Marie writes: Christmas is almost upon us, and with its impending arrival comes the sound of children running free-range through the snow, while grown-ups do battle indoors in the seasonal quest to find the perfect gift...

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Rene Clair's "And Then There Were None"

by Roger Ebert  |  December 8, 2011  | 

The Ebert Club is pleased to share the following film by the great French auteur Rene Clair  and to invite you to join the Club and see what other mysteries lurk in the tree house!

And Then There Were None (1945) Directed by Rene Clair. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, Mischa Auer, June Duprez and Judith Anderson.  Winner! 1946 Locarno International Film Festival: Best Film.Synopsis: Ten strangers are summoned to a small island off the coast of Devon, by a mysterious note. Once there they discover that their unknown host, a certain "Mr. Owen", has not yet arrived. They're told he'll be there by dinner and so they retire to their rooms to prepare for the evening. Come dinner, their host has still not arrived and suddenly a voice on a gramophone record proceeds to accuse all of them of past murders they were never prosecuted for. The guests strongly deny any wrong doing and a decision is made to leave the island immediately!  A servant however, tells them that there's no way to get the boat from the mainland. There's also no phone on the island and the boat only comes twice a week. It won't be back until Monday morning and it's only Friday night....

Go here to join the Club and see what else we have!

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Marie writes: Belgium club member Koen Van Loocke has submitted the following and it's so awesome, I have no words. But first, background..The Cinematic Orchestra is led by composer/programmer/multi-instrumentalist Jason Swinscoe, who formed his first group "Crabladder" in 1990 while a Fine Arts student at Cardiff College. The group's fusion of jazz and hardcore punk elements with experimental rhythms, inspired Swinscoe to further explore the musical possibilites and by the time the group disbanded in the mid-'90s, he was playing DJ at various clubs and pirate radio stations in and around London.

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Behold a most wondrous find...."The Shop that time Forgot" Elizabeth and Hugh. Every inch of space is crammed with shelving. Some of the items still in their original wrappers from the 1920s. Many goods are still marked with pre-decimal prices."There's a shop in a small village in rural Scotland which still sells boxes of goods marked with pre-decimal prices which may well have been placed there 80 years ago. This treasure trove of a hardware store sells new products too. But its shelves, exterior haven't changed for years; its contents forgotten, dust-covered and unusual, branded with the names of companies long since out of business. Photographer Chris Frears has immortalized this shop further on film..." - Matilda Battersby. To read the full story, visit the Guardian.  And visit here to see more photos of the shop and a stunning shot of Morton Castle on the homepage for Photographer Chris Fears.

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From the Big Kahuna: Yes, this is the front of the Virginia Theater in Champaign-Urbana, where Ebertfest is held every year. The old marquee was showing its age, and will be replaced by the time Ebertfest 2011 is held on April 27-30. Update: I read in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette that the new marquee is still in design, but park officials expect it to be a better complement to the theater's Italian Renaissance-style architecture and resemble the 1921 original marquee. When concepts are finalized, they will go before the park board for approval.

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