It was four years ago today(-ish) on August 22, 2010 - that I began my blog post, Tales of the Easily Distracted, often with my witty and delightful hubby Vinnie Bartilucci as Team Bartilucci! We're still enjoying blogging about our favorite movies every couple of weeks, mostly films with suspense and tongue-in-cheek wry comedy. Most of all, we have been happy to get to know new fellow movie lovers as well as enjoying our longtime friends' awesome blogs I'm also getting back in the saddle to polishing my novel The Paranoia Club; but hey, one thing at a time! What the heck, wish me luck anyway, and Vinnie and I hope you'll all enjoy all the swell upcoming movie fun here and with other swell blogger pals! Now then, let's cut the cake, and watch our favorite movies, old and new, for many more movie delights!
There is Nothing Like a Dame! We mean Dame Agatha Christie, of course! Here in
our latest series of blog posts saluting the talented and prolific films based
on the novels of Mrs. Christie, this time we’re watching one of our favorites,
Ten Little Indians, the 1965
version (1966 in some posts). Our favorite brother act, The Popkin Brothers, (Impact; D.O.A.) again produced the film, along with co-producer Harry Alan
Towers (who deserves an article or even a book, but that, too, is another
story). We’ve watched and enjoyed the 1945 version,
And Then There WereNone, but
this time, Mrs. Christie’s chilling tale gets even more exciting, thanks to
screenwriters Peter Yeldham and Towers himself, under the nom de plume
“Peter Welbeck”; talk about a man of many faces!
George Pollock, who directed the delightful Miss
Marplefilms starring Margaret
Rutherford, blends suspense, action, humor and sexy romance with this swell
cast, produced by Harry Alan Towers, who also had the rights to Ten Little
Indians:
Leo Genn (Oscar-nominee for Quo Vadis; The Snake Pit
Daliah Lavi(Casino Royale; The Silencers)
Dennis Price (Kind Hearts and Coronets; I’m All Right, Jack
Fabian(The Longest Day; North to Alaska
Shirley
Eaton
(Goldfinger; The Girl Hunters
Wilfrid Hyde-White(The Third Man; My Fair Lady)
Hugh O’Brian(The Shootist; TV’s Wyatt Earp)
Stanley Holloway (The Lavender Hill Mob)
Marriane Hoppe (The Wrong Move; Romance in a Minor Key) And *Mario Adorf (The Tin Drum; The Bird with the Crystal
Plumage)
Similarities between the two film versions abound, like this "keyhole" shot!
This version has it all: violence, fisticuffs, hot hunks, and beautiful babes;
you’ve got Team Bartilucci’s attention, all right! This time, the beleaguered
house party guests with targets on their backs are jet-setters in the Swiss Alps
(played by Ireland; give our regards to Barry Fitzgerald!). Each guest
was lured by invitations, ranging from old friends (O’Brian), movie stars
networking, like film star Ilona Bergen (Lavi) and such, invitations
supposedly sent from old friends, or promises of hobnobbing with the promise of
more movie and/or TV/film roles roles, like film star Ilona Bergen here to
hobnob (Lavi); popular but obnoxious rock singer Mike Raven (Fabian);
and other devilish ruses to keep our party guests around in hope for more roles
and such. It’s the ultimate house-party gone lethally wrong! Malcolm
Lockyer’s gorgeously brassy musical scoreheats things up, which will come in handy when the lovely Shirley Eaton and the
ruggedly handsome Hugh O’Brian have a super-hot love scene! (I love that this
scene is truly sexy and genuinely loving!)
With all the Currier & Ives-style winter wonderland atmosphere, it’s beginning
to look a lot like Christmas — except that nobody knows each other, not even
hired secretary Ann Clyde (Eaton). Leave it to a movie star to break the
ice, namely renowned actress Ilona Bergen (Lavi):
“How utterly marvelous! You all came to a house party without knowing your
host!” Hugh: “Well, what about you, Miss Bergen?” Ilona:
“Darling, it happens to me all the time!”(Oh, those jaded jet-setters!
Our absent host U.N. Owen takes his sweet time showing up; what would Miss
Manners say? Luckily, Judge Cannon (Hyde-White) has a toast for the
occasion: “To absent friends, the ten little Indians, and of course, our
host.” Keep an eye on your guests, you guys and gals; they might not stay
very long, and not just because they’re jet-setters! Soon a chilling, unknown voice breaks the ice with a series of accusations about the guests and the murders in their pasts. The unknown "U.N. Owen (gotta hand it to the fiend, he (or she?) sure has a great sense of gallows humor!
"We've gotta have a romance, by George!"
Fun Fact: The mysterious U.N. Owen’s sinister voice was played by
the one and only Christopher Lee!
Our stranded guests finally let their fair down and admit their crimes: General
Mandrake sent five men to their deaths to in what turned out to be a tragic
blunder, but was decorated anyway; the Grohmanns were accused of a mercy
killing by their elderly charges. Ilona had been a British Army
Officer’s wife, bored but sticking with him until she finally got a chance to get a screen
test, then blowing that Popcicle stand and propelling herself to stardom—and when she dumped her sad hubby, he killed himself in despair, the poor
guy. She does seem to have some remorse, though my cynical side has me thinking
she was more sorry for herself than anything else. Mandrake knew all about her
because Ilona’s husband had been Mandrake’s superior! News travels fast in a
snowbound
Château! Judge Cannonhad
convicted a truly evil man, one Edward Seton, including other wicked things
he’d done to save time; there’s multitasking for you! And then there was Dr.
Armstrong, living (but not for long) while he was literally drinking and driving
while drunk, resulting in a killing a young couple.And the body count begins...
Hugh and Grohmann get ready to RUMBLE!
Ah, but Owen is far from infallible, at least when it comes to our budding
lovers Hugh and Ann! You see, Ann’s disturbed sister had killed her fiancée, and has
lived in a mental home ever since. Hugh had come to the
Châteaubecause his friend, one Charles Moreley (note the
initials “C.S”), had beenhad killed himself after in remorse after being
responsible for a young woman’s botched abortion. Oy! How will
Hugh and Ann get out of this fix?
I especially got a kick out of the Whodunit Break to give us viewers one
minute to see who the killer is: “The Whodunit Break: “…A First in Motion
Pictures! Just before the gripping climax of the film, you’ll be given sixty
seconds to decide to guess the who the murderer is…WE DARE YOU TO GUESS!”
Personally, I’d like to think the great William Castle is watching this in
Heaven and grinning from ear to ear!
