greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

Shot over four arduous months in the wild, windswept Shetland Islands, Michael Powell's first independent production establishes the daring techniques and experimentation that would later become familiar hallmarks of his career.

'The Edge of the World' tells the moving story of a remote island and its inhabitants, whose traditions and way of life are threatened by a rapidly industrialising world. To settle an argument over whether the islanders should give up their livelihood and move to the mainland, two childhood friends follow an ancient tradition and climb the island's highest cliff face. The outcome shatters the island's peace and splits the two clans apart. Making the film proved so demanding and sensational that its 32-year-old director was moved to write a full-scale book about his obsession with the tragic grandeur of Scotland's Outer Isles and his struggle to film it, 200,000 Feet on Foula which actor Daniel Day Lewis reads from here on this video.

Show moreShow less

A television producer hits upon an idea for a new programme - an hour-long show, five days a week showing the trials and tribulations of the life of a married couple.

The hook is that they are no ordinary couple - they must be famous, and the obvious choice is Simon (Peter Finch) and Laura (Kay Kendall) - a pair with a seemingly perfect life. That is, until the doors are closed...then, they argue, bicker and throw things at each other regularly. Will they be able to keep up their facade for the viewing millions?

Show moreShow less

Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns from college in America to his father's (Claude Rains) mansion in Wales. After meeting Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) in the local village, he escorts her to the local fair.

She tells him the local legend of the werewolf, but he laughs it off - even when gypsy fortune teller Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) and her son Bela (Bela Lugosi) also tell him to beware. Later in the evening Gwen's friend Jenny is attacked by a wild wolf. Larry rescues her, but is bitten in the process. Sure enough, when the next full moon comes round, Larry finds himself transformed into the wolfman - a murderous creature that can only be destroyed by silver.

Show moreShow less

Barbara Vining (Glynis Johns) is an impressionable teenage schoolgirl who has her first crush on her handsome Latin teacher Stephen Barlow (Leo Genn). Barlow meanwhile is married to a beautiful but insecure American Kay (Gene Tierney).

When Barbara disappears after a late night tutoring session at the Barlow home suspicion abounds. The pressure builds on Barlow as the Police launch an investigation and he is forced to step down from his post as teacher. The strength of Barlow's marriage is tested to the full as are the inter-relationships within the Vining family. Will Barbara be found and how will the respective families cope with the highly charged outcome?

Show moreShow less

Straight from the pages of Peter O'Donnell's newspaper comic strip, Monica Vitti is Modesty Blaise - the world's deadliest female agent! With her outlandish James Bond-style weapons and ever-changing hair colour, international super spy Modesty Blaise (Monica Vitti) and her faithful sidekick Willie

Garvin (Terence Stamp) battle villains the world over. Modesty and Willie become embroiled in a government conspiracy involving diamonds, a Middle Eastern sheik and a heist plot by arch-villain Gabriel played in high camp by Dirk Bogarde in a wig and sinister glasses.

Show moreShow less

Heroine Blanche Fury (Valerie Hobson) is an impoverished governess who marries into wealth and sets herself up as the mistress of a vast estate. Enter Heathcliffe-like stable boy Philip Thorn (Stewart Granger), who intends to run the estate and eventually claim Blanche as his own.

After a torrid, bodice-ripping romance between Blanche and Philip, the story segues into a no-names-please reenactment of the infamous 19th-century 'Rush Murder'.

The courageous story of the Battle of the Atlantic: a story of an ocean, a ship and a handful of men. The brave crew are the heroes. The heroine is the ship. The only villain is the sea that man, and war, have made even more brutal...

Show moreShow less

It is 1989 and Paris is crowded with visitors, for it is the eve of the opening of the 'Great exhibition'. Victoria (Jean Simmons) and her brother, Johnny (David Tomlinson), arrive to take part in the event. Leaving her brother at the bar, Vicky retires to her hotel room for the night.

Next morning she excitedly runs to see Johnny and is bewildered to find that both her brother and his room have disappeared. Her surprise turns to concern when all the staff and guests deny ever seeing her brother. The authorities refuse to believe her story, but by chance she meets a young English artist, George (Dirk Bogarde) who knows her story to be true. Together they must try to unravel the mystery.

A young man joins the Auxiliary Fire Service in Blitz-era London. He soon finds himself part of a brave and dedicated team of volunteers who constantly risk their lives in the burning streets of the bomb-battered city...

Show moreShow less

Along the way, he encounters Agamemnon (Sean Connery), Robin Hood (John Cleese), Napoleon (Ian Holm) and winds up as a passenger on the Titanic, although not necessarily in that order.

But is this just random entertainment laid on for history fan Kevin's benefit, or part of a wider struggle between the forces of Good (Ralph Richardson) and Evil (David Warner)?

Show moreShow less

Starring Cornel Wilde as a young rancher (Juan Obreón) seeking vengeance for the murders of his wife Rosa Melo (Yvonne de Carlo) and his parents.

The guilty parties are a group of terrorists, headed by Salvador Sandro (Rodolpho Acosta), whom Juan, now a fugitive from justice himself, intends to kill one by one.

Show moreShow less

As a wild storm rages over Lord Byron's literary house party, the poet suggests that his famous guests concoct a ghost story. But after deciding a seance would liven up the evening, they soon conjure up their deepest fears and are plunged into a surreal horror.

Is it merely the power of their own intense lust and vivid imaginations that is tormenting them or have they, in fact, raised the dead?

A lawyer faces a difficult decision when his son accidentally kills his best friend with no witnesses present, and a rift develops when his mother and father offer contradictory solutions to their son's dilemma.

Show moreShow less

Dennis Weaver stars as the travelling salesman waging a desperate battle for survival after he is mysteriously singled out for destruction.

Praised for its deft use of relentlessly mounting psychological tension, Duel features one of the most uniquely terrifying "characters" in movie history: a massive, roaring 40-ton truck with more sheer menace than most flesh-and-blood villains. But Steven Spielberg was, literally, just getting started. A few years later, the action of Spielberg's blockbuster hit Jaws would echo Duel's tale of a lone hero in a heart-stopping fight to the finish against a monstrous, inhuman foe.

Show moreShow less

Dirk Bogarde stars as Tim Mason, the officer of a British bomber squadron in World War II. A large-scale operation over Germany has been planned, and Tim is shocked to discover that he is not part of the team for the mission. Higher authorities think he is no longer at his best.

A member of his crew is injured just before take-off, so Tim takes his place as a gunner. Those left behind are furious at him for disobeying orders, but he must face far more dangers before he can return. Also starring the incredible Ian Hunter and Dinah Sheridan, 'Appointment in London' is one of the finest films ever made about Bomber Command.