greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

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...

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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)?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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In the dark days of the American West, in towns ruled by thieves, outlaws and gunfighters, one name remains, to this day high above the rest, Jessie James (Audie Murphy)...A name which brought fear into the very heart of most men. Jessie was re-known for his fast thinking and fast drawing.

Many a fine man had reached Boot Hill via Jessie James's guns. But as always the other men fought for the privilege of the dubious credit of the downfall of such a man. K.C. and Billy Pimple (Robert Random) were two such men. Both wanted to...needed to...Prove that they were equal to any man's speed. Silver City was to bring these men together. The Boss, the Challenger and the Amateur. Was there room enough for all these men...And a beautiful girl...Or would it be 'a time for dying'

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Cornel Wilde produced, directed and starred in this sincere, hard-edged look at World War II that doesn't flinch from the horrors of battle. The action takes place during a single American campaign to take an island held by the Japanese.

The usual war cliche characters are replaced by believable portrayals, such as the captain (Wilde) who loves his wife but hates the war, the sergeant (Rip Torn) who gets sadistic pleasure out of battle, the minister's son (Patrick Wolfe) who keeps remembering the girl he left back home, and the Southern illiterate (Burr DeBenning) who finds a place for himself in the Marines. A harsh, unromanticised look at the Big One, over thirty years before Steven Spielberg did it with 'Saving Private Ryan'.

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The children, who all live in England but are from different parts of the world, are normal in aspects except that they are geniuses with acute psychic powers. They do have more in common than their IQ's, however: none of them have fathers and no one seems to know where they came from.

When a psychologist (Ian Hendry) attempts to find out more, he unlocks a horrifying mystery that could lead to the destruction of the universe. Frightened, the children then retreat to an abandoned church, where they use their powers to protect themselves against the government, who wants to destroy them.

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Post war Europe is in turmoil. Agent Zurta (Albert Lieven) and his beautiful accomplice Valya (Jean Kent) steal a diary with vital Cold War secrets from an embassy in Paris. During the theft Zurta murders a servant and to throw the authorities off his trail enlists the help of Karl (Alan Wheatley).

But Karl double crosses Zurta and attempts to makes his escape on the Orient Express. As the train pulls out of the Gare de Lyon in Paris there are some very contrasting characters on board. Zurta and Valya are on Karl s trail but he is tucked away in a hidden compartment. As the train hurtles through southern Europe the eclectic bunch of passengers, which includes an adulterous couple and their idiot friend (David Tomlinson), a wealthy autocratic writer (Finley Currie) and a French police inspector, seem determined to foil Zurta in his quest for the diary. As the film reaches its climax will Zurta and Valya recover the diary and make their escape or will they be captured before they reach the Iron Curtain??

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Jim Gray (Robert Mitchum) has been summoned by his old friend Tate Rilling (Robert Preston), who needs another set of guns to help in a dispute with his neighbour, John Lufton (Tom Tully).

But Tate's got more on his mind than a simple feud: his scheme is to drive Lufton off his land and he doesn't care how he does it. Jim reluctantly supports Tate at first but, disgusted by his greed, switches sides. Joining Lufton - and his feisty daughter Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes) - Jim finds himself squaring off to his old friend.

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Taking his son-in-law to one side for a quiet chat about marital strife, Sir Humphrey (Laurence Harvey) listens to the young man's tale of woe and offers reassurance that he is not the first to be baffled by the foibles of women ably illustrating his point by recounting some rather sticky moments

when he too was on the verge of giving up all hope of comprehending the feminine sex...

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Country squire, Henry Maurier (Charles Boyer), is regarded as a saint for putting up with his neurotic, invalid wife Emily (Rachel Kempson). But when Emily's brother visits them with his voluptuous mistress, Doris (Ann Blyth), the ageing squire falls instantly in love with the young temptress.

That very night Emily dies suddenly of chronic heart disease, and Henry is left free to seduce and later marry Doris - much to the annoyance of their neighbour, Janet (Jessica Tandy) who has secretly loved Henry for many years. When a post-mortem shows that Emily's death was precipitated by arsenic, Henry is arrested for murder and placed on trial for his life. But is he guilty?

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"An Act of Murder" stars Fredric March as a husband faced with an impossible predicament in this controversial drama that was well ahead of it's time.

Calvin Cooke (March), a no-nonsense judge in a small Pennsylvania town, finds his thoughts turning to end the life of his beloved wife Cathy (Florence Eldridge) when he learns that she has an incurable disease and is suffering from unbearable pain. He decides to move forward with his plan and then surrenders himself to the police. Defended by a brilliant attorney (Edmund O'Brien), Cooke goes on trial for his life in a case that will decide if he's legally guilty of murder or morally innocent of killing his wife.