BEFORE: The tie-in with "Witness For the Prosecution" is that both films were based on Agatha Christie novels, although this one seems to be more of the suspense-driven murder mystery she was famous for, not just a prominent trial. For a direct acting connection, Charles Laughton was also in the 1936 film "Rembrandt" with Wilfrid Hyde-White (last seen in "Oh, God! Book II"), who appears in tonight's film.
THE PLOT: Ten people are invited to an isolated place for the weekend, but one by one, they are being knocked off according to the poem of "Ten Little Indians".
AFTER: Before I go any further, a note to the IMDB and to Hollywood in general - the title of this film should be "Ten Little Indians", not "Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians". Certain authors and directors enjoy something that marketers call "name above the title", which refers to their positioning on the movie's poster. This does not mean that their name belongs WITHIN the title. A title is a title, and a person is a person - they should not be intertwined.
You might think I'm being too strict about this, but if you let this one slide by, then eventually you end up with "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion" which has entirely too many apostrophes in it, and also "Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor", which is wrong on so many levels, including being much too long. What I'm trying to say here is that Tyler Perry's name should never be considered as part of the title. Is the film "Citizen Kane", or "Orson Welles's Citizen Kane"? I rest my case - if an egomaniac like Welles can keep his name out of his film's title, then so can everyone else.
The problem with "Ten Little Indians" is this factor of 10. Ten potential murders? Something's getting lost here, and I think it's the individual murders themselves. Murder is a BIG deal - the taking of a life, even if that person deserves it, according to your moral code. An entire film, such as last night's, can be built around ONE murder, and here we've got XX (I'm witholding the actual number, since it's kind of integral to the plot's ending).
This is why I don't watch most horror films - at least not the modern splatter variety (ASIDE: Has someone in the horror genre produced "Splatter-Day Night Fever" yet? Just putting that out there.). As exciting as it can be to see someone snuffed out on film, I think it should be used sparingly, for maximum impact, and Hollywood apparently disagrees.
The key thing to bear in mind here, is that all of the people invited to this mountain chalet are there for a reason. They each have something to hide, in many cases it's the fact that they caused the death of another person - but it's a little unclear who the mysterious owner of the chalet is, or how he knows all of these other people, or how he knows about their past sins.
And this is where the "suspense" angle sort of loses me - the mystery man informs the group (via recorded message) why they're each here, and the famous (and quite racist) nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians' seems to suggest they're all about to meet their maker in some order, and in some clever and semi-ambiguous ways.
This is a terrible way to spend one's vacation - if you're constantly being reminded of your mortality by witnessing the deaths of others, and wondering when and how you're going to be killed, just how are you supposed to enjoy your ski trip? And for God's sake, why do these people continue to spend one more minute in this place? Wouldn't they all rather be on a cruise or something?
The logic (and the math) gets odder as the film progresses. If last night's film was a precursor to "Law & Order", then this is the original "Survivor" - though here when they get voted out of the tribe, there's no chance of them being talkative during the reunion show. That said, however:
NITPICK POINT: As the numbers of living people in the house decrease, the chances of each person being "the killer" increase - but this is only if they believe that the killer walks among them. Which is only a possibility, not a certainty. There's still the chance that the killer is operating behind the scenes. If the killer is definitely masquerading as one of the guests, then an odd thing happens when there are three people left, and an even odder thing when there are two. Think about it.
Also starring Hugh O'Brian (last seen in "Twins"), Shirley Eaton, Stanley Holloway (last seen in "The Lavender Hill Mob"), Fabian, Leo Genn, Daliah Lavi, Dennis Price, and the voice of Christopher Lee (last seen in "Alice in Wonderland").
RATING: 4 out of 10 snooker balls
No comments:
Post a Comment