greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

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Petty crook Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is arrested at the scene of a robbery and takes the rap without squealing. When he learns that his accomplice has betrayed him, he decides to go against the criminal code and become an informant.

But when his testimony against psychopathic killer Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) puts his family in danger, Nick is forced to take matters into his own hands.

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A double bill of films by the popular 1930s comedian...

You're Telling Me! (1934)

Sam Bisbee (W.C. Fields) unwittingly ruins the romance between his daughter and a local society boy. When disaster befalls the demonstration of his new puncture-proof tyre, Sam takes the train home and meets the visiting Princess Lescaboura (Adrienne Ames). She calls at his home town and announces hem as a hero. Bisbee is transformed into a leading citizen.
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
Ambrose Wolfinger (W.C. Fields) lives with his wife, stepson, mother-in-low and the daughter from his first, happier marriage. He takes his first afternoon off work in twenty-five years to attend a wrestling match, on the bogus pretext that his mother-in-law has died. Floral tributes arrive at the horse and Ambrose is falsely accused of a drunken spree with his secretary. He is fired but reinstated - on more favourable terms - when his memory for clients' details is recognized.

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Hollywood's top stars and directors were assembled for this stunning 1952 adaptation of O.Henry's finest short stories, each with a delicious twist in the tail!

The Cop and the Anthem

A tramp (Charles Laughton) decides to spend winter in a nice warm jail cell - only to find it impossible to get arrested!
The Clarion Call
A cop (Dale Robertson) discovers an old friend (Richard Widmark) is a murderer - an old friend to whom he owes a big debt...
The Last Leaf
An artist (Gregory Ratoff) must find a way to help a young girl dying of a broken heart and her desperate sister (Anne Baxter and Jean Peters)...
The Ransom of Red Chief
Two city slickers (Fred Allen and Oscar Levant) decide to kidnap a country boy for ransom. After all, kids are easier to control...aren't they?
The Gift of the Magi
On Christmas Eve, an impoverished young couple (Farley Granger and Jeanne Crain) decide to buy each other Christmas presents they can't possibly afford...

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When discharged navy officer Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) comes home from war to his old stomping ground in the Hollywood Hills, he is shocked to discover his wife Helen (Doris Dowling) having an affair with the proprietor of the glamorous Blue Dahlia nightclub.

But when Helen is murdered and Johnny is fingered as the prime suspect, he is forced to prove his innocence, aided by a woman harbouring a dark secret, the beautiful and enigmatic Joyce (Veronica Lake).

The story of a maniacal Broadway director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) who transforms shop girl (Carole Lombard) from a talented amateur to a smashing Great White Way success adored by public and press.

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Anna Neagle - one of Britain's very biggest stars - was poached by Hollywood to make this glorious Cinderella story: Irene is the feisty Irish lass who catches the eye of millionaire Don Marshall (Ray Milland).

He helps her become a model for the fabulous fashion boutique 'Madame Lucy' and she makes quite an impression at a high-society ball (filmed in gorgeous Technicolor); soon Irene is the talk of the town. But will success stop her finding her prince charming?

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Burt Lancaster is Joe Collins, one of a number of convicts squeezed into cell R17 intent on staging a prison break.

Not only does he need to return to the side of his cancer-ridden wife (Ann Blyth), he also wants to escape the clutches of sadistic warden Captain Munsey (an unforgettable performance from Hume Cronyn) who enjoys a reign of terror over the inmates.

What Stanley Timberlake wants, she takes. So, on the eve of her marriage to another, she runs off with her sister's husband, the first of many betrayals that lead to disaster...and to a compulsively watchable brew of deceit, racial bigotry, latent incest and violent death.

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Ginger Rogers stars as a young lady determined to shake up polite society! Ginger plays Mary Grey, cheerful but unemployed. Wandering in central park, she meets and befriends Alfred Borden (Walter Connolly). Alfred's a millionaire but money can't buy him happiness - his family all ignore him.

Wanting to spice things up, he hires Mary to pose as his mistress but even he isn't prepared for the hilarious consequences that will ensue!

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Written by Academy Award winners Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, 'Midnight' has been hailed as 'just about the best comedy ever caught by the camera from the Golden Age of Hollywood!' Academy Award winners Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore simply light up the screen.

The fun begins when a penniless showgirl (Colbert) impersonates a Hungarian Countess and, with the help of an aristocrat (Barrymore), quickly adapts herself to her new lifestyle. But can she stop herself from falling in love with yet another poor man (Ameche)?

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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 speakeasy era never roared louder than in this gangland chronicle that packs a wallop under action master Raoul Walsh's direction.

Against a backdrop of newsreel-like montages and narration, it follows the life of jobless war vetran Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) who turns bootlegger, dealing in 'bottles instead of battles'. Battles await eddie within and without his growing empire. Outside are territorial feuds and gangland bloodlettings. Inside is the treachery of double-dealing associate (Humphrey Bogart). It would be 10 years before Cagney played another gangster (in White Heat), a time in which gangster movies themselves became rare. 'He used to be a big shot'. Panama Smith (Gladys Goerge) says at the finale, marking Bartlett's demise...and signalling the end of Hollywood's focus on the gangster era.

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"The Public Enemy" showcases James Cagney's powerful 1931 breakthrough performance as streetwise tough guy Tom Powers, but only because production chief Darryl F. Zanuck made a late casting change.

When shooting began, Cagney had a secondary role but Zanuck soon spotted Cagney's screen dominance and gave him the star part. From that moment, an indelible genre classic and an enduring star career were both born. Bristling with '20s style, dialogue and desperation under the masterful directorial eye of William A. Wellman, this is a virtual time capsule of the Prohibition era: taut, gritty and hard-hitting - even at breakfast when grapefruit is served.

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When Father Brown (Alec Guinness) hears that Flambeau (Peter Finch), an international art thief, is planning to steal a priceless cross once owned by Saint Augustine during its transportation to Rome, he is delighted at the opportunity to match wits with a criminal of such repute.

However, Flambeau outwits Father Brown on their first encounter deep in the catacombs of Paris and vanishes with the relic. Now, the amateur sleuth must somehow lure the master criminal out of hiding, recover the cross - and save Flambeau's immortal soul into the bargain...

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As a psychotic thug devoted to his hard-boiled ma, James Cagney - older, scarier and just as electrifying - gives a performance to match his work in 'The Public Enemy' as 'White Heat's's' cold-blooded Cody Jarrett.

Bracingly directed by Raoul Walsh, this fast-paced thriller tracing Jarrett's violent life in and out of jail is also a harrowing character study. Jarrett is a psychological time bomb ruled by impulse. He murders a wounded accomplice and revels in the act. He neglects his sultry wife (Virginia Mayo) and adores his doting mother. It is among the most vivid screen performances of Cagney's career, and the excitement it generates will put you on top of the world!