Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

*** UPDATED SEP-05-2013 *** Ten people are invited to an island, and murders that seem to be inspired by a nursery rhyme ensue. One of Agatha Christie's most famous whodunits, "And Then There Were None", was adapted into one of the best whodunits on film, directed in 1945 by the great René Clair, who also directed comedy classics such as "I Married a Witch", "À nous la liberté", and "Le Million". This suspenseful and occasionally humourous film is no doubt on the most-favorite lists of many people. But sadly the new 2013 Blu-ray & DVD editions from VCI do not do it justice. Hence, the best-looking and sounding edition remains the Image DVD edition from way back in 2001. VCI claims that a brand-new restoration has been done for their new discs, and that seems to be true. Their new Blu-ray & DVD do look pretty clean, and are the cleanest-looking editions currently. But sadly, the source print itself is far from ideal. It has a significant lack of sharpness and details to the point that watching the Blu-ray seems like watching a DVD. See my comment section below for a link to a comparison between the VCI Blu-ray and Image DVD. It shows the Blu-ray doesn't gain any significant improvement in sharpness and details the way a Blu-ray should. Note that the VCI picture is cropped pretty significantly on all four sides of the image compared to the Image DVD. The 2.0 mono soundtrack on the VCI Blu-ray and DVD is lossless, but it also lacks in quality just like the picture. It has less clarity and more distortion compared to the fine 1.0 mono track of the Image DVD. One positve thing about the 2013 VCI discs is that they come with optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired, and also an audio description track for the visually impaired. All other discs include neither. The new VCI discs don't have any other supplements, however. If you already have the Image DVD, save your money. If you don't, and if you must have the best video and audio quality, get the Image DVD. If you must have subtitles, only the new VCI Blu-ray or DVD offer that. If you are interested in Amazon's instant video version of the film, rest assured that it uses the same print as the Image DVD. See my original 2001 review below of the Image DVD and other less desirable DVD editions. *** ORIGINAL REVIEW, WRITTEN, NOV-26-2001 *** The new Image DVD version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is a vast improvement in video/audio quality over previous DVD releases by VCI in 1999 and Madacy in 2001. All three versions are currently available at Amazon, so be sure to check the technical info page for each disc to see which company makes it. The video transfer on the Image DVD, said to be made from "original elements", is much, much sharper and more detailed than that on the VCI and Madacy versions. It also shows a little more picture on all four sides of the screen. The picture looks somewhat battered during the opening credits, but it looks great the rest of the way. There is a slight amount of graininess and other blemishes throughout, but it is not detrimental. I'm especially impressed with the scenes that take place in the dark, in which some of the background details, such as engravings on the wall, the subtle lights and shadows, etc., can be seen with much greater clarity. The VCI disc, conversely, looks much less sharp, and the Madacy disc even less so. The monophonic audio tracks on the VCI and Madacy discs are louder but have more noise compared to that on the Image disc. The problem of the dialogs not being synchronized properly on the VCI and Madacy discs has also been fixed on the Image disc. The Image disc has one extra: the film's British opening credit sequence, which uses the deplorably offensive title "Ten Little N******" (which is also Agatha Christie's original title for her whodunnit). The sequence is preceded with an explanation of its use so the viewer has the historical context in mind. The VCI disc has a biography section on the filmmakers and the 1946 comedy short TWIN HUSBANDS, starring Leon Errol. The Madacy disc has a 9-minute newsreel footage from 1945, a 12-minute blooper footage (of OTHER films), 3 screenshots of lobby cards, and a trivia quiz section. All three discs are region-free and without subtitles or closed captioning.