gridoon2018
This Russian adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's most famous stories is highly acclaimed, especially by Christie purists, mainly for sticking to her original book ending, which is more grim, and more logical, than the "revised" one which Christie herself wrote for the stage version, and which all other film adaptations so far have used. It also deserves praise for its great location, and for the depth (and ambivalence) given to Vera's character. But the film is also plodding, talky, and overlong; it's more labor than fun to watch. Of course I don't expect this story to be a barrel of laughs, but a little more life and humor might have helped. And what might have helped even more are decent English subtitles - this being a hard-to-find movie, I had to settle for what I could get, which was nearly incomprehensible subtitling by someone for whom English was probably the fourth language. **1/2 out of 4.
sanddragon939
Having seen all the four British adaptations of Agatha Christie's bestselling novel 'And Then There were None' AKA 'Ten Little Indians', I decided to turn my attention to the Soviet adaptation of this great work-'Desyat Negrityat'. For me, the biggest lure of this film was the fact that, unlike the English adaptations, it retained the dark and disturbing ending of the original work.As I had expected, this film WAS a much more faithful adaptation of the book than any other, in EVERY respect. And therein lies one of its faults. With virtually every scene in the novel included, the pacing off this film suffers, especially in the first half; there are long stretches of expository dialogue which, while informative vis a vi the plot, leaves the viewer yearning for action. Where the film succeeds however, is firstly, in the setting-the sheer modern simplicity of the house on Indian Island belies the horrifying deaths which occur within its walls one after the other, a juxtaposition which is chilling indeed. Secondly, unlike any of the other adaptations, this film does a great job exploring the inner torment and psychological conflicts of the characters under siege...the character of 'Vera Claythorne' in particular; adding a depth to the story lacking in previous theatrical renditions.On the whole, 'Desyat Negrityat' has its flaws, but it is a great watch nonetheless...and leaves one hoping for an English adaptation of the novel that is nearly as faithful!
BattleRoyale96
Desyat Negrityat (a.k.a. And Then There Were None or Ten Little Indians) Is really an amazing film! This is the closest adaption to Agatha Christie's novel! You may or may not like the cast but that's up to you; I think they did a really great job. The actors are not what I imaged the character will look like but who cares. If you don't like subtitles then you might want to skip it but I suggest you don't if you really want to see a true adaption. Spoilers:In the other film adaptations to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None it had a happy ending were Vera and Lombard fall in love live happily ever after or something like that. In this version, Vera shoots Lombard and hangs herself like the book. If you don't want an "unhappy" true ending then skip it, but that will be the biggest mistake.
writers_reign
This version of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Non-PCs is head ans shoulders above the previous versions notwithstanding that one was the work of Rene Clair. It's a testament to the quality of this version that I watched an unsubtitled version containing to the best of my knowledge none of the four Russian words I know - please, thank you, yes, no - yet had no problem in following the story. Director Stanislav Govorukhin has opted for atmosphere/acting about 60-40 and it pays off. He lets us know from the first just how isolated the 8 guests and 2 servants will be on not so much an island as a large rock, a huge block of granite rising almost sheerly out of the sea. The camera pans around the rock as the passengers disembark and when the boat turns back there is not even a glimpse of mainland. There's a nice touch on the soundtrack with versions of both My Baby Just Cares For Me and Stardust, including the verse. All of the actors were completely unknown to me and I was sufficiently impressed with the judge and Vera to ascertain their names, Vladimir Zeldin and Tatyana Drubich respectively.
AD
