greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

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Based on the Ed McBain novel, 'High and Low' is a gripping police thriller starring Toshiro Mifune.

Wealthy industrialist Kingo Gondo (Mifune) faces an agonising choice when a ruthless kidnapper, aiming to snatch his young son, takes the chauffeur's boy by mistake - but still demands the ransom, leaving Gondo facing ruin if he pays up. An anatomy of the inequalities in modern Japanese society, High and Low is a complex film noir, where the intense police hunt for the kidnapper is accompanied by penetrating insight into the kidnappers state of mind. Kurosawa's virtuoso direction provides no easy answers, and in short, intense sequences, he portrays the businessman, the police and the criminal as equally brutal but nonetheless human.

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A legendary early masterpiece of French cinema, 'Les Vampires' follows the exploits of a nefarious band of master criminals led by the seductive femme fatale Irma Vep, alluringly played by Musidora.

Holding Paris in the grip of terror, the underworld gang are pursued across the city by heroic journalist Philippe Guerande and his sidekick Mazamatte. Reflecting the mood of fear and anxiety in World War I era France, this meticulously restored ten-part silent serial from film pioneer Louis Feuillade - creator the acclaimed Fantomas serials - is a hugely influential and engrossing crime drama from cinema's golden age.

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Joe Wilson, a wrongly jailed man thought to have died in a blaze started by a bloodthirsty lynch mob, is somehow alive. And dead to all he ever stood for and perhaps ever will be. Because Joe aims to ensure his would-be executioners meet the fate Joe miraculously escaped.

Spencer Tracy is Joe, Sylvia Sidney is his bride-to-be and "Fury" lives up to its volatile name with its searing indictment of mob justice and lynching.

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Rex Black (Laurence Harvey) has successfully faked his death in a plane crash and escaped to sunny Málaga under a new identity, waiting for his wife Stella (Lee Remick) to arrive with £50,000 of life insurance money.

It's the start of a blissful, trouble-free new life for the couple - until Stephen (Alan Bates), the insurance agent in charge of investigating Rex's death, suddenly arrives in town. Is he just holidaying in Spain, as he claims, or is he on assignment to foil Rex's scheme?

One of the most gripping escape films of all time follows ten survivors as they struggle to escape from an ocean liner capsized by a tidal wave. Suspenseful terror, combined with the victims' intimate and personal stories, results in compelling and heart-stopping drama.

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'Champagne Charlie' is an affectionate behind the scenes look at the colourful life and characters in the music halls of 1860s Victorian England directed by Ealing regular Alberto Cavalcanti (Nicholas Nickleby, Went the Day Well?).

When word leaks out that the music halls are going to be closed down because of their boisterous and unruly reputation, two rivals join forces in a desperate attempt to save the hall from closure.

Richard Burton stars as Marcellus Gallio, the Roman centurion charged with overseeing the crucifixion of Christ. But when he wins Christ's robe in a gambling game at the foot of the cross, his life is forever changed.

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Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper star in this comedic drama about a crime spree that leads to love. In the most elaborate jewel heist in European history, the beautiful and conniving "Countess" Madeline (Dietrich) embezzles a small fortune in pearls.

As she makes her getaway to Spain to deliver the hot goods, her escape is thwarted by car trouble, until a handsome and likeable young tourist (Cooper) helps her out. She shows her gratitude by leaving the unsuspecting good Samaritan in the dust - literally! But when he accidentally ends up with the pearls, she must feign romantic interest to get them back. The charade soon turns into the real thing however; and Madeline realises that her only hope of happiness is to clean up her act - no matter what the cost - or lose the man she loves.

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Made in 1954, 'Godzilla' was Japan's first foray into big budget sci fi - costing ten times the budget of the average Japanese feature and twice as much as Seven Samurai - released the same year.

The film created a monster that would enter the lexicon of popular culture, spawn fifty years of sequels and inspire a new genre: the kaiju eiga or Japanese monster movie. Directed by Ishiro Honda, a friend and collaborator of Akira Kurosawa, and starring Takashi Shimura as the revered paleontologist who uncovers the horrible secret at the heart of the monster (Godzilla is a long dormant Jurassic beast awoken by the atom bomb), the original Godzilla is a fierce indictment of the atomic age. Sold to an American distributor, the film was cut, dubbed into English, re-titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters! and new scenes were added starring Raymond Burr as an American reporter observing the monsters rampage from the sidelines. All trace of the anti-nuclear message was excised in the American version. Now regarded as one of the great classics of cinema and still rated amongst the top twenty Japanese movies of all time, the original Godzilla is perhaps the definitive monster movie - both a bold metaphor for the atomic age and a thrilling tour de force of pioneering special effects.

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Delphine's travelling companion cancels two weeks before her holiday, so Delphine (Marie Rivière), a Parisian secretary, is at a loose end. She doesn't want to travel by herself, but has no means boyfriend and seems unable to meet new people.

A friend takes her to Cerbourg; after a few days there, the weepy and self pitying Delphine goes back to Paris. She tries the Alps, but returns the same day. Next, it's the beach; once there, she chats with an outgoing Swede, a party girl, and a friendship seems to bud; then suddenly, Delphine bolts, heading back to Paris. On her way, a young man catches her eye; perhaps a sunset and the sun's green ray await.

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Perhaps the crowning achievement of Bunuel's career, the film centres on an idealistic young nun named Viridiana (Silvia Pinal).

Before she is allowed to take her final vows, the Mother Superior requests that she visit her uncle Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), who has "selflessly" provided for the girl over the years. Having always considered him an unspeakable beast, she is surprised when he graciously welcomes her into his home. Just as graciously, he sets about to corrupt Viridiana beyond redemption - all because the girl resembles the wife that died on their wedding day.

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Bodies are mysteriously disappearing all over town, and a new wax museum has just opened. Is there a connection? But of course! In this horror classic, Fay Wray stars as the intended next victim of a mad wax sculptor obsessed with her resemblance to one of his prior creations.

Glenda Farrell plays a quintessential wisecracking newspaper reporter, and noted actor Lionel Atwill is the deranged artist who loses his studio to a fire set by his partner.

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Incest, old money, and intergenerational guilt come under the scalpel in this brooding story of lies, power, and the power of lies. Anne Charpin-Vasseur (Nathalie Baye), matriarch of an outwardly perfect upper-class family in Bordeaux decides to run for Mayor.

But in the midst of her campaign a leaflet appears, accusing her family of collaboration with the Nazis, profiteering, adultery, and more. One by one skeletons begin to emerge from the closet, sowing discord and distrust as the family begins to unravel.

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In this engaging comedy of manners, the radiant Loretta Young plays Katrin "Katie" Holstrom, a naive Minnesota farm girl who leaves home to study nursing in the big city. Bilked out of her cash the first day, Katie lands a job as maid to U.S. Sen.

Glenn Morley (Joseph Cotten) and soon finds herself thrust into politics when she takes a public stand for immigrants.

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There is only one common factor in these killings: ruthless efficiency. A comprehensive service is offered by the assassination bureau...(limited). No social or political bias, just murder as a fine art.

When a determined young reporter cheekily names the bureaus chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed), as her victim, he accepts her commission as a means to revitalise his flagging organisation.