MovieChat Forums > And Then There Were None (1945) Discussion > The way I'd end it...

The way I'd end it...

posted 20 years ago by dac87
4 replies | jump to latest

As we all know, Agatha Christie's masterpiece Ten Little Indians was never properly brought to screen as it should have been... (yes, I know there was a loyal Russian version, but I meen for an English speeking audience!)

WE know the story, ten guests are invited to an island, only to be murdered one by one... the many movie versions got that point right.... the way the adaptations fouled up would be in the end... This is how I'd end it...

Vera has already shot Lombard when she swipted it from his grasp... She is now re- entering the house... the only thing one can hear is her footsteps echoeing... She has a sudden flashback of the boy she was accused of killing... except, in my version she was directly responsible for his death, as we see her drowning him in her flashback... She drops to the floor in tears... She collects herself and turns into the dining room where there are still three little indian figures on the table... She smiles mysteriously as she approaches the table... she grabes on of the indians and swips the others away as the shadder on the floor.
"You're behind on the times my dear..." she says at the fragments on the floor. Then she clasps the one remaining indian to her breast as she says... "We've won."
This whole section is to mislead the veiwer into believing Vera is the killer. Now we hear her mind reciteing the Indian poem as she makes her way up the stairs and down the hall to her room, she drops the gun in her daze... As she arrives at her door she comes to the last line..."One little Indian left all alone..." She opens the door and is faced with a noose hanging from the rafters... she is not fazed by this at all, but continues her ryme... "he went and hanged himself... and then there were none." She climbes on the chair and kicks it away. The Indian figure falls slowly to the floor and breaks... We cut to the police completely baffeled by the murders in the house... One investigater mentions the fact that Vera couldn't have committed the murders as the chair she stood upon had been moved after her death... then about three months later, a fisherman finds a bottle with a note of confession from the judge... We get flashbacks of him murdering guests as he explains every thing... He ends the movie by saying... " When the boats from the mainland arrive, they will find ten dead bodies and a mystery no one can solve on Indian Island"...

What do you think?

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] alboe234 20 years ago

that is exactly the same as the book, minus the part that she says "one little boy got married, then there were none"

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] clive-ihd 18 years ago

This is how I'd end it. But first I must explain how the film version should start.

The first shot is of the house. We then see a close up shot of the table decoration of the ten little Indians, and the camera pulls back to show Rogers preparing the dining room.

Towards the end of the film Blore, Lombard and Vera Claythorne leave the house and we see three Indians left on the table.

When Lombard and Vera are on their own Lombard asks Vera if there was a man involved in her crime. She says there was and then tells him her story of how she deliberately let her fiance's nephew drown so he could claim his inheritance.

After Blore gets killed and Doctor Armstrong is found dead Vera shoots Lombard. We see Lombard being shot so he's definitely dead.

When Vera goes back into the house there are two Indians left on the table. She removes one. There is a close up shot of the one Indian, and then we see Vera go into her bedroom.

We then see a close up shot of the table with no Indians on the centrepiece. The camera pulls back to sho two police detectives discussing the murders which took place on the island. All ten visitors were found dead on the island, including Vera Claythorne who was found hanging in her room. The police are unable to solve the murder.

We then see a shot of the table decoration with one India left. Someone removes the last Indian and the camera pulls back to show the murderer's identity.

The murderer writes a letter explaining why he did it and how he faked his own death. He finishes his letter and puts it into a bottle which he casts out to sea.

He then shoots himself but makes it look like he was murdered. The film ends with a shot of the house and the last words from the letter: "Soon the boatmen will come to the island. They will find ten bodies and an unsolvable murder on Indian Island."