“And Then There Were None” (そして誰もいなくなった), Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1981 (film 1974), B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) O870
This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the first Japanese cinema release of Peter Collinson’s And Then There Were None (そして誰もいなくなった), adapted from Agatha Christie’s celebrated 1939 mystery novel. The film was produced in 1974 and first opened theatrically in Japan on 5 September 1981, distributed domestically by International Promotion (IP).
Directed by Peter Collinson, the film relocates Christie’s famously isolated murder mystery from an island to a remote desert palace in Iran, where ten strangers are invited by an unseen host and begin dying one by one in accordance with the sinister nursery rhyme. The international ensemble includes Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Richard Attenborough, Herbert Lom, Stéphane Audran, Gert Fröbe, Charles Aznavour, Adolfo Celi and Maria Rohm, with Orson Welles providing the recorded voice of the mysterious host.
Poster design
A spectacularly dramatic Japanese first-release design that fully embraces the film’s Middle Eastern setting and grand mystery-thriller atmosphere. The upper half is dominated by an enormous blazing orange sky, with twin minarets rising from the desert architecture as a helicopter sweeps across the flames above.
Below, the ten guests are assembled in a dense photographic montage around the palace entrance, interspersed with ominous images of violence, death and suspicion. Oliver Reed occupies the centre foreground holding a pistol, while the surrounding portraits of Elke Sommer, Richard Attenborough and the rest of the ensemble cast heighten the sense that every character may be either victim or killer.
The Japanese campaign copy on the right invokes the “curse of the Persian dynasty” and the mystery of the desert setting, while another prominent warning tells audiences not to reveal the ending after seeing the film—a classic piece of mystery-film marketing. The enormous red Japanese title そして誰もいなくなった anchors the lower section, accompanied by the English AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and a prominent credit to Agatha Christie.
The combination of fiery desert imagery, helicopter action, monumental architecture and star-filled mystery montage makes this a particularly striking Japanese interpretation of Christie’s story and a superb example of early-1980s revival-era poster design.
It is over 45 years old!
Condition
Excellent. The poster retains superb colour saturation, with the fiery oranges, deep blacks and vivid red typography remaining exceptionally strong. There are only very minor signs of age and handling, with no significant condition issues affecting the central artwork or typography. Please review the photo—it shows the exact poster for sale.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
