And Then There Were None has been one of my favourite books of all time since I was 12, it was my first Agatha Christie book actually and made me a huge fan of her work very shortly after. This 1959 adaptation is one of the better ones of this truly great book, surpassed only by the Russian version- the most faithful- and the Rene Clair version. The worst one is the 1989 film and in my opinion the only one that didn't do anything for me(the one 1974 has its issues but to me it wasn't that bad). This adaptation could have been 20 minutes longer(it's just under an hour and I think that's too short), some of it read of one murder after murder and not quite enough of the suspenseful interplay between the characters and Nina Foch overdoes it as Vera. However, it is beautifully filmed with a location that suits the mystery very well. The dialogue is witty in a subtle way, and also thoughtful and intelligently written, while the story is true to the book, surprisingly well-paced for a film as short as it is and has a good amount of suspense and tension. And yes you are kept guessing until the end, which is different from the book(in all fairness the book ending is very difficult and until I saw the Russian version I'd cited it as unfilmable) but doesn't feel too disappointing or contrived, like I used to think this particular ending did. The version I feel that does this alternate ending best is the 1965 version though. Expecting Foch, the acting is very good especially from Barry Jones and Romney Brent, a good thing as I have always considered Wargrave and Armstrong the most interesting characters of the book. To conclude, nicely done and while not the best version of a masterpiece it is one of the better ones. 8/10 Bethany Cox
