George Pollock directed Ten Little Indians, a well executed British crime mystery.
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UK release poster
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Produced and co-written by Harry Alan Towers, it is the second version of Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel.
Although its story is similar to the 1945 adaptation (And Then There Were None), with ten people invited to a remote location by a mysterious stranger, this one takes place on an isolated snowy mountain.
This movie is also the first adaptation to show the murders on screen.
Actor Christopher Lee (uncredited) provided the pre-recorded gramophone voice of “Mr. U.N. Owen.”
Ten people travel by aerial tramway to a snowbound mansion, invited by Mr. U.N. Owen (Unknown) to spend the weekend. They discover that none of them has actually ever met Owen, including his secretary and a married housekeeper and cook, all hired through agency.
Framed copies of the children’s nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians” hang on the walls of each guest’s bedroom.
And dinner is served by the butler Grohmann on a tray adorned with ten little Indian figurines.
At 9 p.m., as instructed, Grohmann switches on a hidden tape recording. A man identifying himself as Owen reveals that each of the 10 guests has a scandalous secret, an involvement in various innocent people’s deaths.
Directed by George Pollock
Produced by Harry Alan Towers
Screenplay by Peter Welbeck, Peter Yeldham, Erich Kröhnke, Enrique Llovet, based on 1939 novel by Agatha Christie
Music by Malcolm Lockyer
Cinematography Ernest Steward
Edited by Peter Boita
Production company: Tenlit Films
Distributed by Warner-Pathé (UK); Seven Arts (US)
Release date: June 1965
Running time: 91 minutes
