Review of Ten Little Indians

This Russian adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's most famous stories is highly acclaimed, especially by Christie purists, mainly for sticking to her original book ending, which is more grim, and more logical, than the "revised" one which Christie herself wrote for the stage version, and which all other film adaptations so far have used. It also deserves praise for its great location, and for the depth (and ambivalence) given to Vera's character. But the film is also plodding, talky, and overlong; it's more labor than fun to watch. Of course I don't expect this story to be a barrel of laughs, but a little more life and humor might have helped. And what might have helped even more are decent English subtitles - this being a hard-to-find movie, I had to settle for what I could get, which was nearly incomprehensible subtitling by someone for whom English was probably the fourth language. **1/2 out of 4.