Not Enough Indians

Speaking of A Dark and Stormy Night, why hadn't I seen And Then There Were None yet? We just remedied that.

And Then There Were None is more or less an Old Dark House movie, although technically set on an Old Dark Island. It was directed in 1945 by Rene Clair from the Agatha Christie book/play Ten Little Indians. Like so many Christie setups, it is an almost perfect mechanical contraption. Like some many Rene Clair movies, it is light, lovely and funny. It is also full of murder.

U.N. Owen has invited 10 people to a house on an island. The boat won't be back for a few days. Mr. (or Ms.?) Owen ("unknown") does not appear. People start to die, all in ways predicted by the nursery rhyme, 10 Little Indians. Consider: This movie is 97 minutes long, and 10 people have to be murdered. It moves along at a tidy clip.

In A Dark and Stormy Night, we have ~16 characters before they start getting killed. Here, we have 10 - and what great characters:

• Barry Fitzgerald, as an Irish judge
• Walter Huston, a drunk surgeon
• Dame Judith Anderson, a toffee-nosed spinster
• Mischa Auer (!), a freeloading Russian prince
• Etc. Discover them for yourself

The direction by Rene Claire is light and carefree, which clashes not at all with the abominable subject matter. Some scenes take an almost slapstick quality. For example, the doctor and judge are playing billiards together, when they realize that, if one of them is the murderer, there are no witnesses to prevent him from killing. At that moment, they both grip their cues like clubs and begin circling... This combination of suspense, mayhem and humor reminds me of Hitchcock, but it distinctly lighter.

Now one of my favorite Old Dark Houses. Try it, won't you?