Desyat negrityat (1987)

A disturbing psychological thriller based on the classic novel by Agatha Christie. Ten strangers are forced to come face to face with their dark pasts after receiving an anonymous invitation to an isolated island off the coast of England.

Director:

Stanislav Govorukhin

Writers:

Agatha Christie (story), Stanislav Govorukhin

Stars:

Vladimir Zeldin, Tatyana Drubich, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy

Cast

Cast overview:
Vladimir Zeldin	...	Mr. Justice Lawrence John Wargrave
Tatyana Drubich	...	Vera Elizabeth Claythorne
Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy	...	Captain Philip Lombard
Aleksei Zharkov	...	William Henry Blore - PI
Anatoli Romashin	...	Dr. Edward George Armstrong
Lyudmila Maksakova	...	Miss Emily Caroline Brent
Mikhail Gluzskiy	...	General John Gordon Macarthur
Aleksei Zolotnitsky	...	Thomas Rogers - Servant
Irina Tereshchenko	...	Ethel Rogers - Maid
Aleksandr Abdulov	...	Anthony James Marston
V. Arzhatkin
D. Arshinov
V. Ventsler
Vyacheslav Zharikov	...	(as V. Zharikov)
Fyodor Odinokov	...	(as F. Odinokov)

Storyline

Ten people are invited to a desolate island by a mysterious host. Upon arriving, a mysterious voice recording accuses each of them of a murder committed in the past. And then someone begins to kill them one by one, choosing his methods from a grisly children's poem that hangs in every room of the house...

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Plot Keywords:

island | murder | religious fanatic | rape | gun | 

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Also Known As:

Ten Little Indians

Filming Locations:

Black Sea, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Odessa Film Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the only adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel to use the novel's original ending.

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Crazy Credits

The credits roll in absolute silence.

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Connections

Version of Zehn kleine Negerlein (1969)

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Soundtracks

"Stardust"
Music by Hoagy Carmichael

User Reviews

Ten Little Indians went out to dine... One choked himself...

I must say first off that I am a HUGE Christie fan; Ten Little Indians was the first Christie novel I had read and I was just blown away! The story was so complex and the resolution so brilliant that I was left speechless. What made this story so great is the fact that everything one usually suspects to happen in a book... for instance, one realises early in to tha book that everyone on the island is marked for death... but almost always there are usually two heroic characters who fall in love and overcome the antagonist. When one thinks that, one tends to look at Miss Claythorn and Lombard as the two who likely fit the bill... but this is not so, for they never fall in love, nor are they by any means likable people (they both were murderers and one even killed a little boy). Then, of course there is the fact that they both die.

One would think that this would be the subject of a thousand wonderful adaptation... Well, it's almost right. There were many film versions but none matched up to the book's splendor. Then I finally get my hands on this (not easy) and I was stunned at how good it was... it follows the book all the way down to the original ending. The characters were well played, the plot was quick, and the scenery was beautiful.... all in all I I've this film a 9/10.