[5] The film was released by 20th Century Fox and due to the lapsed copyright, it is now in the public domain.

[7] Eight people, all strangers to each other, are invited to a small isolated island off the coast of Devon, England, by a Mr and Mrs Owen.

They settle in at a mansion tended by two newly hired servants, Thomas and Ethel Rogers (a married couple), but their hosts are absent.

Thomas puts on a gramophone record, through which a man's voice accuses them all of murder: It becomes apparent that none of them knows or has even seen U. N. Owen and they realize the name stands for "unknown."

The guests notice that one figurine is broken and another missing and with the two deaths matching the Ten Little Indians nursery rhyme, they search the island for "Mr. Owen" without success.

She returns to the house and finds a noose hanging in the parlor and discovers that Quinncannon, who is very much alive, is the mysterious Mr Owen.

[3] Variety magazine, however, described the film as a "dull whodunit" which "rarely rises to moments of suspense and despite the killings it gives the appearance of nothing ever happening".

[12][13] Though it was distributed by a major studio, 20th Century Fox, the copyright was allowed to lapse and the film is now in the public domain.

In 1960, Radio Times altered the title to Ten Little Niggers for an airing of Clair's film on BBC television on 9 July.

"[18] In general, "Christie’s work is not known for its racial sensitivity, and by modern standards her oeuvre is rife with casual Orientalism."

"[19] Speaking of the "widely known" 1945 movie, Stein added that "we’re merely faced with fantastic amounts of violence, and a rhyme so macabre and distressing one doesn’t hear it now outside of the Agatha Christie context.