MovieChat Forums > And Then There Were None (2015) Discussion > Why change Christie's original ending?

Why change Christie's original ending?

posted 9 years ago by SohoLondon
57 replies | jump to latest

Such a classic, classic book and an ingenious premise by one of the all-time great crime writers. So why change her ending?

The killer certainly never revealed themself on the island nor talked to anyone as they were hanging. The ending of the book was a lot more mysterious as the ten murders on an island with no killer wasn't actually solved. There was even another chapter set in Scotland Yard where they were baffled and reveal a detail about the hanging chair that is one of the greatest details in the book.

Only when a letter was sent much later, featuring a forensic confession, was the killer revealed.

So much ingenious detail of how the mystery was engineered was just wiped out in favour of ponderous slow-motion scenes. A real shame as such an clever book should be portrayed as such, instead of being filmed as if Christie had only put a tenth as much thought into the plot as she actually did.

[–] evguenimlodik 9 years ago

Yes, they made the ending into a strange concoction of the play and novel's endings.

[–] luks-11 9 years ago

The thing is that the use of a letter as an epilogue is a very effective literary device. It works well on the written page but isn't very cinematic. You'd either have subtitles relaying what the letter said or, more likely, have a VoiceOver reading out the letter. Neither option would be that engaging on the screen.

I do agree that it was a bit of a shame not to see the police investigating and failing to solve the crime. They could have shown Vera walking into the noose and then cut to scenes of police failing to solve the crime and then cut back to the Judge walking in and talking to Vera.

[–] fatihokan-05987 9 years ago

I disagree. I think they could've pulled it off. Hear me out.

After Lombard's death, we see that Vera's mental state is clearly diminished. She hangs herself without hesitation. The camera backs out from her dead body.

The audience thinks, "So wait what? Was Vera the killer? How and why?" Everyone is puzzled.

The police investigation could be skipped, doesn't matter.

Then we see the sailor who brought them to the island, pick up a bottle from the sea. In it is a note.

With his epic voice, Charles Dance starts narrating the letter. While he's talking, we see flashbacks and short clips of how he pulled it off. We get answers to big questions regarding their deaths.

Also we get an answer to a massive question. How did a renowned doctor announce the judge as dead? Didn't he check his pulse? Or the wound? This is explained in the book, since they're working together.

In the final scene, we see the judge committing suicide exactly the way it was on the show. And the narrations final words are, "Signed, Lawrence Wargrave"

Boom. Oscar.

[–] TotheWatersandtheWild 9 years ago

I disagree. I think they could've pulled it off. Hear me out.

After Lombard's death...

Then we see the sailor who brought them to the island, pick up a bottle from the sea. In it is a note.

With his epic voice, Charles Dance starts narrating the letter.... we see flashbacks and short clips of how he pulled it off...

Brilliant. Would have enjoyed that more.

~
Hate is a lack of imagination.― Graham Greene
🐉

[–] timothy-jan-atkins 8 years ago

Also we get an answer to a massive question. How did a renowned doctor announce the judge as dead? Didn't he check his pulse? Or the wound? This is explained in the book, since they're working together.

The Judge did explain that in the series.

[–] starfleet_99 8 years ago

Agreed!!! It would have been just as effective, and would have kept with the ending of the book with very little loss of dramatic license.

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain"

[–] Jimmy-128 8 years ago

On paper, I agree, that would have been fine.

But it adds at least another half-hour to the overall product. So either some things have to be cut (and quite frankly, I can't think of a single thing from this adaptation that I'd want to lose, down to and including every Vera-Cyril-Hugo flashback), or else we need to add enough to make a fourth night.

Hmm...I don't really have a problem with that second option, now that I think about it.

[–] the sphynx 8 years ago

I kinda like your suggestion, but there is one glaring problem either way. In the novel, Wargrave wrote that he planned to tie his glasses' neckband elastic to the gun and shoot himself in the forehead IN HIS BED. The elastic would snap the gun away from his dead hand, and leave it on the floor where anyone might have dropped it.

There is no good reason to change that part of the ending. His body should have been found in bed, where the survivors would naturally have placed it right after it was found. Whether or not he tells his story to the living Vera, struggling in her noose, is relatively trivial.

In the book, there were journals and notes left (which should have been at least briefly mentioned in the miniseries) that established the order and means of most of the deaths. His shooting himself in the neck at the dining table would have contradicted those. Even if he shot himself in the forehead to be more consistent, his body location completely destroys the illusion that the Judge was one of the earlier ones to die, and the enduring enigma he hoped to leave behind.

[–] velcronewsletter 8 years ago

yes. perfect. just how some of us have imagined it

[–] neerood 8 years ago

"Boom. Oscar"? Please.

You miss the key point that the judge revels in the expectation that the police will stumble through the island not knowing what happened and where the killer went. Leaving a bottle-confession at the landing defeats that.

[–] BillyFromSoddyDaisy 9 years ago

I agree with luks-11. Not very cinematic to present it in way it was in the book. In the book, it works great, but to have the entire letter just read as an epilogue.

Was it a perfect ending for the screen? No, but it's better than any filmed ending used before.

_____
"Sometimes we all wanna be someone that we're not like Billy down in Soddy Daisy."

[–] velcronewsletter 9 years ago

agreed, i didn't like the last 5 minutes. but at least it was better than the stage ending with philip and vera running off into the sunset together

[–] tobias_kl 9 years ago

Exactly. This ending had its flaws but was way better than the typical Happy Ending.

[–] cmbh123 9 years ago

Yep

Watched a black and white version of this and was very disappointed they had "wimped out" and made Vera the heroine.

For TV audiences it was a reasonable adaption of the book ending I felt, some of which wouldn't translate well to screen.

[–] pritch636 9 years ago

I'm not familiar with the original ending, but this version's final 10 minutes left me thoroughly unsatisfied.

time to start packing!

[–] jorenvanveen 9 years ago

Really!!! I wasn't aware of the story but loved this ending!

For a moment I started to think that some sort of ghost was on the Island or they were in hell already, so I was actually happy that it wasn't some supernatural, but that it just was a human who did all this!

[–] Tess22 9 years ago

The ending of the book is one of my favourite mystery conclusions, but sometimes what works on the page doesn't work on the screen. Yes, it would have been great to see the police arrive and be puzzled, but the letter would have had to be a lengthy voiceover by Charles Dance and I don't see how they could have portrayed it visually. I actually liked this ending (much better than the 'happy' ending in the play, anyway) and I thought both performances in the final scene were excellent.

You don’t have to be angry to have an opinion worth hearing.

[–] fudanchu-725-268123 9 years ago

I agree. The ending of the book would not have worked on film. Would we have had some sailors reading the message in the bottle they had found? Also I must admit I disliked Vera so much I wanted her ending to have that extra element of savagery -- perhaps that is a little bit of the judge in me. I had no problem losing the police.

[–] fridaynight-1 9 years ago

I'm still very happy they chose the novel over the play.

Cannot stand this ridiculousness about Vera being innocent and Philip not being Philip. I know it was Christie's idea, but I'm still allowed to hate it.

So glad that the ending matches the title.

[–] caviar1234 9 years ago

Actually that's not Christie's idea at all.

[–] [email protected] 9 years ago

Indeed. The ORIGINAL title would have seriously irritated a large number of people. Especially in America.

[–] BigGreenYamo 9 years ago

Well, since she wrote the stage adaptation, it literally IS her idea.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] lexluv101 9 years ago

They didn't change the ending explanation, just how it was told. I loved that they kept the villains back history in the revelation (the bloodthirsty enjoyment of killing from childhood, not just on the Island). I was wondering how they were going to do it too, but for the movie's sake liked it better than a reading of the letter, although that worked better in written form.