CAST: Donald Pleasence (Judge Lawrence Wargrave), Frank Stallone (Captain Philip Lombard), Sarah Maur Thorp (Vera Claythorne), Herbert Lom (General Brancko Romensky), Brenda Vaccaro (Marion Marshall), Warren Berlinger (Detective William Blore), Yehuda Efroni (Dr. Hans Werner), Paul L. Smith (Elmo Rodgers), Moira Lister (Ethel Mae Rodgers), Neil McCarthy (Anthony Marston). Directed by Alan Birkinshaw.
SYNOPSIS: Ten strangers have been invited to a free African safari by a Mr. Owens. Captain Lombard greets the guests as they arrive and leads them to the camp, where they are scheduled to meet their host. Among the guests are Judge Wargrave (Donald Pleasence), Dr. Werner, private investigator William Blore, playboy Anthony Marston, secretary Vera Claythorne, Marion Marshall, husband and wife Ethel and Elmo Rodgers, and Serbian General Brancko Romensky. The group crosses a ravine in a wooden lift which is promptly cut down by the natives, leaving the group stranded and unable to get back. Nervous but with no other choice, the group continues on, and after reaching their camp, they discover that their mysterious host Mr. Owens is not there. That night, the group meets for dinner and notices a tray holding ten Indian statues. They also find a recording left by Mr. Owen in which he explains that he has invited them to charge each one with a murder they committed and got away with in the past. Marston is the first to die, and more of the guests quickly follow him, all according to the poem “Ten Little Indians.” With just a handful left, the survivors come to the realization that the mysterious Mr. Owens is actually one of them. Cut off from the outside world, with nowhere to go, the survivors start turning on each other in a desperate attempt to survive until the real Mr. Owens reveals himself — or herself.
COMMENTARY: Numerous film adaptations of Agatha Christie’s novel “Ten Little Indians” have been produced, and this 1989 version stands out as the best of the lot. The cast is overall good, though the setting and some of the dialogue differs from the original source material. Producer Harry Allen Towers obviously liked Christie’s story a great deal because he previously produced two other film versions in 1965 and 1974; Towers was also responsible for changing the film’s ending, going with a more upbeat theatrical version rather than Christie’s rather bleak conclusion. Another connection to past productions of Ten Little Indians is Herbert Lom who played Dr. Werner in the 1974 version. In this film, Lom provides a great performance as General Romensky.
With top billing in this production, Pleasence gets to shine as Judge Wargrave who acts as the voice of reason among the guests while also spreading distrust; he also transforms from being calm to overly excited during which he starts popping pills like candy. His conversions with Dr. Werner are quite good and a past history between the two is hinted at early on. Even at his age, Pleasence’s Judge proved to be quite a match for Philip Lombard, the young hero played by Frank Stallone.