I had always been intrigued by this all-star whodunit with a Hollywood background and a script written by two celebrities (musician Stephen Sondheim and actor Anthony Perkins) who happened to be puzzle aficionados in real life. However, over the years, I kept missing out on Italian TV broadcasts of the film because I wanted to catch it in the original language and, now, I did!
While I have to say that I wasn't that much taken with it at first due to its unavoidably chic 70s look once the mind games and the murders began, it became a lot of fun with multiple plot twists that kept one guessing till the very end! Unfortunately, the audio on the Warners DVD was a bit too low for my tastes since this is definitely a film where attention must be paid at all times, otherwise a pivotal clue might be missed (in fact, I'm sure a second viewing would lend greater appreciation of the various plot nuances which come thick and fast, particularly in the denouement). Like I said, the mystery is quite convoluted yet incredibly clever as the games soon turn deadly, and the yacht's list of passengers starts getting smaller...
Anyway, this is basically "And Then There Were None" set on a boat: a group of people (all of them involved in the movie business) are assembled together, ostensibly, for a week of fun in the sun however, each has something to hide about his or her past, and they're all somehow under suspicion of being behind the hit-and-run accident which killed the wife of their host (James Coburn)! All the actors are well cast but the best of them, to my mind, are James Mason (who brings his customary wit to the proceedings as a film director), Richard Benjamin (as a frustrated scriptwriter who purports to adopt his creative talents towards solving the mystery) and, from the ladies' corner, Dyan Cannon. For the record, the rest of the victims er cast is made up of Raquel Welch, Ian McShane and Joan Hackett, while Yvonne Romain features very briefly as the titular character.
While I have to say that I wasn't that much taken with it at first due to its unavoidably chic 70s look once the mind games and the murders began, it became a lot of fun with multiple plot twists that kept one guessing till the very end! Unfortunately, the audio on the Warners DVD was a bit too low for my tastes since this is definitely a film where attention must be paid at all times, otherwise a pivotal clue might be missed (in fact, I'm sure a second viewing would lend greater appreciation of the various plot nuances which come thick and fast, particularly in the denouement). Like I said, the mystery is quite convoluted yet incredibly clever as the games soon turn deadly, and the yacht's list of passengers starts getting smaller...
Anyway, this is basically "And Then There Were None" set on a boat: a group of people (all of them involved in the movie business) are assembled together, ostensibly, for a week of fun in the sun however, each has something to hide about his or her past, and they're all somehow under suspicion of being behind the hit-and-run accident which killed the wife of their host (James Coburn)! All the actors are well cast but the best of them, to my mind, are James Mason (who brings his customary wit to the proceedings as a film director), Richard Benjamin (as a frustrated scriptwriter who purports to adopt his creative talents towards solving the mystery) and, from the ladies' corner, Dyan Cannon. For the record, the rest of the victims er cast is made up of Raquel Welch, Ian McShane and Joan Hackett, while Yvonne Romain features very briefly as the titular character.