where last autumn, I purchased a number of Agatha Christie books to help improve my Italian. It was, no doubt, a wise decision not to publish Christie’s original title in the United States and, yet, dominant culture still struggles recognizing the invidious nature of paternalistic racism – rampant in the very phrase, Ten Little Indians.Īs for rest of the world, as late as 1977, London was still publishing the work under the title, Ten Little Niggers, which remains the work’s popular international title. the Board of Education overturned school segregation (1954) and Martin Luther King, Jr. This editorial decision (1940) took place well before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball (1947), Brown vs. Rather, he was merely following dominant culture logic that an offensive racial epithet can be removed by simply substituting it for an entirely different racial minority with a less (arguably) offensive name. It is rather unlikely that the New York editor’s decision was a nostalgic nod to Winner’s original nursery rhyme immortalizing the Vanishing Indian. edition (1940) removed the term, choosing to recast black as red – the book, Ten Little Indians (And Then There Were None), was now set on Indian Island, a poem about Indians hung in the room of each guest, and upon each of their deaths, one of the porcelain Indians in the middle of the dinner table mysteriously disappeared. Recognizing the offensive nature of the term, the editor of the first U.S. The third reference to niggers in Christie’s story is to ten small porcelain black statues in the middle of the dinner table, which mysteriously disappear one-by-one in parallel with the deaths of the ten island guests. Green from the original, Ten Little Injuns (Septimus Winner, 1868), was already a minstrel show favorite before Christie further popularized it, using its contents to provide the overall framework of her story. The second reference is the poem, Ten Little Niggers, a framed copy of which hung in each of the guest rooms.
The story is set on an island off the coast of Devon, England, called Nigger Island –‘It got its name from its resemblance to a man’s head - the profile of a negro’.
In the original story, Christie uses the reference, nigger, in three different ways. Some too casual and forced situations -necessary to sustain the plot and usual in Miss Christie's novels- do not affect the picture in all which is a real good one in its genre.What’s red on the outside and black on the inside? The Italian edition of Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel, Ten Little Niggers, published in Italy as Dieci piccoli indiani (Ten Little Indians).Ĭhristie’s story, also known as And Then There Were None, is about ten strangers, who were invited to an island where they mysteriously died one after the other. If you didn't read Christie's novel you will enjoy the film and its mysterious plot, and if did read it you will enjoy the murderer's handling of facts in order to accomplish his sinister plan. Hugh O'Brian and Shirley Eaton (a former Bond girl) are correct in their not much demanding roles). No doubt the very good performances of such experienced actors as Leo Genn (the General), Wilfrid Hyde White (the Judge) and Sterling Holloway (the detective) help a lot too. The dark atmosphere -the shooting was made in black and white- is good enough and interest doesn't fall along the whole picture, perhaps because the events move fast and the film's running time is perfect. A rather unpretentious remake of "And There here were None" released in the 40's, this 1965 version turns out really good and stands far better than others that followed (in 1974 with Oliver Reed and Elke Sommer and in 1989 with Donald Pleasence and Brenda Vaccaro). The mystery's disclosure at the very end of the film doesn't lack surprise and goes along with the previous entertaining situations. They also realize that the avenging murderer is one of them, but who? Deaths start and it comes to the point in which no one -sill alive of course- trusts no one and everyone suspects everyone. They soon realize the idea for their presence there is none other than to be executed one by one as a punishment for unclear circumstances that hurt and killed people in each one's past. Based on a novel by Agatha Christie, it tells the story of ten people, all unknown to each other, that get trapped and isolated in a sort of castle on top a mountain where they have been invited by a mysterious host they don't know either. If you enjoy crime mystery movies this is one to see.
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