And Then There Were None Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

And Then There Were None Blu-ray Movie Review

Judgment Day

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 18, 2016

First published in 1939, And Then There Were None is Agatha Christie's most popular novel and, by general consensus, her greatest literary achievement. The book stands out in Christie's canon, because it lacks the familiar figure of an investigator (a Poirot or a Marple) who not only solves the crime but also provides the story with a reassuring moral center. Reflecting the darkness of the time when it was written, with Europe on the brink of World War II, And Then There Were None doesn't bother with such niceties as law and order. It's a story where justice is dispensed abruptly and brutally, like the machinations of fate in Greek tragedy or the terrible swift sword of the Old Testament. Everyone pays for their sins, and there's no forgiveness in sight.

Christie's novel has been published in multiple forms (with several alternative titles), widely translated and adapted for both screen and stage, the latter by Christie herself, who substantially altered the plot for her play. Filmed versions include a 1945 release from Fox starring Barry Fitzgerald and Walter Huston and a 1965 version distributed by Warner under the title Ten Little Indians. TV adaptations have appeared throughout the world.

In celebration of the 125th anniversary of Christie's birth, Agatha Christie Productions commissioned a new dramatization of And Then There Were None, which aired on the BBC in three parts in 2015 beginning the day after Christmas, thereby joining a curiously British tradition of serving up murder and mayhem as holiday entertainment. Acorn Media, an affiliate of Christie Productions, is releasing the series here on Blu-ray.

The title comes from the last line of a nursery rhyme that is incongruously posted in every bedroom of an isolated mansion on Soldier Island off the Devon coast. Ten strangers have been lured to this remote location on various pretexts, either social invitations or offers of employment by a mysterious couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich Norman Owen. The rhyme begins: "Ten little Soldier Boys went out to dine; one choked his little self and then there were nine". With each successive verse, another Soldier Boy is eliminated, until none are left. In similar fashion, someone begins murdering the ten occupants of the house, one by one. With each death, one of ten jade figurines that initially greeted the guests in an array on the dining room table disappears. Is someone else on the island, or is one of the guests something other than they seem? The survivors eye each other suspiciously, and panic sets in when they realize that the grizzled sailor who transported them from the mainland like some modern-day incarnation of the Greek ferryman Charon will not be returning to fetch them.

The killer seems to know everyone in the group intimately, even though they have all just met and share no apparent connection. When the assembled guests finish their first dinner, they are treated to a phonograph recording naming each of them with an accusation of a dastardly crime. (An early scene shows the recording being made by an actor who believes he has been hired to provide voiceover for a theatrical production.) Everyone denies their guilt (well, almost everyone), but throughout the drama's three hours, we see flashbacks revealing the misdeeds of each guest.

Screenwriter Sarah Phelps (The Casual Vacancy) has adopted the clever narrative strategy of telling the story largely from one particular guest's point of view. Her name is Vera Claythorne (Maeve Dermody, Griff the Invisible), a schoolteacher whose hollow eyes and traumatized demeanor instantly convey that she has experienced something terrible. In flashbacks, we see Vera as she was, a bright young thing, governess to a little boy, Cyril (Harley Gallacher), and courted by his handsome young uncle, Hugo (Rob Heaps). Vera's memories of such happy hours, many of them at a sunny seashore, make her present circumstances all the more pitiable.

All of Vera's companions on the island have a story, and they are parceled out gradually over the three hour-long episodes. Anthony Marston (Douglas Booth, Noah ) is addicted to driving fast cars at top speed. Philip Lombard (Aidan Turner, Being Human), is an Irish mercenary who left a bloody trail across the wilds of Africa. Det. Sgt. William Blore (Burn Gorman, Torchwood) is a cop who eyes everyone skeptically even before the first body drops. Gen. John MacArthur (Sam Neill, Jurassic Park) is a decorated veteran of World War I. Judge Lawrence Wargrave (Charles Dance, The Last Action Hero) is a retired criminal court justice who sent many defendants to the gallows. Dr. Edward Armstrong (Toby Stephens, Die Another Day) is a London surgeon whose shaken demeanor suggests a guilty secret. Miss Emily Brent (Miranda Richardson, The Crying Game) writes books instructing young girls about modesty and is so convinced of her superior morality that she seems to think herself safe.

The remaining two occupants of the house aren't technically guests. Thomas and Ethel Rogers (Noah Taylor, Vanilla Sky, and Anna Maxwell Martin, Bleak House) are a married cook and butler, who believe they were retained by the Owens to run the household. But the recording played after the first evening's dinner makes it clear that they, too, are accused of serious crimes.

Director Craig Viveiros (The Liability) has shot And Then There Were None in the style of a ghost story, using such elements as the dark recesses of the mansion and the barrenness of the rocky coastline to suggest that a kind of supernatural stalking is underway. Ghostly figures make increasingly frequent appearances as the story progresses, but are they spectral avengers or simply the projections of a guilty conscience? Whatever they may be, the past has finally caught up with every soul on Soldier Island.

And Then There Were None Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

And Then There Were None was shot digitally by John Pardue (An Adventure in Space and Time). Lighting and post-production processing combine to establish a stark contrast between the darkly grim present, which has a faded, desaturated palette, and the brightly lit and cheerfully colored flashback sequences, which often involve happier times. Vera's flashbacks, set at a seaside resort area that's far more inviting than anything on Soldier Island, feature especially vivid hues. The image is sharp and detailed throughout, with deep blacks and excellent shadow detail; the latter becomes especially important after the power fails and the only illumination is by candlelight. The craggy shores and beaches of Soldier Island, along with a perilously deep rift near the shore that suggests a direct path to the underworld, are rendered with a kind of wild beauty that becomes increasingly sinister as the story progresses.

Acorn Media has spread the three one-hour episodes over two 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray discs, with the extras on the second disc. The episodes have been mastered with an average bitrate of 19.585, and the compression has been carefully performed.

And Then There Were None Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

And Then There None arrives with a 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, that adds atmosphere and ambiance to the story's increasingly grim environment. The surrounds convey such effects as wind and surf, as well as the echoing corridors of the mysterious mansion, but the story doesn't lend itself to showy sound design. The dialogue is clearly intelligible, and the episodes benefit from the foreboding musical score by Stuart Earl (My Brother the Devil).

And Then There Were None Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras suffer from the flaw of padding out the running time by repeating the same interview segments in multiple featurettes. Comments that were initially interesting become dull (or even annoying) by repetition.

• And Then There Was Something: The Making of And Then There Were None (1080p; 1.78:1; 43:07): This is the best of the extras, providing a comprehensive overview of the production from the table read in July 2015 through various phases of production. The cast are interviewed, along with director Craig Viveiros, writer Sarah Phelps, DP John Pardue and various producers, including Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, Hilary Strong of Agatha Christie Productions and Abi Bach.



• On Agatha Christie (1080p; 1.78:1; 19:53): A lengthy opening segment with Sarah Phelps repeats much of her interview included in "And Then There Was Something". The same applies to Mathew Prichard, whose comments from the previous featurette are replicated with a few additions. New comments about Christie are included from DP John Pardue, production designer Sophie Brecher, producer Abi Booth and members of the cast.



• On Bringing And Then There Were None to Life with Sarah Phelps (1080p; 1.78:1; 14:54): The first half of this featurette offers new material, but the second half consists almost entirely of comments already heard in the two previous extras.



• Photo Gallery (1080p; various; 1:15): Behind-the-scenes photos.



• Introductory Trailers: At startup disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn TV, Poirot: The Final Season and Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

And Then There Were None Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Hell is other people", declared Jean-Paul Sartre in a play that arose from the same wartime despair that suffuses Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Sartre's title, No Exit, would have equally suited Christie's tale of merciless vengeance. Highly recommended.