And Then There Were None 1945

Eight strangers are lured to a remote island off the Devon coast by a pair who call themselves Mr. and Mrs. Owen. They settle into a secluded mansion tended by two newly hired servants, Thomas Rogers, [Richard Haydn], and Ethel Rogers, [Queenie Leonard], but their hosts are nowhere to be seen. A gramophone record announces that each guest stands accused of murder, and the table’s centerpiece features ten figurines of Indians. No one has met U. N. Owen, and they learn the island’s boat won’t return until Monday, leaving them stranded for a long weekend.

One guest, Nikita “Nikki” Starloff, [Mischa Auer], confesses to guilt, then dies after his drink is poisoned. The next morning, Ethel Rogers dies in her sleep. They notice one figurine is broken and another missing, and, with these deaths matching the rhyme Ten Little Indians, they search the island for Mr. Owen in vain.

General Mandrake, [John Mandrake], is stabbed to death. The guests decide that Owen must be among them, and they vote on suspects. Rogers is the only one who receives more than one vote and is ordered to sleep in the woodshed. The next morning, his body is found with an axe blow to the head.

Emily Brent, [Judith Anderson], dies next, a hypodermic needle found nearby. Edward Armstrong, [Walter Huston], discovers his own needle is missing, along with Lombard’s revolver. At dinner, four guests—Quinncannon, Armstrong, Blore, and Lombard—confess to their crimes, fracturing the group further.

When Vera Claythorne, [June Duprez], goes off to fetch her coat, a scream is heard and a gunshot follows. The room erupts in chaos as Lombard’s gun is found and Quinncannon is revealed to be very much alive as the mysterious Mr. Owen. The judge explains that his life-long pursuit of perfect justice led him to stage this brutal test, and that he had Armstrong help him fake his own death, ultimately murdering him. He tells Vera that she stands at a final crossroads: she can hang herself or face execution.

The twist deepens as Lombard’s ally, Charles Morley, reveals himself alive and behind the judge’s seeming authority. It turns out Quinncannon is the mastermind, the true Mr. Owen. The judge, terminally ill, dies after drinking poisoned whiskey, and Morley remains at Vera’s side as the boat finally arrives. Quinncannon dies, and the rescue brings Morley and Miss Claythorne back to safety, closing the island chapter with justice’s very personal, lethal calculus having run its course.