Ten Little Indians

1989
4.7| 1h38m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 29 November 1989 Released
Producted By: The Cannon Group
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Ten people are invited to go on an African safari, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. Could one of them be the killer?

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Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
ma-cortes Agatha Christie tale of 10 people invited to an isolated place , hovering around mouthing chunks of exposition while waiting to get murdered . The guests discuss and argue each other , only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one . Just before the gripping climax of the film , you will be given sixty seconds to guess the killer's identity! The film will pause and on the screen you will see clues to help you decide who the murderer is...but the person in suspect is always the person who is murdered next . There is no way for any of them to flee , so they set about attempting to determine who their hidden host might be and where he might be hiding.Whodunit in which have been invited ten people who are strangers to each other , when they are all gathered, they hear from their host that each one of them has in someway caused the death of an innocent person and that justice had not be served in their cases , the guests are being killed off one by one . Average fourth adaptation , this one totally mucks up the story , switching from an isolated island to African landscapes located in the sabana . The original script was much more faithful to the original Agatha Christie novel with the setting on an island and the original grim conclusion of the book ; however, producer Harry Alan Towers changed it at the last second when he realized that it would be cheaper to shoot in the African outback and that the novel's ending is less marketable than Christie's happier resolution from the play version of the story . Excruciantly boring and dull rendition with silly characters and slowly paced . Most actors are mediocre and unknown , though there are tree important players as Donald Pleasence , Brenda Vaccaro and Herbert Lom who had acted in a previous remake playing the doctor . The whole cast overacts abysmally and playing cardboard roles against poor scenarios and some old tents . This low-budgeted picture is a real tedium and tiring ; sticks with the original version . The motion picture was regularly directed by Alan Birkinshaw who was in South Africa filming various films for producers Avi Lerner and Harry Alan Towers such as Masque of the Red Death , The House of Usher , Horror Safari and this ¨Ten little Indians¨ filmed with similar artistic and technician team .This is one of the innumerable versions based on Agatha Christie famous novel . The best version (1945) resulted to be the classic by Rene Clair with Barry Fitzgerard , Roland Young , June Duprez , Mischa Auer , C Aubrey Smith , Judith Anderson and Richard Haydn ; furthermore , 1965 version set in Austrian Alps by George Pollock with Hugh O'Brian as Hugh Lombard , Shirley Eaton as Ann Clyde , Fabian as Mike Raven , Leo Genn as General Mandrake as Stanley Holloway as William Blore , Wilfrid Hyde-White as Judge Cannon and Daliah Lavi as Ilona Bergen . And 1974 rendition set in remote Iran by Peter Collinson with Charles Aznavour , Maria Rohm , Adolfo Celi , ElKe Sommer , Stephane Audran , Alberto De Martino , Richard Attenborough and Herbert Lom .
gridoon2018 Out of the five theatrical versions of this famous Agatha Christie tale (perhaps her most famous ever, along with "Murder On The Orient Express"), I have only seen two: this 1989 one and the 1974 one. Comparing them, this one lacks the elegance of the other one, suffers from a terribly generic music score, and about half the cast will have you wondering "Who ARE these people?"; if you're used to seeing star-packed Agatha Christie adaptations, be prepared for one where you may never have seen some of the cast members before. But even the most recognizable names are not at their best here. I do want to single out two actors: Paul L. Smith, who will always be the revolting prison torturer of "The Midnight Express" in my mind and only has to show his towering frame to be scary (though his unexpectedly soft voice makes him sound dubbed at times!), and Sarah Maur Thorp, who creates possibly the only likable character in the bunch. The idea of the group voting anonymously on who they think is picking them off is an interesting one, but the film goes nowhere with it. On the positive side, there is some nice (though limited) African scenery, a very effective corpse-discovery scene (I don't want to give it away, but it involves an axe....), and an arguable improvement on how a certain event plays out at the end, though this version, just like the older one, would benefit from following Christie's original book ending instead of her revised play one. ** out of 4.
Coventry In spite of being one of the famous stories ever written, there aren't *that* many movie versions of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". I know of about eight film versions, but none of them are famous classics or widely acclaimed titles. This late 80's version is only the second adaptation that I've watched and, just like that other one from the early 70's (listed here as "Ein Unbekannter rechnet ab") it wasn't much more than an amusing but unmemorable whodunit flick. The difference between this version and the original novel is that the isolated setting isn't a creepy mansion on an island, but the dry African Savannah. Ten completely unrelated people are lured to Africa through various tricks, like having won a safari or being offered a job as tour guide, by the mysterious Mr. Owen. On the first evening, after diner, they listen to a recording of a voice accusing each and every one of them of having committed a murder in the past without being trialled for it. From that moment onwards, one guest after the other dies in mysterious circumstances and the 'accidents' are always similar to the lyrics of the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians". It looks as if their host Mr. Owen is playing a game with them. Or maybe Mr. Owen doesn't exist at all and the killer is someone within the group. As stated above, this version of "Ten Little Indians" isn't the least bit spectacular or fantastic, but it's definitely compelling while it lasts and there are a handful of worthwhile moments of suspense. Some of the death sequences are quite eerie, like the victim whose found with an axe stuck in the back of his skull. Director Alan Birkinshaw apparently likes re-adapting classic stories, since he also directed versions of Edgar Allan Poe's "The House of Usher" and "The Masque of the Red Death". I haven't seen those, but I've seen a film of his called "Horror Safari" and that one was really poor. For "Ten Little Indians", he could count on a fairly terrific cast including the always reliable Donald Pleasance, Paul L. Smith, Brenda Vaccora and Herbert Lom (who coincidentally also starred in the 70's version). Heck, even Frank Stallone was decent and luckily enough he didn't sing.
Gubby-Allen Possible spoilersI'd give this film 7/10 although I can fully understand why below it has been labelled as the worst adaptation ever. The story is so magnificent that it should get 10/10 regardless of how many remakes there are. What I know about film production you could write on the back of a postage stamp, but even I could make a pretty impressive attempt of putting Ten Little Indians to film.So, that it only scores 7/10 is more of a criticism than you would first think. It's not all bad, I didn't mind Stallone as Lombard as much as others, Pleasance is terrific at the end, the use of the lions was well thought out & the character Vera is again well converted. Most of my criticisms have been mentioned here already.Both this version (1989) and the 1945 version were roughly the same length ie 100 near minutes yet bizarrely & I'm not sure exactly how, the superb 1945 version seems to fit twice as much into it, and a lot more from the novel. Almost every character is fully developed there, whereas in this version, I didn't find one single character who we got to know & understand to the level we should have done. Some of there reasons for being there were tedious.Main problems were right from the start, all the extras, African tribesman & naked women lost the isolation factor. The good thing about the book & 1945 version was the quietness & lack of life in the surroundings. Nor could I understand the exact reasoning behind the lift being cut. The surrounding was impressive but even allowing for the lions you would still have expected at least one person to have done a runner from the area. I wasn't sure why a couple of characters had their names altered, why the doctor was foreign nor did the Doctor seem to build up a good enough relationship with the judge to forge the plan. Not enough attention was paid to the rhyme, Noel Cowards' song seemed out of place, and the Marion Marshall character had no substance whatsoever. The Rogers relationship seemed unconvincing & most of all, while not every murder warranted a flashback to see how it was committed, the Elmo Rogers death was crying out for one. He claimed to be off to the hill to keep watch & a frail old judge axes a 20 stone man. How? Was he asleep? Well then show us. The whole film just seemed very cheap & looked like a draft version, but with a story as good as this, it will always carry it.A low 7/10