(B)adaptations Script: And Then There Were None

Introduction:

When going over badaptations, I noticed that the reviewers went over the location, the characters, and the changes between the book and the film. We decided to do a book by Agatha Christie called And then There were None. This is perhaps one of the most famous mystery novels ever written.

Script

Sergio: So Caroline I guess we can start by going over the changes in the characters between the book and the 1945 film.

Caroline: Yeah, that would be great. I guess the first change would be how Judge Francis J Quincannon was known as Justice Lawrence J Wargrave in the book.

Sergio: I think the main reason for that change is because in the book, Wargrave turns out to be the murderer, but in the film he is not.

Caroline: Thats correct, but this wasn't the only character change. General Sir John Mandrake was called General John Gordon Macarthur and Prince Nikita Starloff replaced Anthony Marston.

Sergio: Some of the other characters were also changed, like Anthony Marston, because they had committed crimes that were not appropriate to talk about in 1945 British film. Marston had killed two children while drunkedly driving, for example.

Caroline: Marston wasn’t the only crime that was changed in the film. Miss Brent had fired her maid upon learning she was pregnant out of wedlock and Vera Claythorne had drowned a little boy named Hugo to get an inheritance. These themes weren't appropriate to talk about in film at the time and if they did, they would have been censored.

Sergio: Alright, so lets move on to the changes in the plot. Does anything change throughout the film?

Caroline: Actually the film stays mostly true to the book for the main events. The ending however...

Sergio: Oh yeah the ending. After eight of the murders there are two characters left. In the book, all the characters die except for the Judge who is terminally ill anyways and orchestrated the whole spree of killings, based on getting these people who had all done something wrong and felt no remorse, their deserved justice. He then writes a confession letter, puts it in a tube and places it in the ocean, confident that the murder will not be solved until the letter is found.

Caroline: Yeah, and the 1945 film, the shooting of Philip Lombard and the suicide of Vera Claythorne's character were changed in favor of a less morbid ending. Vera pretends to shoot Philip Lombard so that the real murderer will believe he is dead.

Sergio: It’s probably important to note that Christie herself wrote these alternate versions of the novel, because she knew that the way the book was written, it would never be able to become a film or play.

Caroline:

Yeah, interestingly so, as she herself knew that the book’s content was a little too graphic for conservative audiences.

Sergio:

Oh well, that’s a wrap. Well see you guys for the next episode of badaptations!