Ten Little Indians Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "And Then There Were None" or "Dix Petits Nègres" or "Ein unbekannter rechnet ab" or "...e poi non ne rimase nessuno" )

directed by Peter Collinson
France/Spain/West Germany/Italy 1974

Eight guests have been invited on various pretenses to a hotel in the middle of the Iranian desert by an unknown host who is absent from dinner (with a centerpiece of ten Indian statuettes). After dinner, a tape-recorded voice (Orson Welles) charges the guests (and the two servants) with crimes that have escaped prosecution. The notion that it is all a joke in bad taste are dispelled when the first guest drops dead of poisoning after admitting his guilt and one of the Indian statues disappear. Searching the hotel results in another death and another missing statue and it becomes apparent that their murderous host is one of the guests. Agatha Christie's source novel and play has not only spawned several adaptations and knock-offs (including a HOWLING sequel) and seems to be the basic template for the slasher genre with groups of people isolated, discovering deaths, accusing each other, grouping together then subsequently wandering off on their own to be killed, until the cast is whittled down to the final potential victim but the confrontation with the killer here is more genteel. The second of producer Harry Alan Towers' adaptations of the Agatha Christie play (which features a different ending from the novel) - the first being the Swiss-set 1965 adaptation with Hugh O'Brien and Shirley Eaton and the last being an African-set 1990 version for Cannon Films with Frank Stallone, Brenda Vaccaro, and Herbert Lom from the 1974 version), Peter Collinson's TEN LITTLE INDIANS lacks the glamour of the 1965 and 1945 monochrome versions (as fun as Oliver Reed and Elke Sommer usually are, they lack the chemistry of the earlier leads) and the ensemble cast in general while interesting seem impoverished compared to the "all star" casts of the Agatha Christie adaptations that followed Sidney Lumet's big-budget MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (and even the witty "all star" B-movie ensemble of Radley Metzger's competing CAT AND THE CANARY) and most only just get by with their dignity intact. The Iranian location is interesting and atmospheric but we never really get the sense of a lurking presence and the film is well-photographed by Fernando Arribas and scored by an uncredited Bruno Nicolai (the score was recently released by Digitmovies in Italy) but Collinson fails to raise any the chills he managed with his earlier FRIGHT (whose stalked babysitter in a large house seems to have had a heavy influence on John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN). The cast try their best but the script just feels over-familiar.

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 23 April 1975 (USA)

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Comparison:

Optimum - Region 2 - PAL vs. Artedis - Region 2 - PAL vs. Scorpion Releasing - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the DVD Screen Caps!

1) Optimum - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT

2) Artedis - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE

3) Scorpion Releasing - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Optimum Region 2 - PAL	Artedis Region 2 - PAL	Scorpion Releasing Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:34:18 (4% PAL speedup)	1:33:44 (4% PAL speedup)	1:38:08.799
Video	1.65:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.9 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.80:1 Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.93 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.66:1 Disc Size: 24,424,006,264 bytes Feature Size: 22,558,949,376 bytes Total Bitrate: 26.99 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Optimum
Bitrate: Artedis
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)	French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1825 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1825 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	none	none	none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.65:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 2:40) DVD Release Date: 11 January 2010 Amaray Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Artedis Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.80:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 4:10) DVD Release Date: Amaray Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Scorpion Releasing 1.66:1 Disc Size: 24,737,515,532 bytes Feature Size: 21,984,294,336 bytes Total Bitrate: 27.95 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC Edition Details: • Commentary with Nathaniel Thompson and Howard Berger • Italian Credits (2:52) • Trailers (2:38) • Reversible cover Blu-ray Release Date: June 20th, 2017 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 15

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were obtained directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Scorpion Releasing - Region 'A' - Blu-ray June 17': Yeah, this doesn't look very good. A notch above the SD transfer but very soft, hazy, loose colors... no depth. It does seem to support the Optimum color scheme and isn't fatally poor in-motion but I think it's softer than it should be. At the end of the day, it surpasses the DVD visuals - and is in the correct 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Perhaps I'm being too critical - I was just expecting it to be sharper.

The audio is DTS-HD Master, 2.0 channel, 24-bit and the syncs are noticeable but the audio is clean carrying some depth with some, unfortunate, dropouts. The score is by Bruno Nicolai (All the Colors of the Dark, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, Face to Face, The Perverse Countess, Torso, Pasolini's Hawks and the Sparrows) - for the international version, which this appears to be, and, for your information, Carlo Rustichelli (The Whip and the Body, Seduced and Abandoned, Divorce - Italian Style) composed for the domestic. Let's not forgot one of the film's highlights - Charles Aznavour singing Dance In The Old Fashioned Way (Les Plaisirs Démodés), which sounds quite rich in the lossless. By the way, this performance is his voice - not a DUB - for the rest of the film his voice id DUB'ed though. There are no subtitle options and the Blu-ray disc appears to be Region 'A'!

Scorpion include an audio commentary with Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger. Berger's voice has poor quality - sounds like a phone. They do impart some valuable info regarding the different versions. I liked it. We also get to see the Italian credits and two trailers. The package has a cool reversible cover (see below.)

Even the voice of Orson Welles (as U. N. Owen) and the crooning of Aznavour couldn't save this turkey. Scorpion adding the commentary is very much appreciated - such a cast - Richard Attenborough, Gert Fröbe + Adolfo Celi (yes, two Bond baddies), Herbert Lom, Elke Sommer, Oliver Reed etc. - and still not capturing the essence of the Agatha Christie story. Sigh... but it does have some positives - enough to indulge? Well, I guess that is a personal opinion. I think the film grew on me more in HD than on the ineffectual DVDs.

- Gary Tooze

***

ON THE DVDs: The new Studio Canal-licensed transfer from Optimum presents the film on DVD in its English language version (the French DVD from Artedis had English opening and closing credits but its opening sequence had a different order of shots for no particular reason other than seemingly to begin the film with its opening credits instead of the atmosphere-establishing series of shots that are now positioned after the credits to lesser effect). The 1.66:1 anamorphic framing reveals vertical AND horizontal picture information and more pleasing picture quality but the film would likely have been screened theatrically in the UK at 1.75:1 and the US at 1.85:1 (the US tape release was horrendously cropped on all four sides) but looks far more cramped and soft compared to the new UK disc.

The Artedis disc is apparently also available as a bonus disc on a concert disc of co-star Charles Aznavour (who lip-syncs to "The Old Fashioned Way" here). Both are sparse on the extras front other than theatrical trailers. The trailer on the Optimum disc is the British trailer with the AND THEN THERE WERE NONE title (both discs have the onscreen TEN LITTLE INDIANS title) while the French disc has the longer Avco Embassy U.S. TEN LITTLE INDIANS trailer dubbed in French. A Spanish DVD was at one time available that likely featured the opening sequence featuring production quota appearances Rik Battaglia and Teresa Gimpera.

- Eric Cotenas