And Then There Were None

film by Clair [1945]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

And Then There Were None, American thriller film, released in 1945, that was an adaptation of a classic suspense story by Agatha Christie.

Ten people (eight guests and two servants) are invited by a mysterious host to join him for a weekend on an isolated island. Once there, they find that their host has not yet arrived and are instead presented with a phonographic recording accusing each of them of murder, ranging from the outright killing of others for financial gain to deaths resulting from reckless driving or irresponsible medical treatment. Unable to escape the island, they are then killed, one by one, as described in the children’s nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians.” The survivors anguish over who will be the next victim and whether one of those present is actually the murderer.

A classic “whodunit” film, And Then There Were None inspired numerous subsequent films. It was remade several times as Ten Little Indians.