fmj's - Rented List

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The Balkans, 1939. British professor Guy Pringle (Kenneth Branagh) arrives in Romania with his new bride, Harriet (Emma Thompson), and becomes enmeshed in the politics of anti-fascism.

Despite Harriet's serious misgivings, Guy's social circle soon includes members of the British Secret Service who want to involve him in dangerous missions, and a downtrodden prince who zeroes in on Guy's generous nature and winds up living with the Pringles. So the stage is set for a mesmerising story of marriage tested by accidental betrayal, callous insensitivity, and a world in upheaval.

When young Emil is sent to Berlin by his mother, the money he is carrying to give to his granny is stolen by a sinister man on the train. Once in Berlin, Emil follows the thief and enlists the help of a gang of youngsters - 'the detectives' - to help retrieve the stolen money.

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Maurice Allington (Albert Finney) owns an upmarket country restaurant 10 miles outside Cambridge. Formerly an inn, The Green Man in the tradition of many old buildings, is reported to have had at least one ghost. Dr.

Thomas Underhill, a 17th-century Doctor of Divinity, was rumoured to have been the perpetrator of a number of unsavoury crimes, not least of them being the horrific murder of his wife, and his spirit is said to haunt the medieval restaurant. Maurice, however, believes only in the spirits which come out of a whisky bottle and uses the tale of Dr. Underhill and his associated ghosts simply as a spine-chilling 'hors d'oeuvre' in his already successful restaurant. Only his teenage daughter, Amy and daughter-in-law, Lucy, believe that there is something more to Maurice's ravings than delirium tremens alone. Obsessed by the concept of death and the exciting prospect of inner peace and immortality assured by Underhill, Maurice overlooks the single and most important thing in his life - and in Underhill's death - something very precious which Underhill had contrived to take from him at the outset. The true horror of Underhill is then revealed.

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Louis Mazzini's mother belongs to the aristocratic family D'Ascoyne, but she ran away with an opera singer. Therefore, she and Louis (Dennis Price) were rejected by the D'Ascoynes. Once adult, Louis decides to avenges his mother and him, by becoming the next Duke (Alec Guinness) of the family.

Murdering every potential successor is clearly the safest way to achieve his goal.

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The sleepy staff of Macpherson's traditional Scottish tweed firm get a rude awakening when young Macpherson (Robert Morley) hires feisty American efficiency expert Angela Barrows (Constance Cummings). She advocates new-fangled horrors like automation and - ghastliest of all - 'synthetic fibre'.

Can nothing stop her? Nothing, perhaps, but meek accountant Mr Martin (Sellers). Beneath that placid surface, still waters run deep; to balance the books, he decides, he must erase the 'error'...

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Jaclyn Smith stars as Florence Nightingale in this stirring drama. Florence was an aristocratic woman who defied Victorian society to reform hospital sanitation and to define the nursing profession as it is known today.

After volunteering to travel to Scutari to care for the wounded soldiers of the Crimean War, she was scorned by her community and faced great opposition for her new way of thinking. However, through her selfless acts of caring, she quickly became known as "The Lady with the Lamp", the caring nurse whose shadow softened those wounded.

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Dandelion Dead is a dramatization of the true story of Major Herbert Armstrong, a solicitor equally proud of his work in the justice system as he was of his beloved garden.

Life seemed good for Herbert, a respected solicitor with country estate, the love of his three children and a devout pride in both his life and his garden. But Armstrong, pillar of the local community, was also a man at war. He was in conflict on three fronts: he fought regular battles against his domineering and unstable wife, Katherine; he had regular skirmishes with his bright and ambitious business rival, Oswald Martin; and waged a war against the dandelions that colonised his treasured lawn. These dandelions led to one of the most celebrated murder trials in British legal history.

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John Paul Rocksavage is a hard-working cop in Liverpool city centre. When someone calls the police, it's Rocksavage who responds, coming face to face with human life in all its extremes.

But when his partner, Andy, is murdered in a frenzied, vicious attack while on duty, Rocksavage suddenly finds himself bound to respond, in a way he never thought himself capable of. Events have suddenly become very personal, and once he's crossed the line from law enforcer to lawbreaker there's no going back. Meting out a unique brand of justice, while reconciling his own demons, his killings are not random, but organic and necessary.

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When Oxford under-graduate Charles Ryder (Jeremy Irons) meets the charismatic Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews) it is the beginning of a devoted friendship, until Sebastian sinks deep into alcoholism and distances himself from those he loves.

Charles escapes to Paris to train as an artist finding solace in his career as an architectural painter and ends up in an unhappy marriage. A chance reunion with Sebastian's sister Julia (Diana Quick) revives his love of life as they embark on a passionate affair, only for their happiness to be shattered by the death of Julia's father, Lord Marchmain.

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When shy, emotionally fragile Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland), the daughter of a wealthy New York doctor, begins to receive calls from the handsome spendthrift Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she becomes possessed by the promise of romance.

Are his smoldering professions of love sincere, as she believes they are? Or is Catherines calculating father (Ralph Richardson) correct in judging Morris a venal fortune seeker?

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Comedy director John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) decides to give up his life of luxury and sets off on the road to research how the other half live. He plans to make "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?", a somber, social conscious movie inspired by his experiences of poverty and desperation.

A chance encounter with failed starlet (Veronica Lake) enables him to escape the studio publicity machine and learn at first hand the true value of entertainment.

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Based on Jacques Offenbach's opera of the stories of romantic poet E.T.A. Hoffmann. "The Tales of Hoffmann" gave close collaborators Michael Powell and Emeric Bressburger another opportunity to eschew realism and celebrate artifice and creativity.

In "Black Narcissus", Powell had worked closely with composer Brian Easdale to create an extended sequence in which sound and image were intimately intert wined. The ballet sequences of "The Red Shoes" offered an obvious arena into which to continue this experiment, culminating in "The Tales of Hoffmann", in which the entire film is shaped by Offenbach's score, given a rousing rendition by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of the legendary Sir Thomas Beecham. The choreography, courtesy of Jane Ashton is equally inspired, resulting in a charming fantasy that's a triumph of design and a sumptuous feast for the senses.

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Percy Brand's (Michael Redgrave)'s son, Colin (Jeremy Burnham), thinks his father is a clergyman, when Percy's real vocation is that of confidence trickster - his frequent spells 'inside' explained away as missionary trips abroad.

When a grown-up Colin studies law and eventually becomes a judge's marshal, his father feels bound to retire to a fishing village. He cannot keep ii away from his life of crime, however, and in no time at all he's getting involved in the local squire's brandy smuggling activities...

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Kenneth More stars as Crichton, the impeccable butler to Lord Henry Loam (Cecil Parker). Crichton is a man who knows his place in the grand scheme of things.

He's supremely happy being a gentleman's gentleman - until fate takes a strange twist! While holidaying in the South Seas aboard his steam yacht, Lord Loam and his three beautiful daughters are shipwrecked on a tropical island along with Crichton and maid Eliza (Diane Cilcnto). With Edwardian England - and civilisation - left far behind, Crichton quickly becomes the 'guv' and the aristocratic Loam family become his servants! However, is Crichton reaching too far when he falls in love with the gorgeous Lady Mary (Sally Ann Howes)?

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Robert Lindsay's character Sneath from Stephen Poliakoff's Friends and Crocodiles reappears to narrate a powerful story of success, loss and redemption. "Here is a man who cant listen, and yet the more he doesn't listen, the more people want him, the more people believe in him.

He's the toast of Whitehall, the flavour of flavours." As the century draws to a close, a new Labour Government comes to power, and the death of Princess Diana heralds a summer of flowers. PR guru Gideon Warner finds himself in perfect step with the times and success seems easy as politicians, businessmen and starlets beat a path to his door. But just as he reaches the pinnacle of his career, Gideon finds his life spinning out of control. When he should be organising the nation's Millennium celebrations, he is focusing on diffusing the implacable anger of his daughter. And, rather than shaping the business ambitions of an Italian media tycoon, his time is spent falling in love with the eccentric Stella - a mother grieving for her dead son.