films's - Rented List
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Asphalt (1929)Asfalt
One of the last great German Expressionist films of the silent era, Joe May's Asphalt is a love story set in the traffic-strewn Berlin of the late 1920s. Starring the delectable Betty Amann in her most famous leading role, Asphalt is a luxuriously produced Ufa classic of Weimar cinema. A well-dressed lady thief (Betty Amann) steals a precious stone from a jewellery shop. She tries to seduce the policeman (Gustav Frohlich) who arrests her, but her criminal background dooms their relationship when an argument leads to murder. - Director:
- Joe May
- Cast:
- Albert Steinrück, Else Heller, Gustav Fröhlich
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The Cameraman (1928)Buster Keaton: The Cameraman / Snapshots
Buster Keaton is at the peak of his slapstick powers in 'The Cameraman' - the first film that the silent-screen legend made after signing with MGM, and his last great masterpiece. The final work over which he maintained creative control, this clever farce is the culmination of an extraordinary, decade-long run that produced some of the most innovative and enduring comedies of all time. Keaton plays a hapless newsreel cameraman desperate to impress both his new employer and his winsome office crush as he zigzags up and down Manhattan hustling for a scoop. Along the way, he goes for a swim (and winds up soaked), mimes every position of a baseball game in an empty Yankee Stadium, and teams up with a memorable monkey sidekick (the famous Josephine). The marvelously inventive film-within-a-film setup allows Keaton's imagination to run wild, yielding both sly insights into the travails of moviemaking and an emotional payoff of disarming poignancy. - Director:
- Edward Sedgwick
- Cast:
- Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin
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Deanna Durbin plays Constance Harding, a poor little waif who goes to live with rich relatives. Most of her snobbish new family are appalled by her. She's neglected, unloved and left out of all the glittering events the family attends. However, come the night of a fabulous society ball, she's determined not be left out again! With the help of the family servants, she is transformed into a society princess and attends in secret.
At the ball, she meets charming young socialite Ted Drake (Robert Stack, in his first screen role), and the couple fall in love. On the stroke of midnight, she quickly returns home, leaving only her shoe behind. Now Deanna's spiteful relatives convince her that Ted was only toying with her affections. He could never love a poor girl such as she...could he?- Director:
- Henry Koster
- Cast:
- Deanna Durbin, Robert Stack, Eugene Pallette
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Mata Hari: the name breathes mystery, intrigue and sexual allure. Who better to play the notorious World War I spy than Greta Garbo, the enigmatic, exquisite screen icon called The Swedish Sphinx? Garbo is mesmerizing as the dancer-turned-German secret agent in a wartime Paris seething with secrets and betrayal. The notable supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore as a Russian general besotted with her, Lewis Stone as an icy master spy, and Ramon Novarro as a handsome aviator who wins the heart Mata Hari did not know she possessed. With the world at war, love was her weapon. And the only men she couldn't seduce were the 12 in the firing squad that ended her tragic and tumultuous life. - Director:
- George Fitzmaurice
- Cast:
- Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore
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The Little Tramp is hired by a circus and soon becomes the main attraction when his comedic blunders drive the crowd wild. Yet he himself is unaware of this newly acquired eminence due to his tunnel vision of love for the ringmaster's daughter. 'The Circus' features one of the most memorable appearances by the Little Tramp where Chaplin delivers a whirlwind of visual gags that are quite literally show stopping. - Director:
- Charles Chaplin
- Cast:
- Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia
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Frank Borzage: Vol.2: Lucky Star / Liliom (1930)Lucky Star / Liliom
Frank Borzage, the sensitive actor-turned-director famed for his mystical romanticism, created some of Hollywood's most acclaimed and sensual films.
Lucky Star (1929)Feature sees the great romantic screen pairing of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell for a third time. The chemistry is palpable in this tale of a poverty-stricken girl (and budding crook) who is transformed through her friendship with a wheelchair-bound Great War veteran.
Liliom (1930)
Based on Ferenc Molnar's celebrated play which was later remade as the much-loved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, charts the troubled relationship between Farrell's Liliom (Charles Farrell), a fairground barker, and Julie (Rose Hobart), the woman who loves him despite his flaws.- Director:
- Frank Borzage
- Cast:
- Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, Paul Fix, Hedwiga Reicher
- Formats:
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Hometown best friends Jack (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and David (Richard Arlen) compete for the affection of a gorgeous dame (Jobyna Ralston), though Jack doesn't realise that girl next door Mary Preston (Clara Bow) has eyes for him as well. But World War I is soon upon them, so the boys are off to France to fight against the Germans. Meanwhile, Mary follows Jack into enemy lines as a nurse. - Director:
- William A. Wellman
- Cast:
- Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen
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During a brief stay in Chicago, innocent farmer's son Lem falls for and weds Kate, a hard-bitten but lonely waitress. Upon bringing her home at the start of harvest time, the honeymoon soon turns into a claustrophobic struggle as they contend with the bitter scorn of his father and the invasive, leering jealousy of the farm's labouring community. - Director:
- F.W. Murnau
- Cast:
- Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, David Torrence
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‘City Lights’ begins with an uproarious skewering of pomp and formality, ends with one of the most famous last shots in movie history and, from start to finish, so completely touches the heart and tickles the funny bone that in 1998 it was named one of the American Film Institute’s Top-100 American Films. Talkies were well entrenched when Charles Chaplin swam against the filmmaking tide with this forever classic that’s silent except for music and sound effects. The story, involving the Tramp’s attempts to get money for an operation that will restore sight to a blind flower girl, provides a star with an ideal framework for sentiment and laughs. The tramp is variously a street sweeper, a boxer, a rich 0poseur, and a rescuer of a suicidal millionaire. His message is unspoken, but universally understood: love is blind. - Director:
- Charles Chaplin
- Cast:
- Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee
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Portrait of Jennie (1948)Tidal Wave
Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) is a struggling and mostly failing New York artist until one day, in Central Park, he meets Jennie (Jennifer Jones). Jennie seems to possess an almost mystical quality and as Eben sketches her, his work shows more expression and emotion than anything he has ever done before. But before he knows it, Jennie has disappeared. Eben frantically searches for his mysterious model and when they meet again a few weeks later, Jennie seems to have aged several years. What then unfolds is one of the most unusual and unforgettable love stories ever told as they are both swept up in a strange love that even time cannot contain. - Director:
- William Dieterle
- Cast:
- Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore
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Frank Borzage: Vol 1: Seventh Heaven / Street Angel (1928)Seventh Heaven / Street Angel
Frank Borzage, the sensitive actor-turned-director famed for his mystical romanticism, created some of Hollywood's most acclaimed and sensual films. This release brings together two lavishly produced landmarks of the silent period by this visionary poet of desire.
7th Heaven (1927)'7th Heaven' is a lyrical tale of transformational love in which Paris sewage worker Chico (Charles Farrell) and street waif Diane (Janet Gaynor) rise above their poverty-stricken lives to reach for the stars.
Street Angel (1928)
In 'Street Angel' Janet Gaynor plays Angela, a would-be prostitute who risks losing her lover Gino (Charles Farrell) as she is forced to confront her past.- Director:
- Frank Borzage
- Cast:
- Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Albert Gran
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