Ten Little Indians

A group of ten disparate people are summoned by a mysterious host, Mr. Owen, to travel to Africa for a safari. They arrive at a remote hunting camp and are guided into the jungle by Philip Lombard with the aid of local natives. The host himself is conspicuously absent, leaving the guests unsettled about their purpose and fate.

Shortly after their arrival, the native guides disappear and the bridge that would allow escape is cut, isolating the party in the hunting camp. The sense of safety dissolves as they realize they are stranded with no immediate way in or out. Mr. Owen remains unseen, heightening the ominous mood.

Following dinner, a gramophone recording speaks in an inhuman voice, accusing each person of a murder they allegedly committed. The guests grapple with the chilling declarations, realizing they are being judged for sins they thought they had escaped. The atmosphere darkens as fear and guilt spread among them.

Marston collapses and dies after drinking a poisoned martini, the death echoing the first verse of a grim rhyme. A porcelain Indian doll on the table is found headless, reinforcing the ritualistic, foreboding atmosphere. The party begins to suspect a killer among them.

In the morning, Ethel Mae Rodgers is discovered dead in her bed, with indications of an overdose. The second line of the rhyme seems fulfilled, intensifying the sense that a killer operates among them. Suspicion shifts toward the remaining guests as fear mounts.

Four men go off with rifles to hunt for Mr. Owen, hoping to uncover the mastermind. During this excursion, General Romensky is pushed off a cliff and dies, heightening the paranoia that the killer is among them. The group’s plan to unmask Owen spirals into a deadly trap of its own.

The guests discover that the radio has been sabotaged and that all the ammunition in the camp are blanks. This discovery deepens the isolation and fear, suggesting that Mr. Owen may be one of them and that escape is impossible. The realization fuels the sense of an impending, unseen threat.

Rodgers is found dead with an axe buried in his head, a brutal and abrupt murder that mirrors another line of the rhyme. The line between accident and murder blurs as the guests grapple with the possibility of a deliberate killer among them. Panic and distrust sweep through the group.

Marion Marshall succumbs to a lethal injection, further stoking suspicion toward Dr. Werner and the medical staff. The deaths march steadily onward, each echoing a stanza of the ominous rhyme. Paranoia and guilt drive the remaining guests toward desperation.

Lombard manages to repair the damaged radio and makes contact with the outside world. A spotter plane is arranged to arrive the next morning to recover the survivors, offering a fragile thread of hope to the fearful party. The camp settles into a tense vigil as a rescue seems possible.

During a ferocious storm, Wargrave is found dead, shot in the head, seemingly fulfilling the rhyme's fatal verse. The apparent death adds another layer to the mystery and a chilling sense that the killer’s plan is working. Yet the twist of the tale hints at a hidden deception beneath the surface.

Dr. Werner dies by a slit throat, and it becomes clear that Wargrave's apparent death was a feigned ruse. This reveals the extent of Wargrave's elaborate plan to manipulate the others and to stage the murders as part of a grand scheme of justice. The group realizes the killer may be closer than any of them imagined.

Mr. Blore barricades himself in his tent but is found murdered, stabbed in the chest. With more bodies than ever, the survivors feel the noose tightening around anyone who might still be alive. The realization that Wargrave's plan is broader than a single killer sinks in.

Only Lombard and Vera remain; Vera shoots Lombard in a desperate act of self-preservation. Returning to the common tent, Vera finds Wargrave alive, wearing judicial robes and a wig, and a noose is prepared for her. Wargrave reveals the culmination of his long-planned 'trial' and asserts his control over the scene.

Wargrave forces Vera toward the noose, then explains how Dr. Werner helped him fake his own death to spy on the others. He drinks poisoned wine and dies, while Lombard reappears, alive but grazed by Vera's bullet. With the tension broken, a rescue plane finally arrives and Vera is saved, ending the nightmarish ordeal.