Got Married, or Hung Himself?
Agatha Christie was known for being protective of her endings. In her Autobiography, Christie writes that people sometimes tried to get her to change the endings of her books, but she only gave in once — for her only historical mystery, the ancient Egypt-set Death Comes As the End, and she forever regretted it.
When it came to her plays, however, Christie was more open to altering the ending from her original stories. Three of the plays Christie adapted herself from her own short stories and novels contain substantially revised endings from the original source material. Witness for the Prosecution contains an added twist at the end not present in the original short story, which makes sure that justice is done– albeit not within the bounds of the law, and introduces another character, which, in the words of playwright Ira Levin, “legitimizes an otherwise necessary deception.”
Appointment with Death takes even more significant liberties to the ending by actually changing the identity of the person responsible for Mrs. Boynton’s death! The reasons for the alteration of the killer are not known, though the new poisoner’s identity does further underscore the story’s theme of the self-destructiveness of evil. One theory suggests that the novel’s original killer was inspired by a real-life figure, thereby necessitating the stage version’s revisions for various reasons.
Finally, And Then There Were None is also known for its final scene, which diverges radically from the original novel. The ending of the poem at the center of the mystery, “One little soldier boy left all alone / He went and hanged himself, and then there were none” reflects the novel’s finale. There is, however, an alternative version of the poem that concludes, “He got married and then there were none.” Christie references this happier ending in her novel, and decided to use this to give her own 1943 stage adaptation of her book a brighter final scene. This change is commonly attributed to the fact that the play premiered in the middle of World War Two, and Christie decided that audiences would prefer to leave the theater after watching a romantic conclusion, rather than three violent deaths in a row.
For over seventy years, the ending of the 1943 stage version of And Then There Were None has been far happier than the ending of the 1939 novel. An alternative conclusion to the play,more closely reflecting the novel’s original bleak closing, has recently been commissioned, written, and will be authorized for use, so production companies will now be able to choose which ending they would prefer to use.
A 2005 stage adaptation of And Then There Were None by Kevin Elyot (who also wrote the screenplays for several episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Marple) used the novel’s original ending. This play is notable for adding a level of gruesomeness to the murders, including a projectile vomiting after cyanide poisoning.
And Then There Were None’s endings have been changed in other mediums as well. So far, the English language movie versions and an American television production have all used the happier ending, though an acclaimed Russian adaptation kept the novel’s finale. An Indian musical based upon And Then There Were None produced an even lower body count, with twice the number of individuals surviving from the 1943 stage play. A recent BBC radio play based on the book kept the original denouement.
A computer game adaptation, where the player took the role of the boatman who ferried the guests to the island, and attempted to solve the mystery by finding items and solving puzzles, took the changes even further. In order to give the player more to investigate, the identity of the killer was changed, though solving one final puzzle after the game’s end allowed the player to see a special feature where the novel’s killer confessed. Depending on the player’s actions, the game could end in one of four ways. Though the new identity of the killer remained the same in each of the four endings, the player’s failure to take two separate actions towards the end of the game would lead to the deaths of two characters. Should the player make those two mistakes, then all of the guests would die and the player would be forced to run for his life at the end to avoid being accused of the murders himself! Performing one action correctly would save the life of one character, and performing another in a timely manner would keep the other alive. The happiest ending saved the lives of both characters.
And Then There Were None is currently Christie’s bestselling novel, and remains popular worldwide, as does the stage play. It will be interesting to see which ending, the 1939 or the 1943 version, will be more popular with theaters and audiences in the future, or if acting troupes will take a cue from Clue: The Movie and alternate endings between performances.
