"And Then There Were None" with Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, and Walter Huston (1945)

Sit down in your favorite armchair and enjoy this classic British whodunit by Agatha Christie, with a screenplay by Dudley Nichols. The basic plot is just as it sounds, ten unrelated people are invited to an island for the weekend, by someone whom they do not know. Once there, they are made privy to the details of one another's indiscretions and short comings. And then, one by one, they are killed in retribution. But by whom?

It may sound trite and simple, but this is a fun movie to watch. The cast of characters includes the wonderfully wry Barry Fitzgerald, the majestic C. Aubrey Smith, a remarkable Walter Huston, the ever bumbling Roland Young, a cold and aloof Judith Anderson and the perfectly inept Mischa Auer, to name just 6 of the 10. Directed skillfully by René Clair, this is one of those rainy day movies that made growing up fun.

Earth Day and Humphrey Bogart

The Earth; it’s a beautiful place to be. It’s kind of unique; with just the right balance of gases and elements to support life; as we know it. So, take the time today to do one thing; one which you don't usually do; and recycle that soup can, or don't burn that pile of brush from the winter; compost it instead. If you have a yard, plant something and watch it grow.

It's like that scene in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"(1948) when Walter Huston insists on returning the mountain, from which they have gained their treasure, to it's original state. Here is the dialogue between Walter Huston, Tim Holt and Humphrey Bogart;

Howard(Walter Huston): We've wounded this mountain. It's our duty to close her wounds. It's the least we can do to show our gratitude for all the wealth she's given us. If you guys don't want to help me, I'll do it alone.

Bob Curtin(Tim Holt): You talk about that mountain like it was a real woman.

Fred C. Dobbs(Humphrey Bogart): She's been a lot better to me than any woman I ever knew. Keep your shirt on, old-timer. Sure, I'll help ya.

B. Traven and Fred C. Dobbs

There are many reasons to read. Passing the time is one. Learning is another. And of course there is always the sheer enjoyment of being transported to a different time or place, real or imagined. There are also times when you come across a nugget of information that spurs you on to find out more about something. That is what happened to me when I read "Rain Gods" by James Lee Burke, which I reviewed here a couple of days ago.

In the book one of the characters signs into a hotel as F.C.Dobbs, which happens to be the name of Humphrey Bogarts' character in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." This also happens to be one of my all time favorite movies, so needless to say I was intriqued. The character in "Rain Gods" was using an alias, not an unusual thing to do in a mystery novel. But when the name B. Traven came up, and was identified as being the mysterious writer of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", I had to know more about him. Turns out there is not that much more to be known. The man was a veritable mystery.

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", a novel about two down on their luck Americans in Mexico, was Written in 1927 by a bi-lingual German-English author named B. Traven. It was in German and translated to English in 1935. John Huston made the film in 1948, with his father, screen legend Walter Huston, playing the part of the old man.

The book is one of 7 which Mr. Traven wrote between 1926 ("The Death Ship")and 1929. Most of his books were set in Mexico with the Mexicans as the bad guys, while some were set in Mexico with the Americans as the bad guys. There was also a volume of short stories which all take place in Mexico. They were well written and dealt with a very popular subject in late 1920's - Mexico. There had been a Revolution in Mexico just after the turn of the century. The attendant violence of the "banditos" was just dying down when Mr. Traven was writing "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

But the stories are irrelevant to this. What really fascinates me is that this guy was a true to life mystery. A man of intrique, he claimed to have been born in America, but no proof of this has ever been uncovered. He claims to have written most of his works in German and then had them translated into English. And that does appear to be the case. He later submitted several things to American publishers that were written in a curious mixture of German and English, which required heavy revision and editing prior to publication.

His birthdate is listed as February 23rd, or 25th of 1882, or May 3rd, 1890. His place of birth shows up as being either San Francisco, Chicago or Schwiebus in Germany. He is sometimes identified as the German actor and political activist Ret Marut who left Germany in 1924 bound for, you guessed it, Mexico. That Ret Marut is sometimes said to really be a Polish immigrant named Otto Feige should come as no surprise. Even the town where he was born changed countries over the years. It was German before becoming modern day Swiebodzin in Poland.

Not much to add to all this information. Whoever he was, he left us a with several decent works of fiction and short stories. And along the way he gave us Fred C. Dobbs, the flawed and ill fated prospector in "The Treaure of the Sierra Madres." That, in itself, is enough of an accomplishment.