...a classic of mystery and suspense.
In 1993, audiences were flummoxed by the fact that the filmmakers of "The Firm" had changed the ending of John Grisham´s novel. Of course, purists cried foul play, but most people seemed to accept the director´s explanation that he wanted audiences to experience a new surprise when they saw the film. This sort of thing happened close to 50 years before "The Firm" with "And Then There Were None." The film not only departs from the source novel in the way that it concludes, but it also amps up the blooming relationship between the two most attractive characters in the novel. (Dame Christie was also heavily involved in theatrical productions, and her novels display a keen sense of "playing" to an audience, just like a movie would. Therefore, it´s no surprise that "Ten Little Indians" was turned into such an enjoyable thriller.) I won´t give away any plot details as I would prefer you, dear reader, to see the movie and to read the book on your own.
The performances are uniformly good, and I particularly liked the way June Duprez and Louis Hayward develop the uneasy chemistry between their characters. This film is a good lesson on how an ensemble cast is supposed to act: without vanity and with respect towards one another´s contributions to a film´s final impact.
"And Then There Were None" is a clever little film. Despite the changes that the filmmakers made to the plot, the film remains true to the tense atmosphere and spirit of Agatha Christie´s novel. Alas, the low quality of the video makes the film rough on the eyes.
Video:
DVD reproduction is an extremely precise medium. The problem we are going to encounter with more and more older films on DVD is that unless a studio lavishes a good deal of time and money digitally restoring them to pristine condition, as MGM did with "Casablanca," the results are only going to be as good as the basic source material. A DVD will show up faults as well as virtues in exacting detail.
VCI (authoring and compression by Winner Communications, Tulsa, Oklahoma) provided us with what appears to be an exact copy of the original film stock. The source is flawed, as we might expect after more than half a century. The black-and-white picture is sometimes bright and well-contrasted with blacks, gray tones, and white and sometimes a little faded and dull. It is sometimes clean and clear and sometimes filled with scratches and dust.
The video quality, ultimately, is rather poor (1.33:1 full-frame on 4:3 TVs). Obviously, the DVD presentation of "And Then There Were None" will probably be far superior to previous videotape transfers, but that just comes with the DVD territory. It´s expected that a DVD will look better than a tape or laserdisc copy. However, the film has deteriorated so badly that sometimes it´s hard to tell when an object ends and another begins. Rather than affecting natural lighting, lighter objects seem to glow while darker objects fade into the shadows. Sometimes, I couldn´t even make out the features on the actors faces. Scratches, grain, and dirt are readily apparent throughout the film. I don´t think that an original negative or interpositive exists as reel change dots are apparent in the upper-right hand corner every so often.
I discussed the quality of the video image with a representative at VCI, and this is the official explanation concerning the DVD:
"In restoring titles, sometimes available elements are practically beyond repair, as was the case for this title. We took it from a 16mm element and DVNR. In this case, getting the scratches and dirt out contributed in dulling the sharpness of the film."
At the moment, this is the best possible presentation as the source elements have not been preserved well by the film´s previous handlers. Still, VCI is on the active search for a better print of "And Then There Were None."
Audio:
Audio options are limited to a Dolby Digital 1.o English track. The audio often sounds brittle, the music screeching, and the dialogue hollow. This is due to the limitations of 1940s recording technology, of course, but I´m sure that the audio stems have deteriorated just as badly as the film´s negative over the decades. No subtitles or captions of any sort are provided.
Extras:
Along with the feature film, VCI provide a short subject, a fifteen-minute farce called "Twin Husbands" with comic actor Leon Errol. Short subjects (think of the Three Stooges) were a staple of move houses in the thirties and forties, back when the film industry was still trying to deliver a full evening's entertainment. The main film, a short, a newsreel, an animated cartoon, maybe even a second feature were standard fare. Today, the industry forces audiences to mortgage their homes to buy tickets, extorts exorbitant prices for refreshments, and offers a single attraction. It's no wonder people buy and rent videos in ever greater numbers, and it certainly makes a good case for buying DVDs. I missed having a newsreel and a cartoon on this one, though. Anyway, there are some filmmakers' biographies, too.
The performances are uniformly good, and I particularly liked the way June Duprez and Louis Hayward develop the uneasy chemistry between their characters. This film is a good lesson on how an ensemble cast is supposed to act: without vanity and with respect towards one another´s contributions to a film´s final impact.
"And Then There Were None" is a clever little film. Despite the changes that the filmmakers made to the plot, the film remains true to the tense atmosphere and spirit of Agatha Christie´s novel. Alas, the low quality of the video makes the film rough on the eyes.
Video:
DVD reproduction is an extremely precise medium. The problem we are going to encounter with more and more older films on DVD is that unless a studio lavishes a good deal of time and money digitally restoring them to pristine condition, as MGM did with "Casablanca," the results are only going to be as good as the basic source material. A DVD will show up faults as well as virtues in exacting detail.
VCI (authoring and compression by Winner Communications, Tulsa, Oklahoma) provided us with what appears to be an exact copy of the original film stock. The source is flawed, as we might expect after more than half a century. The black-and-white picture is sometimes bright and well-contrasted with blacks, gray tones, and white and sometimes a little faded and dull. It is sometimes clean and clear and sometimes filled with scratches and dust.
The video quality, ultimately, is rather poor (1.33:1 full-frame on 4:3 TVs). Obviously, the DVD presentation of "And Then There Were None" will probably be far superior to previous videotape transfers, but that just comes with the DVD territory. It´s expected that a DVD will look better than a tape or laserdisc copy. However, the film has deteriorated so badly that sometimes it´s hard to tell when an object ends and another begins. Rather than affecting natural lighting, lighter objects seem to glow while darker objects fade into the shadows. Sometimes, I couldn´t even make out the features on the actors faces. Scratches, grain, and dirt are readily apparent throughout the film. I don´t think that an original negative or interpositive exists as reel change dots are apparent in the upper-right hand corner every so often.
I discussed the quality of the video image with a representative at VCI, and this is the official explanation concerning the DVD:
"In restoring titles, sometimes available elements are practically beyond repair, as was the case for this title. We took it from a 16mm element and DVNR. In this case, getting the scratches and dirt out contributed in dulling the sharpness of the film."
At the moment, this is the best possible presentation as the source elements have not been preserved well by the film´s previous handlers. Still, VCI is on the active search for a better print of "And Then There Were None."
Audio:
Audio options are limited to a Dolby Digital 1.o English track. The audio often sounds brittle, the music screeching, and the dialogue hollow. This is due to the limitations of 1940s recording technology, of course, but I´m sure that the audio stems have deteriorated just as badly as the film´s negative over the decades. No subtitles or captions of any sort are provided.
Extras:
Along with the feature film, VCI provide a short subject, a fifteen-minute farce called "Twin Husbands" with comic actor Leon Errol. Short subjects (think of the Three Stooges) were a staple of move houses in the thirties and forties, back when the film industry was still trying to deliver a full evening's entertainment. The main film, a short, a newsreel, an animated cartoon, maybe even a second feature were standard fare. Today, the industry forces audiences to mortgage their homes to buy tickets, extorts exorbitant prices for refreshments, and offers a single attraction. It's no wonder people buy and rent videos in ever greater numbers, and it certainly makes a good case for buying DVDs. I missed having a newsreel and a cartoon on this one, though. Anyway, there are some filmmakers' biographies, too.
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