And then there was no more
And then there was no more is the 26th detective novel by Agatha Christie . It appeared in the United Kingdom on November 6, 1939 in the Collins Crime Club under the title Ten Little Niggers .
In this novel, ten people die one after the other who were involved in unexplained deaths in their lives, as in the counting rhyme Ten Little Negroes or Ten Little Indians from 1868.
This novel is Christie's best-selling work, with 100 million copies sold to date. It occupies a top spot among the best-selling books of all time and is the best-selling crime novel of all time.
History of the title
In the United States, the novel was published in January 1940 by Dodd, Mead and Company , out of consideration for the African-American population, under the title And Then There Were None , which has also been used in Great Britain and internationally since 1985 . The first German-language edition was published in 1944 by Scherz Verlag (Bern) under the title Last Weekend in a translation by Anna Katharina Rehmann-Salten . From 1982 the title Ten Little Negroes was used. In 1985 the novel was re-translated by Ursula Gail. For the new translation by Sabine Deitmer in 2003, the title And then there was none was chosen until today .
In the English-language editions, not only was the title changed from 1985, if not earlier, but the location of Nigger Island was also renamed Indian Island and all other uses of the term nigger, which is now considered a massive racist insult, were replaced by Indian . This made sense because the nursery rhyme in its oldest known version is actually called Ten Little Indians .
In the TV adaptation of the BBC from 2015, the screenwriter Sarah Phelbs uses the term Ten little Soldier Boys (in the German dubbed version Ten Little Warriors ) and the island on which the story takes place is called Soldier Island .
The plot
Ten people each receive an invitation (sometimes a short-term job) to Nigger Island, an island off the coast of Devon . The ten people arrive on the island by boat. They quickly notice that the invitations are tailored to the respective person and allegedly come from different senders. Usually the sender with UN Owen can be abbreviated, what is unknown (Engl. 'Unknown') may issue. A record voice reveals that everyone was responsible for one or more deaths.
After the first death (Anthony James Marston) in the evening, no one thinks of a series of murders. But when the second person dies (Mrs. Rogers), nobody believes in a coincidence anymore. After an organized search through the house and across the island, you come to the conclusion that there is no other person on the island. So the killer must be among the eight people left. The butler Mr. Rogers noticed after the second murder that on the day of their arrival there were figures of ten little negroes on the table and that there are now only eight. In the course of the next few days more of the ten people at the beginning are murdered, and everyone finds death exactly or metaphorically like the little negro in the respective stanza. After a short time, nobody in the house trusts the other.
More and more theories are forming among those involved as to who the killer is. At the end there are two people left: Philip Lombard and Vera Claythorne. Fear and madness caused Vera Claythorne to shoot Philip Lombard when she saw the corpse of Dr. Want to get Armstrong out of the water. Because of this incident, she is the last and celebrates her victory inside.
Driven by delusions about her guilt for the loss of a human life, she ends up committing suicide by using the rope she finds hanging from the ceiling in her room, already prepared.
Until the end of the book it is hardly clear who the killer is. On the last pages, a letter from Judge Wargrave found in a message in a bottle is published in which he confesses everything. He faked his own death with the help of Dr. Armstrong. He did this in order not to be suspected of having committed all the murders in the house. The letter also shows that later, when everyone else was dead, he shot himself with a pistol attached to the doorknob with an elastic band. As the door closed, the pistol was thrown away. This made it look to the police as if he had been shot by someone else.
The people
- Anthony James Marston , a handsome man with a well-proportioned body. Known for his reckless driving style, he comes from a wealthy family. Owen accuses him of running over two children. He is the first victim, dies from cyanide in his drink.
- Mrs. Ethel Rogers , the cook and wife of Mr. Rogers. She is described as a shy woman with a pale face who is said to have helped her husband murder her employers. She is killed by an overdose of sleeping pills.
- General John Gordon MacArthur , a retired World War I hero who sent his wife's lover (one of his subordinates) on a suicide mission. He dies from a blow with a manslaughter.
- Mr. Thomas Rogers , the cook's butler and husband. His skull is split open with an ax while he is chopping firewood.
- Emily Caroline Brent , an older woman with firm moral principles. She fired her housemaid because of a pregnancy. After the young woman was also rejected by her family, she killed herself. A cyanide syringe on her neck kills her.
- Judge Lawrence John Wargrave , a retired judge notorious for being very generous with the death penalty , even when in doubt about the guilt of the accused. At first it seems that he would have been the sixth victim. However, it turns out he is Owen and he shoots himself after Vera Claythorne dies.
- Dr. Edward George Armstrong , a Harley Street surgeon charged with guilty of the death of Louisa Clees, who operated on when he was drunk. Judge Wargrave pushes him off the cliff into the sea that night.
- William Henry Blore , a retired police inspector and now a private investigator. His false testimony convicted an innocent man who later died in prison. A stone clock thrown from an upper floor smashes his skull.
- Philip Lombard , a soldier of fortune who is believed to have caused the deaths of locals during his time in Africa . He is not murdered by Owen, but Vera shoots him because she thinks he is the murderer.
- Vera Elizabeth Claythorne , a young teacher, secretary, and ex governess accused of being responsible for drowning her protégé. Of all the guests, Vera is tormented the most by her conscience, she also suffers the longest because she is the last survivor. She ultimately commits suicide .
References to other works
In this novel, Agatha Christie clearly takes a stand in favor of vigilante justice when the arm of the law fails. She had already taken this position in Murder on the Orient Express . While the perpetrators get away there, however, the murderer in this novel ends by suicide.
Adaptations for theater and film
And Then There Were None (1943, play)
Agatha Christie herself created the stage version of this novel. She was faced with the problem that the resolution from her book (a police officer reads Judge Wargrave's confession) as a scene on the stage would be too boring for the audience, so she modified the ending:
The supposed Philip Lombard is his friend Charles Morley here. This pretends to be Lombard because the real Lombard killed himself in advance and Mr. Owen's invitation was found with him. At first, Blore was suspicious of the initials CM on the suitcase, but Morley Vera Claythorne does not reveal his true identity until shortly before the end. She, in turn, did not commit the crime of which she was charged, but rather covered up her sister. The two then realize that one of the dead must have only faked his end, and use a ruse.
Vera pretends to have shot Lombard. Judge Wargrave is already waiting for them in another room. Vera confronts the judge and reaffirms that she is not responsible for the crime of which she is accused. Wargrave is unimpressed and reminds Vera that she has just shot Lombard and is now guilty of this crime. In addition, he had just ingested poison, so that Vera would ultimately be held responsible for all nine dead on the island. He asks them to take it easy and not wait for the police, but to use a gallows he has prepared .
He makes a full confession with clear satisfaction at his own genius at having committed the murders undetected. Lombard enters the room on his last words. Wargrave realizes he's lost and dies. Vera and Morley, the two really innocents, leave the island alive and clarify the true course of events to the police.
It premiered on November 17, 1943 in London's West End at St James's Theater. Under the title Ten Little Indians , the play premiered on June 27, 1944 on Broadway .
The Last Weekend (1945)
The first film adaptation of the novel dates back to 1945. Directed by René Clair , it starred, among others, Walter Huston , Barry Fitzgerald , Sir C. Aubrey Smith and Judith Anderson . This film adaptation sticks closely to the novel and for the final scene to the stage play. In 1946 the film won the prize for best film at the Locarno International Film Festival .
Secret in the Blue Castle (1965)
A film adaptation was made under the direction of George Pollock with international star cast, among others with Hugh O'Brian , Shirley Eaton , Marianne Hoppe , Mario Adorf and Christopher Lee , who gave Mr. Owen his voice.
Ten Little Negroes (1969)
A German TV version of the classic, based on the play, directed by Hans Quest . The entire action, which - apart from the final scene - is closely related to the original, takes place in a large hotel lobby on a small island. The host is mentioned as Ulick Norman B. Kannt. If you abbreviate the first names, you get unknown . A German star line-up plays here: Alfred Schieske , Fritz Haneke , Rolf Boysen , Alexander Kerst , Nora Minor , Peter Fricke , Ingrid Capelle , Werner Peters , Günther Neutze , Edith Volkmann and Mathias Hell .
A stranger accounts (1974)
The 1974 film version directed by Peter Collinson also features a large number of international stars.
Desjat negritjat (1987, Russian Десять негритят)
This film adaptation from the USSR by Stanislaw Goworuchin is a very oppressive and the most faithful screen adaptation . It is based heavily on the play during the course of the plot, but is the only version that uses the original ending of the novel.
- Vladimir Seldin as Judge Lawrence Wargrave
- Tatjana Drubitsch as Vera Claythorne
- Alexander Kaidanowski as Philip Lombard
- Alexey Sharkov as Detective William Blore
- Anatoly Romashin as Dr. Armstrong
- Lyudmila Maksakova as Emily Brent
- Michail Glusski as General Macarthur
- Aleksey Solotnitsky as Mr. Rogers
- Irina Tereschchenko as Mrs. Rogers
- Alexander Abdulow as Anthony Marston
- Igor Jasulovich as the voice on the record
Ten Little Negroes (1989)
(alternative title: Agatha Christie's Death on Safari )
In 1989 the novel was made into a film again. The premiere took place on May 17, 1989 during the Cannes Film Festival.
- Donald Pleasence as Mr. Justice Lawrence Wargrave
- Frank Stallone as Capt. Philip Lombard
- Sarah Maur Thorp as Vera Claythorne
- Herbert Lom as Gen. Brancko Romensky
- Brenda Vaccaro as Marion Marshall
- Warren Berlinger as Det. William Henry Blore
- Yehuda Efroni as Dr. Hans Yokem Werner
- Paul L. Smith as Elmo Rodgers
- Moira Lister as Ethel Mae Rodgers
- Neil McCarthy as Anthony Marston
Sabotage (2014)
The 2014 thriller with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington in the leading roles is loosely based on the story and logic of Agatha Christie's novel.
And then there was no more (2015)
The BBC produced a three-part adaptation which was broadcast on BBC One from December 26-28, 2015 . The script was written by Sarah Phelps and directed by Craig Viveiros .
- Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston
- Charles Dance as Justice Lawrence Wargrave
- Maeve Dermody as Vera Claythorne
- Burn Gorman as William Blore
- Anna Maxwell Martin as Ethel Rogers
- Sam Neill as General John MacArthur
- Miranda Richardson as Miss Emily Brent
- Toby Stephens as Dr Edward Armstrong
- Noah Taylor as Thomas Rogers
- Aidan Turner as Philip Lombard
Audio books
- 2003 There were only nine left (two audio cassettes or three CDs). Read by Christian Hoening . Director: Caroline Neven du Mont. Abridged version by Kati Nicholl. Translated from the English by Anja Hansen-Schmidt. The Hörverlag Munich.
- 2006 And then there was no more (three CDs): Read by Christian Hoening . Director: Caroline Neven du Mont. Abridged version by Kati Nicholl. Translated from the English by Anja Hansen-Schmidt. The Hörverlag Munich.
- 2007 And then there was no more (five CDs): only unabridged reading. Speaker: Manfred Fenner. Director: Hans Eckardt. Translation by Ursula Gail. Publishing house and studio for audio book productions, Marburg.
computer game
In 2005, The Adventure Company published an adventure game based on the novel . The basic motif of the ten unknown people who were murdered one after the other has been retained, but the course has been changed in several points compared to the novel. While in the novel the boat that brings the ten characters to the island returns to the mainland, in the computer game it sinks after arriving on the island, so that the captain of the boat, the character Patrick Narracott who was taken over by the player and does not appear in the novel , as a more or less uninvolved eleventh person also has to stay on the island. In addition, a completely different resolution is presented at the end with a different perpetrator. As soon as only the last two people (as in the novel Capt. Philip Lombard and Vera Claythorne) are left, the player can intervene in the game in various ways and thus ensure that either both, only one of them or neither of them stay alive.
The actual story of the novel is largely told in the cutscenes. The player's tasks are supposed to be to solve the case, but he can never prevent further murders and, as is typical for adventures, mainly deals with getting objects and finding people. In the process, many discoveries are made that are not mentioned in the novel (e.g. a secret room in the library with an inoperative radio that the player should restart when he calls for help). The final puzzle of the game is to find a reel of film that contains the read-out original ending of the novel.
The porcelain figures disappearing one after the other in the game are not negroes , but children in sailor uniforms. The counting rhyme used has been changed accordingly to Ten Little Sailors .
Web links
- And then there was none on the official Agatha Christie website
- The last weekend (1945) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ten Little Indians (1965) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A stranger settles (1974) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Desyat negrityat (1987) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ten Little Indians (1989) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Review of Ten Little Niggers . In: The Observer , November 5, 1939, p. 6.
- ↑ C Peers, Spurrier A & Sturgeon J: Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions (2nd ed.) . Dragonby Press, 1999, ISBN 1-8711-2213-9 , p. 15.
- ↑ Bruce Pendergast: Everyman's Guide To The Mysteries Of Agatha Christie . Trafford Publishing, Victoria, BC 2004, ISBN 1412023041 , p. 393.
- ↑ Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen: 21 Best-Selling Books of All Time . Editors of Publications International, Ltd. September 14, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
- ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie - The Classic Years: 1940-1944 . Retrieved March 1, 2010.
- ^ German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library.
- ^ New translation 1985 in the catalog of the German National Library.
- ^ New translation in 2003 in the catalog of the German National Library.
- ^ Audiobook (licensed) in the catalog of the German National Library.
- ↑ Audiobook (complete) in the catalog of the German National Library.