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Finished watching the two-part BBC miniseries, And Then There Were None, that aired on Lifetime. It was quite good, my only quibble was that it aired on Lifetime instead of PBS, where it belonged. And would not have been cut to ribbons by irritating commercials. Some day, I'm kicking commercial tv to the curb and just streaming. Ugh. Each episode was two hours long, when in reality they are probably more likely an hour and half - which they were due to fast forwarding.
Other than that it was brilliant. An excellent adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic novel "And Then There Were None".
The set-up is ten strangers converge on a remote island off the Devonshire coast for a weekend holiday. Each is given a compelling reason for coming by a mysterious couple called the Owens. Each person has committed a horrible crime. A murderer lurks amongst them, determined to pick them off one by one, assuming their guilt and paranoia doesn't drive them mad first.
I've seen the story adapted or spun off quite a few times...but this is by far the best adaptation. Where this one succeeds and the others failed -- is in managing to capture the suffocating sense of dread experienced by the characters...some of which slowly descend into madness. In flashbacks, we see how they wish to remember their crimes, the lie, and as the story unfolds, the truth is bit by bit revealed.
What made Agatha Christie's novels so compelling, was Christie was mostly interested in why people did what they did, and how they could live with it. The dark nasty emotions that motivated people.
Unlike the less memorable mystery novelists who focus on plot, Christie's novels were about the characters - and character-driven. In Then There Were None it becomes increasingly apparent that the characters are their own worst enemies. Whatever it was that motivated them to commit their own private crimes...is in the end what unravels them. Well, except for one. That's why Christie never ran out of ideas or ran into cliche...she wrote from the view of - this is an interesting character that I want to explore, and what would happen if I put them in this situation? It's the mistake a lot of modern and best-selling mystery novelists make, they focus on the plot. Folks? There are no interesting or clever plots -- no such thing. But there are interesting and clever characters.
The best-plotted novels start with interesting characters. I think I must have read every book Agatha Christie wrote, or all the ones that I could get my grubby little hands on...when I was in high school and junior high. (I was a binge reader and averaged about five books a week. Always had a book open or in progress. I'm still a binge reader.) Interesting tidbit that I discovered by accident and did not know until tonight?
The original title of the work was actually "Ten Little Niggars" based on a British Blackface Song that features in the book. In the US, the title was changed to "And Then There Were None", then later reprinted and adapted as Ten Little Indians. Evidence that art has never been culturally sensitive or politically kind.
And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, widely considered her masterpiece and described by her as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 as Ten Little Niggers,after the British blackface song, which serves as a major plot point. The U.S. edition was not released until December 1939 with the title changed to the last five words in the original American version of the nursery rhyme, And Then There Were None. In the U.S., it was both adapted and reprinted as Ten Little Indians.
I'm rather surprised the US publishers went to the trouble of changing it in the 1930s. I mean 1939 was around the same time Gone With the Wind was published and turned into a movie, and it was pretty racist. Although, they turned it into Ten Little Indians later, which wasn't an improvement. The version that I read had the US nursery rhyme...Ten Little Indians.
You'll be relieved to know that the BBC adaptation, by the way, was "ten little solider boys" -- so it was culturally sensitive, swinging away from the equally grating former titles. Keep in mind the book was first published in 1939.
A bit of history on the rhyme used in the mini-series and the book, although it was different in Christie's version and in order to understand why...
( warning the N word appears quite a few times so this is cut for the culturally sensitive... )
Other than that it was brilliant. An excellent adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic novel "And Then There Were None".
The set-up is ten strangers converge on a remote island off the Devonshire coast for a weekend holiday. Each is given a compelling reason for coming by a mysterious couple called the Owens. Each person has committed a horrible crime. A murderer lurks amongst them, determined to pick them off one by one, assuming their guilt and paranoia doesn't drive them mad first.
I've seen the story adapted or spun off quite a few times...but this is by far the best adaptation. Where this one succeeds and the others failed -- is in managing to capture the suffocating sense of dread experienced by the characters...some of which slowly descend into madness. In flashbacks, we see how they wish to remember their crimes, the lie, and as the story unfolds, the truth is bit by bit revealed.
What made Agatha Christie's novels so compelling, was Christie was mostly interested in why people did what they did, and how they could live with it. The dark nasty emotions that motivated people.
Unlike the less memorable mystery novelists who focus on plot, Christie's novels were about the characters - and character-driven. In Then There Were None it becomes increasingly apparent that the characters are their own worst enemies. Whatever it was that motivated them to commit their own private crimes...is in the end what unravels them. Well, except for one. That's why Christie never ran out of ideas or ran into cliche...she wrote from the view of - this is an interesting character that I want to explore, and what would happen if I put them in this situation? It's the mistake a lot of modern and best-selling mystery novelists make, they focus on the plot. Folks? There are no interesting or clever plots -- no such thing. But there are interesting and clever characters.
The best-plotted novels start with interesting characters. I think I must have read every book Agatha Christie wrote, or all the ones that I could get my grubby little hands on...when I was in high school and junior high. (I was a binge reader and averaged about five books a week. Always had a book open or in progress. I'm still a binge reader.) Interesting tidbit that I discovered by accident and did not know until tonight?
The original title of the work was actually "Ten Little Niggars" based on a British Blackface Song that features in the book. In the US, the title was changed to "And Then There Were None", then later reprinted and adapted as Ten Little Indians. Evidence that art has never been culturally sensitive or politically kind.
And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, widely considered her masterpiece and described by her as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 as Ten Little Niggers,after the British blackface song, which serves as a major plot point. The U.S. edition was not released until December 1939 with the title changed to the last five words in the original American version of the nursery rhyme, And Then There Were None. In the U.S., it was both adapted and reprinted as Ten Little Indians.
I'm rather surprised the US publishers went to the trouble of changing it in the 1930s. I mean 1939 was around the same time Gone With the Wind was published and turned into a movie, and it was pretty racist. Although, they turned it into Ten Little Indians later, which wasn't an improvement. The version that I read had the US nursery rhyme...Ten Little Indians.
You'll be relieved to know that the BBC adaptation, by the way, was "ten little solider boys" -- so it was culturally sensitive, swinging away from the equally grating former titles. Keep in mind the book was first published in 1939.
A bit of history on the rhyme used in the mini-series and the book, although it was different in Christie's version and in order to understand why...
( warning the N word appears quite a few times so this is cut for the culturally sensitive... )