the 1933 k.b.s. productions sherlock holmes film "a study in scarlet" follows a strikingly similar plot; it includes a scene where holmes is shown a card with the hint: "six little indians ...bee stung one and then there were five". in this case, the rhyme refers to "ten little fat boys". (the film's plot bears no resemblance to arthur conan doyle's original story of the same name.) the author of the movie's screenplay, robert florey, "doubted that [christie] had seen "a study in scarlet", but he regarded it as a compliment if it had helped inspire her".