hired by Mr. Owen and pays Phillip Lombard 100 guineas in order for him to come to the island. Isaac Morris, as mentioned in the post script of the book, dies when he takes what is thought to be a pill to help him with his "gastrial juices" given to him by Mr. Owen, who is really Justice Wargrave.

==Literary significance and reception==

''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'''s review by Maurice Percy Ashley of November 11, 1939 stated that, "If her latest story has scarcely any detection in it there is no scarcity of murders." He continued, "There is a certain feeling of monotony inescapable in the regularity of the deaths which is better suited to a serialized newspaper story than a full-length novel. Yet there is an ingenious problem to solve in naming the murderer. It will be an extremely astute reader who guesses correctly."<ref>''The Times Literary Supplement'' November 11, 1939 (Page 658)</ref>

In ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' of February 25, 1940, Isaac Anderson detailed the set-up of the plot up to the point where 'the voice' accuses the ten people of their past misdemeanors and then said, "When you read what happens after that you will not believe it, but you will keep on reading, and as one incredible event is followed by another even more incredible you will still keep on reading. The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery that Agatha Christie has ever written, and if any other writer has ever surpassed it for sheer puzzlement the name escapes our memory. We are referring, of course, to mysteries that have logical explanations, as this one has. It is a tall story, to be sure, but it could have happened."<ref>''The New York Times Book Review'' February 25, 1940 (Page 15)</ref>

Maurice Richardson wrote a rhapsodic review in ''[[The Observer]]'''s issue of November 5, 1939 which began, "No wonder Agatha Christie's latest has sent her publishers into a vatic trance. We will refrain, however, from any invidious comparisons with ''[[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd|Roger Ackroyd]]'' and be content with saying that ''Ten Little Niggers'' is one of the very best, most genuinely bewildering Christies yet written. We will also have to refrain from reviewing it thoroughly, as it is so full of shocks that even the mildest revelation would spoil some surprise from somebody, and I am sure that you would rather have your entertainment kept fresh than criticism pure." After stating the set-up of the plot, Richardson concluded, "Story telling and characterisation are right at the top of Mrs. Christie's baleful form. Her plot may be highly artificial, but it is neat, brilliantly cunning, soundly constructed, and free from any of those red-herring false trails which sometimes disfigure her work."<ref name = "vuyqxh"/>

An unnamed reviewer in the ''[[Toronto Star|Toronto Daily Star]]'' of March 16, 1940 said, "Others have written better mysteries than Agatha Christie, but no one can touch her for ingenious plot and surprise ending. With ''And Then There Were None''... she is at her most ingenious and most surprising; is, indeed, considerably above the standard of her last few works and close to the ''Roger Ackroyd'' level."<ref>''Toronto Daily Star'' March 16, 1940 (Page 28)</ref>

[[Robert Barnard]]: "Suspenseful and menacing detective-story-cum-thriller. The closed setting with the succession of deaths is here taken to its logical conclusion, and the dangers of ludicrousness and sheer reader-disbelief are skillfully avoided. Probably the best-known Christie, and justifiably among the most popular."<ref>Barnard, Robert. ''A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie'' - Revised edition (Page 206). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743</ref>

==Film, TV and theatrical adaptations==

''And Then There Were None'' has had more adaptations than any other single work of Christie's with the setting often being changed to locations other than an island and mostly utilising Christie's alternative ending from her 1943 stage play rather than that used in the book.

===Stage===

*In 1943, Agatha Christie adapted the story for the stage. In the process of doing so, she realized that the novel's grim conclusion would not work dramatically on stage as there would be no one left to tell the tale, so she reworked the ending for Lombard and Vera to be innocent of the crimes of which they were accused, survive, and fall in love. Some of the names were also changed with General Macarthur becoming General McKenzie, probably due to the real-life [[Douglas MacArthur|General Douglas MacArthur]] who was playing a prominent role in the ongoing [[World War Two|war]].

{{main|And Then There Were None (1943 play)}}

*On October 14, 2005 a new version of play, written by Kevin Elyot and directed by Steven Pimlott opened at the [[Gielgud Theatre]] in London. For this version, Elyot returned to the book version of story and restored the original ending where both Vera and Lombard die and Wargrave commits suicide.

===Film===

*The story was first adapted for the cinema screen in René Clair's successful 1945 US production.

{{main|And Then There Were None (1945 film)}}

*The second cinema adaptation of the book was directed by George Pollock in 1965 who had previously handled the four Miss Marple films starring [[Margaret Rutherford]]. This film transferred the setting from a remote island to a mountain retreat in Austria.

{{main|Ten Little Indians (1965 film)}}

*''Gumnaam'' is a 1965 uncredited adaptation set in a remote Indian location by the sea. Many elements were added to Christie's story in a film directed by Raja Nawathe from a screenplay by Dhruva Chatterjee.

{{main|Gumnaam}}

*''Five Bambole per la Luna D'Agosto'' ("Five Dolls for an August Moon") (1970) is an uncredited [[giallo]] adaptation by [[Mario Bava]].

{{main|Five Dolls for an August Moon}}
*''And Then There Were None'' (1974) was the first colour English-language film version of the novel, directed by Peter Collinson from a screenplay by Peter Welbeck. This version was set in the [[Iran]]ian desert.

{{main|And Then There Were None (1974 film)}}

*''Desyat' negrityat'' (''{{lang|ru|Десять негритят}}'' "Ten Little Negroes") (1987). This film from the USSR, written and directed by [[Stanislav Govorukhin]], is the only cinema adaptation to use the novel's original ending.

{{main|Desyat Negrityat}}

*''Ten Little Indians'' (1989). Directed by Alan Birkinshaw, was set on an African [[safari]].

{{main|Ten Little Indians (1989 film)}}

*''Identity'' (2003). The movie is a psychological horror film, directed by James Mangold with John Cusack and Ray Liotta.
{{main|Identity (film)}}

===Television===

*''Ten Little Niggers'' (1949). UK. BBC TV adaptation.
*''Ten Little Niggers'' (1959). UK. ITV adaptation
*''Ten Little Indians'' (1959). Directed by Paul Bogart, Philip F. Falcone, Leo Farrenkopf and Dan Zampino; screenplay by Philip H. Reisman Jr. USA. Truncated TV adaptation of the play.
*''Zehn kleine Negerlein'' (1969). Directed by Hans Quest for [[ZDF]]; [[West Germany|West German]] TV adaptation.
*''Dix petits nègres'' (1970). Directed by Pierre Sabbagh; screenplay by Pierre Brive. French TV adaptation.

===Other===

*The K.B.S. Productions Inc. film, ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1933), predates the publication of ''Ten Little Niggers'' and follows a strikingly similar plot.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Robert Florey, the French Expressionist
|isbn=0810819295
|first=Brian
|last=Taves
|year=1987
|location=Metuchen, NJ
|publisher=Scarecrow Press
|page=p. 152
}}
</ref> It is a [[Sherlock Holmes]] movie but bears no resemblance to [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s original [[A Study in Scarlet|story of the same name]]. In this case, the rhyme refers to "Ten Little Black Boys".

*The 1976 Broadway musical ''[[Something's Afoot]]'' is a parody or pastiche of ''Ten Little Indians'', starring [[Tessie O'Shea]] as a female sleuth resembling Agatha Christie's fictional Miss Marple. ''Something's Afoot'' takes place in a remote English estate, where six guests have been invited for the weekend. The guests (as well as three servants, and a young man who claims to have wandered innocently onto the estate) are then murdered one by one, several in full view of the audience, with the murderer's surprise identity revealed at the end. For an encore, the murdered cast members performed a song titled "I Owe It All to Agatha Christie".

*[[The Lost Patrol (1934 film)]] follows 11 members of a British Patrol who are stranded and killed off one by one.

*Although not a direct adaptation, the film ''[[Mindhunters]]'' (2004) closely follows the storyline of the book.

===PC adaptation===

* On October 27, 2005, [[The Adventure Company]] released ''And Then There Were None'' as the first in a series of [[Agatha Christie (video game series)|releases]] of PC games based on Christie novels.

{{main|Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None}}

===Graphic novel adaptation===

''And Then There Were None'' will be released by HarperCollins as a [[graphic novel]] adaptation on March 2, 2009, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq. ISBN 0-00-727532-3

==Publication history==
[[Image:And Then There Were None US First Edition Cover 1940.jpg|right|thumb|Cover of first US 1940 edition with the title currently used in all English-language versions]]

The novel was originally published in Britain under the title ''Ten Little Niggers'' in 1939<ref name="CC" /><ref name="pendergast">{{cite book
|first=Bruce
|last=Pendergast
|title=Everyman's Guide To The Mysteries Of Agatha Christie
|publisher=Trafford Publishing
|location=Victoria, BC
|year=2004
|isbn=1412023041
|pages=393 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nMS6y9YsqXkC&pg=RA3-PA393&ots=Ya0sD7j9g0&dq=%22ten+little+niggers%22+christie+%22and+then+there+were+none%22+%22ten+little+indians%22&as_brr=3&sig=PRCJUhB5jOlcQpz7QVTjsTzmIpg}}</ref>. All references to "Indian" in the story were originally "Nigger": thus the island was called "Nigger Island" <ref name="pendergast"/> rather than "Indian Island" and the rhyme found by each murder victim was also called ''Ten Little Niggers'' <ref name="pendergast"/> rather than ''Ten Little Indians''. Modern printings use the rhyme ''Ten Little Soldiers'' and "Soldier Island".

The UK serialisation was in twenty-three parts in the ''[[Daily Express]]'' from Tuesday, June 6 to Saturday, July 1, 1939. All of the instalments carried an illustration by "Prescott" with the first instalment having an illustration of [[Burgh Island]] in Devon which inspired the setting of the story. This version did not contain any chapter divisions<ref>Holdings at the [[British Library]] (Newspapers - Colindale). Shelfmark: NPL LON LD3 and NPL LON MLD3.</ref>.

For the [[United States]] market, the novel was first serialised in the ''[[Saturday Evening Post]]'' in seven parts from May 20 (Volume 211, Number 47) to July 1, 1939 (Volume 212, Number 1) with illustrations by Henry Raleigh and then published separately in book form in January 1940. Both publications used the less inflammatory title ''And Then There Were None''. The 1945 motion picture also used this title. In 1946, the play was published under the new title ''Ten Little Indians'' (the same title under which it had been performed on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]), and in 1964, an American paperback edition also used this title.

British editions continued to use the work's original title until the 1980s and the first British edition to use the alternative title ''And Then There Were None'' appeared in 1985 with a reprint of the 1963 Fontana Paperback. <ref>''British National Bibliography for 1985. British Library. 1986. ISBN 0-7123-1035-5</ref> Today ''And Then There Were None'' is the title most commonly used. However, the original title survives in many foreign-language versions of the novel: for example, the Greek tittle is ''Δέκα Μικροί Νέγροι'', the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] title is ''Diez Negritos'', while the [[French language|French]] title is ''Dix petits nègres''. <ref>[http://www.amazon.fr/dp/2013220626/ Amazon.fr : Dix petits nègres, nouvelle édition: Livres: Agatha Christie<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> A [[Dutch language|Dutch]] translation available as late as 1981 even used the work's original English title ''Ten Little Niggers''. The 1987 Russian film adaptation has the title ''{{lang|ru|Десять негритят}}'' (''[[Desyat Negrityat]]''). The computer adventure game based on the novel uses "Ten Little Sailor Boys."
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=Ten Little Niggers
|publisher=Collins Crime Club
|location=London
|year=1939
|month=November
|oclc=152375426
}} Hardback, 256 pp. ''(First edition)''
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=And Then There Were None
|publisher=Dodd, Mead
|location=New York
|year=1940
|month=January
|oclc=1824276
}} Hardback, 264 pp. ''(First US edition)''
* 1944, [[Pocket Books]], 1944, Paperback, 173 pp (Pocket number 261)
* 1947, [[Pan Books]], 1947, Paperback, 190 pp (Pan number 4)
* 1958, [[Penguin Books]], 1958, Paperback, 201 pp (Penguin number 1256)
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=And Then There Were None
|publisher=Fontana
|location=London
|year=1963
|oclc=12503435
}} Paperback, 190 pp. ''(The 1985 reprint was the first UK publication of novel under title "And Then There Were None". <ref>''British National Bibliography'' British Library. 1986. ISBN 0-7123-1035-5</ref>)''
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=Ten Little Indians
|publisher=Pocket Books
|location=New York
|year=1964
|oclc=29462459
}} ''(First publication of novel under title "Ten Little Indians")''
* 1964, Washington Square Press, 1964, (Paperback - teacher's edition)
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=Ten Little Niggers
|publisher=Collins Crime Club
|location=London
|year=1977
|edition=Greenway edition
|isbn=0002318350
}} Collected works, Hardback, 252 pp (''Except for reprints of the 1963 Fontana paperback, this was one of the last English-language publications of novel under the title "Ten Little Niggers"<ref>''Whitaker's Cumulative Book List for 1977''. J. Whitaker and Sons Ltd. 1978. ISBN 0-85021-105-0</ref>)''
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=The Mysterious Affair at Styles; Ten Little Niggers; Dumb Witness
|publisher=Lansdowne Press
|location=Sydney
|year=1980
|isbn=0701814535
}} Late use of the original title in an Australian edition.
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|coauthors=N J Robat (trans.)
|title=Ten Little Niggers
|language=Dutch
|publisher=Educaboek
|location=Culemborg
|year=1981
|edition=Third edition
|isbn=9011851536
}} ''(Late printing of Dutch translation preserving original English title)''
* {{cite book
|first=Agatha
|last=Christie
|title=Ten Little Indians
|publisher=Pocket Books
|location=New York
|year=1986
|isbn= 0671552228
}} ''(Last publication of novel under title "Ten Little Indians")''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://us.agathachristie.com/site/find_a_story/stories/And_Then_There_Were_None.php ''And Then There Were None''] at the official Agatha Christie website
*{{ibdb title|id= 1316|title=Ten Little Indians (1944)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0037515|title=And Then There Were None (1945 film)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0286208|title=Ten Little Niggers (UK TV: 1948)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0932151|title=Ten Little Niggers (UK TV: 1959)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0278766|title=Ten Little Indians (US TV: 1959)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0061075|title=Ten Little Indians (1965 film)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0247394|title=Gumnaam (1965 Indian film)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 1014692|title=Zehn kleine Negerlein (West German TV: 1969)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0065553|title=Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970 Italian film)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0431625|title=Dix petits nègres (French TV: 1970)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0072263|title=And Then There Were None (1974 film)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0092879|title=Desyat negrityat (1987 film)}}
*{{imdb title|id= 0098454|title=Ten Little Indians (1989 film)}}
*[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/andthenthere/ Spark Notes for novel]
*[http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0007085 Game on World of Spectrum based on the novel]
*[http://www.burghisland.com/ Web page for Burgh Island] , the setting of which is used in ''And Then There Were None'' and ''[[Evil Under the Sun]]''.

{{Agatha Christie}}

[[Category:1939 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Agatha Christie]]
[[Category:1943 plays]]
[[Category:Agatha Christie plays]]

[[ar:ثم لم يبق منهم أحد]]
[[bs:Deset malih crnaca]]
[[es:Diez negritos]]
[[fr:Dix Petits Nègres]]
[[ko:그리고 아무도 없었다]]
[[hr:Deset malih crnaca]]
[[it:Dieci piccoli indiani (romanzo)]]
[[he:עשרה כושים קטנים]]
[[hu:Tíz kicsi néger]]
[[nl:Tien kleine negertjes]]
[[ja:そして誰もいなくなった]]
[[pl:Dziesięciu małych Murzynków]]
[[pt:O Caso dos Dez Negrinhos]]
[[fi:Eikä yksikään pelastunut]]
[[sv:Tio små negerpojkar]]
[[vi:Mười người da đen nhỏ]]
[[tr:On Küçük Zenci]]
[[zh:无人生还]]

Revision as of 07:57, 13 October 2008

And Then There Were None
Cover of first edition featuring the original Ten Little Niggers Title
AuthorAgatha Christie
Original titleTen Little Niggers
Cover artistNot known
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreCrime novel
PublisherCollins Crime Club
Publication date
November 6, 1939
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages256 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBNNA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byThe Regatta Mystery 
Followed bySad Cypress 

And Then There Were None is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on November 6, 1939[1] under the title of Ten Little Niggers[2][3] and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940. The novel has also been published (and filmed) as Ten Little Indians. It has sold 115 million copies to date according to the editors of Publications International, Ltd., making it the world's best-selling mystery.

Plot summary

The novel takes place on an island off the coast of Devon in late 1930's, where eight people of different social classes journey to the Soldier Island mansion, having been invited there by a Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen. Upon arriving, they are told by the butler and his wife, Thomas and Ethel Rogers, that their hosts are currently away. Each guest finds in his room a slightly odd bit of bric-a-brac and a framed copy of the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Soldier Boys" ("Ten Little Niggers" in the original 1939 UK publication and "Ten Little Indians" in the 1940 US publication) hanging on the wall:

Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Soldier boys going in for law;
One got into Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Soldier boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

(In some versions the seventeenth and eighteenth lines read Two little Soldier boys playing with a gun; / One shot the other and then there was One.)

During a large dinner, the guests notice ten little figurines of soldiers on the dining room table. Later, when they gather in the parlor, a gramophone recording (bearing the label Swan Song) is played, informing the ten that all of them are guilty of murder, though in each case they were not sentenced to death or heavy prison terms since the nature of the killings meant that the law could not touch them:

  • Anthony Marston ran over and killed two children while driving recklessly.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Rogers let their invalid employer die by withholding her medication, in order to claim a large inheritance.
  • General John MacArthur sent his wife's lover on a suicidal mission during World War I.
  • Emily Brent dismissed her maid after she became pregnant; the maid later committed suicide.
  • Justice Lawrence Wargrave gave the death penalty to accused murderer Edward Seton despite evidence supporting his innocence.
  • Dr. Edward Armstrong performed a surgical operation while drunk and accidentally killed his patient.
  • Inspector William Blore committed perjury during the trial of an accused bank robber, who died in prison.
  • Phillip Lombard abandoned a party of twenty-one native retainers to die in the African bush.
  • Vera Claythorne allowed Cyril Hamilton, a small boy in her care, to swim out to sea and drown; the boy was in the way of an inheritance which went to her lover, Hugo Hamilton, who later left her since he suspected her of deliberately causing the death of the boy whom he was very fond of.

The characters realize they have all been tricked into coming to the island, but now have no way to get back to the mainland, as the boat which regularly delivers supplies stops arriving. They are then murdered, one by one, each murder paralleling a verse of the nursery rhyme, and one of the ten soldier figurines being removed after each murder. First to die is Anthony Marston, whose drink is poisoned with cyanide (one choked his little self). The next morning, Mrs. Rogers never wakes up, and is assumed to have received a fatal overdose of sleeping draught (one overslept himself). At lunchtime, General MacArthur, who had predicted that he would never leave the island alive, is found dead from a blow to the back of his head (one said he'd stay there). In growing panic, the survivors search the island for the murderer or possible hiding places, but find no one. Justice Wargrave establishes himself as a decisive leader of the group; he asserts that one of them must be the murderer and is playing a sadistic game with them-an example of the killer's twisted humor is that-with the exception of Wargrave-each of the "guests" has been invited to come to the Island by Mr/Mrs "U.N.Owen" {i.e. "Unknown"!}.

The next morning, Mr. Rogers is found dead in the woodshed, having been struck in the head with a large axe (one chopped himself in halves). Later that day, Emily Brent dies from an injection of potassium cyanide – the injection mark on her neck is an allusion to a bee sting (a bumblebee stung one). The hypodermic needle is found outside, thrown from the window along with a smashed china soldier figurine. The five survivors – Dr. Armstrong, Justice Wargrave, Philip Lombard, Vera Claythorne, and Inspector Blore – become increasingly frightened. Wargrave announces that anything on the island that could be used as a weapon should be locked up, including Wargrave's sleeping pills and Armstrong's medical equipment; Lombard admits to bringing a revolver to the island, but it has gone missing. They decide to sit in the drawing room, with only one leaving at any one time – theoretically, they should all be safe that way. Vera, the one most wracked by guilt, goes up to her room and discovers a strand of seaweed planted there; her screams attract the attention of Blore, Lombard, and Armstrong, who rush to her aid. When they return to the drawing room, they find Wargrave, dressed up in a judge's wig and gown, slumped against a chair with a gunshot wound in his forehead (one got into Chancery); Armstrong confirms his death.

That night, Blore hears someone sneaking out of the house. He searches the remaining rooms and discovers Armstrong missing from his room – so he must be the killer. Vera, Blore, and Lombard (whose revolver has since been returned to him) decide it best to go outside when morning arrives; when Blore's hunger later returns him to the house, he does not return; Vera and Phillip discover him dead, his head crushed by a Vera's marble, bear-shaped clock (a big bear hugged one). They assume that Armstrong has committed the murder and leave to walk along the shore. They find Armstrong's drowned body along the cliffs (a red herring swallowed one) and realize that they are the only two left; though neither could possibly have killed the Inspector, their mutual suspicion has driven them to the breaking point and each of them assumes the other to be the murderer. As they lift Armstrong's body out of reach of the water, Vera swipes Lombard's revolver, shoots him dead on the beach (out in the sun; or, one shot the other), and returns to her room, discovering a noose hanging from the ceiling and a chair underneath it. Having finally been driven mad (or "hypnotically suggestible") by the experience and latent remorse for her crime, Vera hangs herself, kicking the chair out from under her, fulfilling the final verse of the rhyme (And then there were none).

Epilogue

The epilogue consists of a conversation between Inspector Maine, in charge of the unsolved case, and the Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. The man who made all the arrangements for U.N. Owen's purchase of the island was Isaac Morris, a shady dealer known to efficiently cover his tracks when doing business. However, he cannot tell the police anything: he died of a drug overdose the day the party set sail. During the period when the killings took place and immediately after, no one could have got onto or left the island without being seen and the weather was too bad anyway, ruling out the possibility that "Mr. Owen" was some unidentified person who committed the murders while evading detection from the guests.

The police have concluded from various characters' diaries that Blore, Armstrong, Lombard, and Vera were definitely the last to die. Blore could not have died last, as the clock was dropped onto him from above, and he could not have set up a way for it to fall on him. Armstrong could not have been last since his body was dragged above the high-tide mark by someone else; nor could Lombard, since he was shot on the beach but the revolver was found upstairs in the hallway, outside the door of Wargrave's room. This leaves Vera, who might have been the killer — her fingerprints are on the pistol and it was from her window the clock was dropped on Blore — except for the fact that the chair from which she lept with the noose around her neck was found pushed against the wall out of reach from where she would have stood on it.

Hence, although one of the ten guests must have been the killer, none of them could have been.

Postscript

The Emma Jane fishing trawler finds a letter in a bottle floating just off the Devon coast, and sends it to Scotland Yard, who recognise it as a confession by the late Justice Wargrave. In this narrative, he reveals that he has suffered from a certain sadistic temperament ever since childhood, when he performed torturous experiments on garden pests (a symptom which would later be defined under sociopathy). However, this quality juxtaposed uneasily against an innate sense of justice; he considered it abhorrent that any innocent person should die by his hand. Thus, with his mental make-up the way it was, he became a judge, ordering the death penalty in all cases where he firmly believed the accused person guilty, so he could enjoy seeing them crippled with fear by the knowledge that they would soon be hanged. But deep down Wargrave always desired to kill by his own hand and, after discovering that he was terminally ill, decided to do just that by renting an island off the Devon coast, seeking out and luring nine people, all of whom have caused death and escaped justice, then picking them off one by one, revelling in the mental torture each survivor experiences as their own fate approaches.

Before leaving he successfully poisoned the hypochondriac drug-dealer Isaac Morris - whose help he had previously solicited when making his purchase of the island - in retribution for causing the suicide of a young woman by leading her into substance abuse.

After disposing of the first five guests, Wargrave fooled Armstrong into helping him fake his own murder - under the pretence that it would rattle the 'real murderer' - then pushed the doctor off the island cliff and orchestrated the rest of the killings without suspicion.

After Vera (the guiltiest of the "condemned" according to the judge, since she deliberately allowed a child to drown but managed to pass herself off as a heroine who tried to rescue the boy) hanged herself, Wargrave, who had been watching from the bedroom closet, pushed the chair against the wall. He then wrote out his confession, putting the letter in a bottle and casting the bottle into the sea. He states that his only regret is that it was not enough to concoct an unsolvable mystery – he craves posthumous recognition of his brilliant scheme – therefore he explains three clues which should point to him as the killer in case his letter is not found:

  1. Wargrave mentions in the letter that Edward Seton's death was justified because Seton, despite his charm and excellent performance on the witness stand, was genuinely guilty of the crime of which he was accused. After his death, more evidence emerged putting his guilt beyond doubt. Therefore, Wargrave was the only guest who did not wrongfully cause the death of anyone (before coming to the island), though paradoxically, he would then be the executioner.
  2. The "red herring" line in the poem suggests the fact that Armstrong was tricked into his death – and the respectable Justice Wargrave is the only one of the remaining houseguests in whom Armstrong would have been likely to confide.
  3. The bullet would leave a red mark in Wargrave's forehead similar to the mark of Cain, the first murderer described in the Biblical Old Testament.

The conclusion of the judge's letter indicates that after writing he shot himself while sitting on his bed, so that his body fell onto the bed as if it had been laid there. He had fastened the gun to the doorknob with a piece of elastic cord in such a way that the recoil would snap the gun out into the hallway as the door to his room closed.

Thus the police found 10 dead bodies and an unsolvable mystery on Soldier Island.

Characters in "And Then There Were None"

  • Anthony James Marston. An almost perfect specimen of a man born to a wealthy family. Amoral, vain and self-absorbed, with no time for worrying about those whom he may have harmed, intentionally or otherwise. He ran over and killed two youths, feeling no remorse for the incident as he lacks any kind of moral responsibility.
  • Mrs. Ethel Rogers, the nervous housekeeper and cook. She is a pale-faced, ghostlike woman with shifty light eyes, who is scared easily. One of the first people to come to the island; respectable and efficient but seems scared of something and is always looking over her shoulder. She helped her domineering husband, Roger, kill an elderly employer by withholding medicine, so they could inherit her money.
  • General John Gordon Macarthur, a retired World War I hero. Now a lonely but still proud man who has lost contact with his old friends in the military and has, according to the rumors, more than a few skeletons in his closet. He sent several men to their deaths so he could dispose of a love rival in his regiment.
  • Mr. Thomas Rogers, the butler, Mrs. Rogers' husband. One of the first people to come to the island; respectable and efficient but with no imagination. He is a very hard worker even in his old age. He bullied his wife into helping him kill an elderly employer by withholding restorative drugs from her, so they could inherit money.
  • Emily Caroline Brent, an elderly spinster and religious zealot. A woman of unyielding principles who uses the Christian Bible to justify her inability to show compassion or understanding for others, which may have caused suffering in the past. Her crime was dismissing her pregnant maid, Beatrice Taylor, who later threw herself into a river. Miss Brent feels no guilt whatsoever.
  • Justice Lawrence Wargrave, a retired judge, well known as a hanging judge. He was accused in the story of having caused the murder of a man by the name of Edward Seton by changing the jury's decision for ulterior motives, from not guilty to guilty, and Seton was executed.
  • Dr. Edward George Armstrong, a Harley Street surgeon and a former alcoholic. Worked his way up the social ladder but lately he has become tired of the long working hours and little reprieve.
  • William Henry Blore, a retired police inspector, now a private investigator. A big, hulking and bullying man who solved a series of robberies during his police days but may not have been entirely honest about his methods.
  • Philip Lombard, a soldier of fortune. Traveled most of the world and has a reputation of being a good man in a tight spot: he has apparently "sailed very near the wind" on occasion due to shady activities. Literally down to his last square meal, he comes to the island with a loaded revolver.
  • Vera Elizabeth Claythorne, a young teacher, secretary, and ex-governess. She is forced to take mostly secretarial jobs since her last job as a governess ended in the death of her charge. She let Cyril Hamilton swim out to sea and drown so that his uncle, Hugo Hamilton, could inherit his money and marry her. Out of all the characters, Vera is the most tormented by her guilt and the thought of her ex-lover.
  • Mr. Owen, the unseen host whose voice is heard on the record (or tape in film adaptations) that accuses all of them of murdering various people. He has been voiced on film by Christopher Lee, Orson Welles and Victor Travers, among others.
  • Fred Naracott, the boat driver that only appears once in the story while bringing the guests to Indian Island.
  • Sir Thomas Legge and Inspector Maine, two policemen who discuss the case in the epilogue.
  • Isaac Morris, the short Jew who is hired by Mr. Owen and pays Phillip Lombard 100 guineas in order for him to come to the island. Isaac Morris, as mentioned in the post script of the book, dies when he takes what is thought to be a pill to help him with his "gastrial juices" given to him by Mr. Owen, who is really Justice Wargrave.

Literary significance and reception

The Times Literary Supplement's review by Maurice Percy Ashley of November 11, 1939 stated that, "If her latest story has scarcely any detection in it there is no scarcity of murders." He continued, "There is a certain feeling of monotony inescapable in the regularity of the deaths which is better suited to a serialized newspaper story than a full-length novel. Yet there is an ingenious problem to solve in naming the murderer. It will be an extremely astute reader who guesses correctly."[4]

In The New York Times Book Review of February 25, 1940, Isaac Anderson detailed the set-up of the plot up to the point where 'the voice' accuses the ten people of their past misdemeanors and then said, "When you read what happens after that you will not believe it, but you will keep on reading, and as one incredible event is followed by another even more incredible you will still keep on reading. The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery that Agatha Christie has ever written, and if any other writer has ever surpassed it for sheer puzzlement the name escapes our memory. We are referring, of course, to mysteries that have logical explanations, as this one has. It is a tall story, to be sure, but it could have happened."[5]

Maurice Richardson wrote a rhapsodic review in The Observer's issue of November 5, 1939 which began, "No wonder Agatha Christie's latest has sent her publishers into a vatic trance. We will refrain, however, from any invidious comparisons with Roger Ackroyd and be content with saying that Ten Little Niggers is one of the very best, most genuinely bewildering Christies yet written. We will also have to refrain from reviewing it thoroughly, as it is so full of shocks that even the mildest revelation would spoil some surprise from somebody, and I am sure that you would rather have your entertainment kept fresh than criticism pure." After stating the set-up of the plot, Richardson concluded, "Story telling and characterisation are right at the top of Mrs. Christie's baleful form. Her plot may be highly artificial, but it is neat, brilliantly cunning, soundly constructed, and free from any of those red-herring false trails which sometimes disfigure her work."[1]

An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star of March 16, 1940 said, "Others have written better mysteries than Agatha Christie, but no one can touch her for ingenious plot and surprise ending. With And Then There Were None... she is at her most ingenious and most surprising; is, indeed, considerably above the standard of her last few works and close to the Roger Ackroyd level."[6]

Robert Barnard: "Suspenseful and menacing detective-story-cum-thriller. The closed setting with the succession of deaths is here taken to its logical conclusion, and the dangers of ludicrousness and sheer reader-disbelief are skillfully avoided. Probably the best-known Christie, and justifiably among the most popular."[7]

Film, TV and theatrical adaptations

And Then There Were None has had more adaptations than any other single work of Christie's with the setting often being changed to locations other than an island and mostly utilising Christie's alternative ending from her 1943 stage play rather than that used in the book.

Stage

  • In 1943, Agatha Christie adapted the story for the stage. In the process of doing so, she realized that the novel's grim conclusion would not work dramatically on stage as there would be no one left to tell the tale, so she reworked the ending for Lombard and Vera to be innocent of the crimes of which they were accused, survive, and fall in love. Some of the names were also changed with General Macarthur becoming General McKenzie, probably due to the real-life General Douglas MacArthur who was playing a prominent role in the ongoing war.
  • On October 14, 2005 a new version of play, written by Kevin Elyot and directed by Steven Pimlott opened at the Gielgud Theatre in London. For this version, Elyot returned to the book version of story and restored the original ending where both Vera and Lombard die and Wargrave commits suicide.

Film

  • The story was first adapted for the cinema screen in René Clair's successful 1945 US production.
  • The second cinema adaptation of the book was directed by George Pollock in 1965 who had previously handled the four Miss Marple films starring Margaret Rutherford. This film transferred the setting from a remote island to a mountain retreat in Austria.
  • Gumnaam is a 1965 uncredited adaptation set in a remote Indian location by the sea. Many elements were added to Christie's story in a film directed by Raja Nawathe from a screenplay by Dhruva Chatterjee.
  • Five Bambole per la Luna D'Agosto ("Five Dolls for an August Moon") (1970) is an uncredited giallo adaptation by Mario Bava.
  • And Then There Were None (1974) was the first colour English-language film version of the novel, directed by Peter Collinson from a screenplay by Peter Welbeck. This version was set in the Iranian desert.
  • Desyat' negrityat (Десять негритят "Ten Little Negroes") (1987). This film from the USSR, written and directed by Stanislav Govorukhin, is the only cinema adaptation to use the novel's original ending.
  • Ten Little Indians (1989). Directed by Alan Birkinshaw, was set on an African safari.
  • Identity (2003). The movie is a psychological horror film, directed by James Mangold with John Cusack and Ray Liotta.

Television

  • Ten Little Niggers (1949). UK. BBC TV adaptation.
  • Ten Little Niggers (1959). UK. ITV adaptation
  • Ten Little Indians (1959). Directed by Paul Bogart, Philip F. Falcone, Leo Farrenkopf and Dan Zampino; screenplay by Philip H. Reisman Jr. USA. Truncated TV adaptation of the play.
  • Zehn kleine Negerlein (1969). Directed by Hans Quest for ZDF; West German TV adaptation.
  • Dix petits nègres (1970). Directed by Pierre Sabbagh; screenplay by Pierre Brive. French TV adaptation.

Other

  • The K.B.S. Productions Inc. film, A Study in Scarlet (1933), predates the publication of Ten Little Niggers and follows a strikingly similar plot.[8] It is a Sherlock Holmes movie but bears no resemblance to Arthur Conan Doyle's original story of the same name. In this case, the rhyme refers to "Ten Little Black Boys".
  • The 1976 Broadway musical Something's Afoot is a parody or pastiche of Ten Little Indians, starring Tessie O'Shea as a female sleuth resembling Agatha Christie's fictional Miss Marple. Something's Afoot takes place in a remote English estate, where six guests have been invited for the weekend. The guests (as well as three servants, and a young man who claims to have wandered innocently onto the estate) are then murdered one by one, several in full view of the audience, with the murderer's surprise identity revealed at the end. For an encore, the murdered cast members performed a song titled "I Owe It All to Agatha Christie".
  • Although not a direct adaptation, the film Mindhunters (2004) closely follows the storyline of the book.

PC adaptation

  • On October 27, 2005, The Adventure Company released And Then There Were None as the first in a series of releases of PC games based on Christie novels.

Graphic novel adaptation

And Then There Were None will be released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on March 2, 2009, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq. ISBN 0-00-727532-3

Publication history

Cover of first US 1940 edition with the title currently used in all English-language versions

The novel was originally published in Britain under the title Ten Little Niggers in 1939[2][3]. All references to "Indian" in the story were originally "Nigger": thus the island was called "Nigger Island" [3] rather than "Indian Island" and the rhyme found by each murder victim was also called Ten Little Niggers [3] rather than Ten Little Indians. Modern printings use the rhyme Ten Little Soldiers and "Soldier Island".

The UK serialisation was in twenty-three parts in the Daily Express from Tuesday, June 6 to Saturday, July 1, 1939. All of the instalments carried an illustration by "Prescott" with the first instalment having an illustration of Burgh Island in Devon which inspired the setting of the story. This version did not contain any chapter divisions[9].

For the United States market, the novel was first serialised in the Saturday Evening Post in seven parts from May 20 (Volume 211, Number 47) to July 1, 1939 (Volume 212, Number 1) with illustrations by Henry Raleigh and then published separately in book form in January 1940. Both publications used the less inflammatory title And Then There Were None. The 1945 motion picture also used this title. In 1946, the play was published under the new title Ten Little Indians (the same title under which it had been performed on Broadway), and in 1964, an American paperback edition also used this title.

British editions continued to use the work's original title until the 1980s and the first British edition to use the alternative title And Then There Were None appeared in 1985 with a reprint of the 1963 Fontana Paperback. [10] Today And Then There Were None is the title most commonly used. However, the original title survives in many foreign-language versions of the novel: for example, the Greek tittle is Δέκα Μικροί Νέγροι, the Spanish title is Diez Negritos, while the French title is Dix petits nègres. [11] A Dutch translation available as late as 1981 even used the work's original English title Ten Little Niggers. The 1987 Russian film adaptation has the title Десять негритят (Desyat Negrityat). The computer adventure game based on the novel uses "Ten Little Sailor Boys."

  • Christie, Agatha (1939). Ten Little Niggers. London: Collins Crime Club. OCLC 152375426. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Hardback, 256 pp. (First edition)
  • Christie, Agatha (1940). And Then There Were None. New York: Dodd, Mead. OCLC 1824276. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Hardback, 264 pp. (First US edition)
  • 1944, Pocket Books, 1944, Paperback, 173 pp (Pocket number 261)
  • 1947, Pan Books, 1947, Paperback, 190 pp (Pan number 4)
  • 1958, Penguin Books, 1958, Paperback, 201 pp (Penguin number 1256)
  • Christie, Agatha (1963). And Then There Were None. London: Fontana. OCLC 12503435. Paperback, 190 pp. (The 1985 reprint was the first UK publication of novel under title "And Then There Were None". [12])
  • Christie, Agatha (1964). Ten Little Indians. New York: Pocket Books. OCLC 29462459. (First publication of novel under title "Ten Little Indians")
  • 1964, Washington Square Press, 1964, (Paperback - teacher's edition)
  • Christie, Agatha (1977). Ten Little Niggers (Greenway edition ed.). London: Collins Crime Club. ISBN 0002318350. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help) Collected works, Hardback, 252 pp (Except for reprints of the 1963 Fontana paperback, this was one of the last English-language publications of novel under the title "Ten Little Niggers"[13])
  • Christie, Agatha (1980). The Mysterious Affair at Styles; Ten Little Niggers; Dumb Witness. Sydney: Lansdowne Press. ISBN 0701814535. Late use of the original title in an Australian edition.
  • Christie, Agatha (1981). Ten Little Niggers (in Dutch) (Third edition ed.). Culemborg: Educaboek. ISBN 9011851536. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) (Late printing of Dutch translation preserving original English title)
  • Christie, Agatha (1986). Ten Little Indians. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0671552228. (Last publication of novel under title "Ten Little Indians")

References

  1. ^ a b The Observer November 5, 1939 (Page 6)
  2. ^ a b Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions. Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
  3. ^ a b c d Pendergast, Bruce (2004). Everyman's Guide To The Mysteries Of Agatha Christie. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing. p. 393. ISBN 1412023041.
  4. ^ The Times Literary Supplement November 11, 1939 (Page 658)
  5. ^ The New York Times Book Review February 25, 1940 (Page 15)
  6. ^ Toronto Daily Star March 16, 1940 (Page 28)
  7. ^ Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie - Revised edition (Page 206). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743
  8. ^ Taves, Brian (1987). Robert Florey, the French Expressionist. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. p. p. 152. ISBN 0810819295. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  9. ^ Holdings at the British Library (Newspapers - Colindale). Shelfmark: NPL LON LD3 and NPL LON MLD3.
  10. ^ British National Bibliography for 1985. British Library. 1986. ISBN 0-7123-1035-5
  11. ^ Amazon.fr : Dix petits nègres, nouvelle édition: Livres: Agatha Christie
  12. ^ British National Bibliography British Library. 1986. ISBN 0-7123-1035-5
  13. ^ Whitaker's Cumulative Book List for 1977. J. Whitaker and Sons Ltd. 1978. ISBN 0-85021-105-0

External links