This lacklustre adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (London: Collins, 1939), retains the original, racist title and general plot structure, but, like most Soviet films, lacks the sense of atmosphere necessary to raise Christie’s work from the merely diverting to the truly interesting. Likewise, whilst it’s distasteful in itself to eradicate the unfortunate, sometimes disturbing aspects of the past’s cultural and political unpleasantness, a work that includes those same aspects must bring their bigotry or conservatism to light and attempt, at least, a cursory examination of their place in our history as constantly evolving and aspiring human beings.
Desyat negrityat exists in a vacuum, without recourse to intellectual or cinematic expression, recreating the written word as if the goal was a filmed play. Important, major social icons such as Agatha Christie demand detailed and analytical adaptations that present them – warts and all – in a manner that explores their place in literary history, and the real-life character behind the text. Too many Christie adaptations offer fine period detail and politically correct variations in the the place of this exacting, but entirely necessary, approach.
