Blu-ray Review Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians (1989) Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

While it’s far from being the best film version of this classic Agatha Christie story, the 1989 film version of Ten Little Indians gives the familiar murder tale a few new wrinkles that are on full display in Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release.



Ten Little Indians (1989)



Released: 01 Nov 1989
Rated: PG
Runtime: 98 min




Director: Alan Birkinshaw
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller



Cast: Donald Pleasence, Brenda Vaccaro, Frank Stallone, Herbert Lom
Writer(s): Agatha Christie (novel), Jackson Hunsicker (screenplay), Gerry O'Hara (screenplay)



Plot: Ten people are invited to go on an African safari, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. Could one of them be the killer?



IMDB rating: 4.7
MetaScore: N/A





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[Jeff Flugel]

Great review, Matt! Never seen this version of Dame Agatha's tale. I have a nostalgic preference for the '65 Ten Little Indians over the 1945 Rene Clair version, but both are very enjoyable films. The African setting of this one sounds interesting...but Frank Stallone is no substitute for Louis Hayward or Hugh O'Brian.

 

[Matt Hough]

The African setting of this one sounds interesting...but Frank Stallone is no substitute for Louis Hayward or Hugh O'Brian.

Boy, howdy, you are right about that!

 

[commander richardson]

Boy, howdy, you are right about that!

Frank Stallone...........goodness me whatever next !!

 

[Worth]

Frank Stallone...........goodness me whatever next !!

Joey Travolta.

 

[lark144]

Joey Travolta.

For my money, Arnold Stang is a lot sexier--not to mention way more talented--than Frank Stallone, or Joey Travolta, for that matter.

 

[Will Krupp]

I've told this story before so I apologize in advance to anyone who's heard it. I forced my friends to see this movie with me during the SINGLE week it played at the smallest auditorium in our mall multiplex back in November 1989. It seemed like YEARS before I was trusted to pick a movie after that!

DAMN you, Harry Alan Towers!

 

[usrunnr]

deleted.

 

[usrunnr]

I've told this story before so I apologize in advance to anyone who's heard it. I forced my friends to see this movie with me during the SINGLE week it played at the smallest auditorium in our mall multiplex back in November 1989. It seemed like YEARS before I was trusted to pick a movie after that!

DAMN you, Harry Alan Towers!

I got the same result when I recommended "Wild At Heart" to a few friends. As we exited the theater after the film, someone not in our group yelled out: "What the hell was that!"

 

[Matt Hough]

I've told this story before so I apologize in advance to anyone who's heard it. I forced my friends to see this movie with me during the SINGLE week it played at the smallest auditorium in our mall multiplex back in November 1989. It seemed like YEARS before I was trusted to pick a movie after that!

DAMN you, Harry Alan Towers!

I think we all have a similar story about one movie or another. For me, Unbreakable did me in.

If this version of Ten Little Indians played locally, it didn't run long because back then I saw just about everything, and I would have jumped at the chance to see any Agatha Christie adaptation.

 

[lark144]

I don't remember this playing in New York, and I was running a movie theater back then. Anyway, if Frank Stallone was in it, I would have stayed far, far away. Though I think the version directed by Rene Clair is a masterpiece, my favorite is also the TEN LITTLE INDIANS from the 1960's with Shirley Eaton, as it not only introduced me to the book which I bought immediately after seeing the movie, but also the work of Agatha Christie. TEN LITTLE INDIANS was promoted as a horror film, with a "Whodunit Break." I was expecting something a lot scarier, and the book was way better, both a page turner as well as a fairly complex character study, a bit unusual in Dame Agatha's oeuvre. Still, for me the film is suffused with a nostalgic glow.

 

[Will Krupp]

I don't remember this playing in New York, and I was running a movie theater back then.

According to the NY Daily News Archive at Newspapers.com it played the Selwyn on 42nd Street (now restored to a legitimate theater as the American Airlines) at the end of January 1990, right before it premiered on videocassette. In those late days of the Selwyn and the Deuce, it was hardly a prestigious venue.

 

[lark144]

According to the NY Daily News Archive at Newspapers.com it played the Selwyn on 42nd Street (now restored to a legitimate theater as the American Airlines) at the end of January 1990, right before it premiered on videocassette. In those late days of the Selwyn and the Deuce, it was hardly a prestigious venue.

Ah, the Selwyn. "Whatever happened to the Selwyn?" That's a line from "The Band Wagon", which I was watching the other night when I couldn't sleep. Next to the New Amsterdam, the Selwyn was probably the most beautiful theater on 42nd Street architecturally, though the audiences were more restless. Maybe because they booked sleazier films. I remember seeing "Last House on the Left" there--it was on a double bill with "Junior Bonner" which was the film I wanted to see--and everytime there was a scene of violence, these two guys in the row in front of me pulled out Bowie knives and starting going at each other and the whole theater emptied out. It happened three or four times during the course of the picture. I know, an early example of performance art. But it got so dangerous I stopped going there. By the 80's, the only theater I still felt semi-safe in was the New Amsterdam.

 

[Will Krupp]

Next to the New Amsterdam, the Selwyn was probably the most beautiful theater on 42nd Street architecturally

It's funny you bring up the BAND WAGON (one of my favorites) because it's interesting that Fred Astaire doesn't really seem to remember where he is in that scene. The gestures of his head seem to place the New Amsterdam and the Selwyn ("Noel and Gertie had one of their biggest hits in PRIVATE LIVES there!") on the same side of the street and he thinks the Eltinge should be about where he's standing (on the north side of the street.) In reality, the New Amsterdam and the Selwyn were on opposite sides of 42nd Street (and PRIVATE LIVES actually played at the Times Square Theatre in 1931 anyway) and the Eltinge (renamed Laffmovie at the time) was on the south side. The Eltinge was the theater that was (amazingly) picked up and moved down the block when they decided to use the building as the lobby of the AMC Empire in 2000.

 

[lark144]

It's funny you bring up the BAND WAGON (one of my favorites) because it's interesting that Fred Astaire doesn't really seem to remember where he is in that scene. The gestures of his head seem to place the New Amsterdam and the Selwyn ("Noel and Gertie had one of their biggest hits in PRIVATE LIVES there!") on the same side of the street and he thinks the Eltinge should be about where he's standing (on the north side of the street.) In reality, the New Amsterdam and the Selwyn were on opposite sides of 42nd Street (and PRIVATE LIVES actually played at the Times Square Theatre in 1931 anyway) and the Eltinge (renamed Laffmovie at the time) was on the south side. The Eltinge was the theater that was (amazingly) picked up and moved down the block when they decided to use the building as the lobby of the AMC Empire in 2000.

Well, Will, in terms of the veracity of Fred Astaire's statements in "The Band Wagon", as Alfred Hitchcock once said to his lead actress during the production of "Under Capricorn" as she had a panic attack while huge swaths of sets were being elevated, "Ingrid, it's only a movie!" Actually the New Amsterdam was on the north side of 42nd street near 7th, while the Selwyn was on the south side 2/3rds of the way down towards 8th. They did move some of those theaters around on the south side of the block in the late 80's as well as incorporate some together, the Apollo, for instance, I think might have been merged with the Lyric, where the Brandt organization, who owned many of the theaters on the block had their booking office, so I don't where the Selwyn is now. It might have been moved westward a bit to facilitate the AMC behemoth.

 

[Will Krupp]

Actually the New Amsterdam was on the north side of 42nd street near 7th, while the Selwyn was on the south side 2/3rds of the way down towards 8th. They did move some of those theaters around on the south side of the block in the late 80's as well as incorporate some together, the Apollo, for instance, I think might have been merged with the Lyric, where the Brandt organization, who owned many of the theaters on the block had their booking office, so I don't where the Selwyn is now. It might have been moved westward a bit to facilitate the AMC behemoth.

I really don't want to be contradictory, but you have that backwards. The New Amsterdam is on the south side of W 42nd Street facing north and hasn't moved. 8th Avenue is to the left if you're walking out the front door and 7th avenue is to the right. With the changeover from West/East happening at 5th Avenue that makes it the south side of the street. The Selwyn (aka The Roundabout and The American Airlines Theater) is in the same spot it always was across the street and almost next to the still "waiting for renovation" Times Square Theater. The AMC Empire 25 (or whatever it's called now) is also on the south side and across from the old Selwyn.

 

[lark144]

I really don't want to be contradictory, but you have that backwards. The New Amsterdam is on the south side of W 42nd Street facing north and hasn't moved. 8th Avenue is to the left if you're walking out the front door and 7th avenue is to the right. With the changeover from West/East happening at 5th Avenue that makes it the south side of the street. The Selwyn (aka The Roundabout and The American Airlines Theater) is in the same spot it always was across the street and almost next to the still "waiting for renovation" Times Square Theater. The AMC Empire 25 (or whatever it's called now) is also on the south side and across from the old Selwyn.

Yeah. I was half asleep and my dyslexia kicked in again. As you stated, the New Amsterdam is on the south side near 7th. I meant south but wrote north by mistake. I have a tendency to reverse things when I get tired. It got people really confused when I gave directions, as occasionaly I would point to the left but say right (though I meant left). It didn't happen that often, fortunately. But wasn't the Selwyn across the street on the north side closer to 8th Avenue?

I loved the interactive audiences in the 42nd Street theaters, until they got a little too interactive. I remember going to the midnight show at the New Amsterdam for "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." That was a wild crowd. When Marcia McBroom smoked a joint without inhaling, everyone went "Awwww!". I can't remember if I've shared this, but I went to see "Serpico" a few years later at the Lyric. At some point, a drunk in the front row woke up, said, "This movie sucks," and threw his bottle at the screen, which shredded almost immediately, so they had to shut down the house. That was probably the most cogent act of film criticism I've ever witnessed.

 

[Will Krupp]

But wasn't the Selwyn across the street on the north side closer to 8th Avenue?

Yeah it's about half way down the street and on the north side

Todd Haimes Theatre in New York, NY - Cinema Treasures

Built by the Selwyn brothers as a 1,051-seat live theatre venue amid the bustling theatre district of W. 42nd Street, the Selwyn Theatre opened on ...

cinematreasures.org

I loved the interactive audiences in the 42nd Street theaters, until they got a little too interactive.

I must admit that I was too young to experience those audiences on my own. I didn't turn 18 until 1985 and wasn't allowed unsupervised trips to the city until college. I didn't really have an interest at that point in seeing second run stuff on 42nd street. Now I WON'T pretend that stopped my from visiting 8th Avenue, however (cough cough)

 

[lark144]

Yeah it's about half way down the street and on the north side

Todd Haimes Theatre in New York, NY - Cinema Treasures

Built by the Selwyn brothers as a 1,051-seat live theatre venue amid the bustling theatre district of W. 42nd Street, the Selwyn Theatre opened on ...

cinematreasures.org

I must admit that I was too young to experience those audiences on my own. I didn't turn 18 until 1985 and wasn't allowed unsupervised trips to the city until college. I didn't really have an interest at that point in seeing second run stuff on 42nd street. Now I WON'T pretend that stopped my from visiting 8th Avenue, however (cough cough)

I knew a woman who lived across the street on 8th Avenue from Show World. We used to sit in her window and watch the freak parade pass by. I went in there once but didn't see the point. You could see just as much skin, if not more, on the street.