I’ve read the book and the play of this, both by Agatha Christie, and they’re quite gloomy works – a bunch of killers on an island being knocked off one by one. But in the hands of Rene Clair this is a light, bright tale, with plenty of comedy. The death toll is still really high, and it remains creepy, especially towards the end when there’s only a few people on the island. Sometimes I wondered if it was too light for the material – I mean, people are dying – opportunities for suspense and terror were missed. But still this is pretty good. It helps having a strong cast, including Barry Fitzgerald, Judith Anderson, Walter Huston, C Aubrey Smith and Louis Hayward. June Duprez is a bit of a wet blanket in the main female role. Good adaptation by Dudley Nichols.
No comments:
Post a Comment