greatest-ever-made's - Rented List
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The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)El cartero llama dos veces
The sign outside the roadside diner says "Man Wanted." Drifter Frank Chambers knows the sign has more than one meaning when he eyes pouty, luminous Cora, the much-younger bride of the diner's proprietor. Based on the same-titled novel by James M. Cain (Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce), this quintessential film-noir classic combines studio-system gloss with Cain's hard-bitten tale of murderous attractions. John Garfield and Lana Turner give career-benchmark performances as Frank and Cora, illicit lovers who botch a first attempt to bump off Cora's hubby, pull it off, betray each other at trial and yet wriggle free. But their volatile tale does not end there. As the film's metaphorical title indicates, fate is sure to ring again. - Director:
- Tay Garnett
- Cast:
- Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
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Playtime (1967)Play Time
Featurete is a surreal, comic vision of modern life in which the director's much-loved character, Monsieur Hulot - accompanied by a cast of tourists and well-heeled Parisians - turns unintentional anarchist when set loose in an unrecognisable Paris of steel skyscrapers, chrome-plated shopping malls and futuristic night spots.- Director:
- Jacques Tati
- Cast:
- Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden
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One of the early classic movie studios, Keystone Pictures Studios was founded in 1912 by Mack Sennett and would find lasting fame with their brand of slapstick comedy, especially the Keystone Cops. These four films, which include 'The Bangville Police', the first popular Keystone Cops film, showcase their brand of slapstick to perfection.
Classics Comprise:
- The Bangville Police (1913)
- Her Painted Hero (1915)
- Love, Speed and Thrills (1915)
- Wife and Auto Trouble (1916)- Director:
- Henry Lehrman
- Cast:
- Mabel Normand, Polly Moran, Hale Hamilton
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The Mob force unassuming shoe-shine man Gino (Don Ameche) into taking the hit for a murder he didn't commit. The pay-off? A fishing boat in Sicily when he gets out. Small-time crook Jerry (Joe Mantegna) takes Gino on one last jaunt to Lake Tahoe before his term begins, but, when Gino is mistaken for a major league gangster, the duo soon fall prey to local hoodlums... - Director:
- David Mamet
- Cast:
- Don Ameche, Joe Mantegna, Robert Prosky
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The Midnight Story (1957)Appointment with a Shadow
When catholic priest, Father Tomasino is brutally stabbed to death in an alleyway, San Francisco traffic cop, Joe Martini (Tony Curtis), vows to help catch his murderer because the priest had been like a father to him. But when the homicide detective in charge of the case, Lieutenant Kilrain (Ted de Corsia), refuses to let him interfere on their turf, Martini turns in his badge in order to hunt down the killer on his own... - Director:
- Joseph Pevney
- Cast:
- Tony Curtis, Ralph Clanton, Marisa Pavan
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Olivia Harwood (Ann Todd) is a missionary's widow who meets Mark Bellis (Ray Milland), a charming artist and rogue, on the ship taking them back to Victorian London. When Olivia opens a boarding house, Mark becomes her lodger, but then quickly graduates to become her lover. Soon Olivia falls completely under the spell of Mark and casts aside her religious scruples to fall in with Mark's ambitious and immoral schemes of theft and blackmail. But perhaps his schemes are too ambitious when he attempts to swindle their own friends, leaving Olivia to decide whether to completely fall in with the devil - or redeem herself by betraying the man she loves... - Director:
- Lewis Allen
- Cast:
- Ray Milland, Ann Todd, Geraldine Fitzgerald
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Clay Douglas (Ray Milland) arrives in London to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, who served as a Commando with the British Forces. Suspecting it was not a German bullet that killed his brother, Clay's investigations uncover the fact that there was a mysterious thirteenth member of the raiding party... - Director:
- Jacques Tourneur
- Cast:
- Ray Milland, Patricia Roc, Marius Goring
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Returning from the war to discover his father has been crippled in an altercation with a brutish mob-connected kingpin, Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) puts aside thoughts of settling down and instead focuses them on revenge. He buys an old army surplus truck and hits the road - a 36-hour non-stop drive to San Francisco and, he hopes, a little justice... - Director:
- Jules Dassin
- Cast:
- Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb
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Marilyn Monroe sizzles in this tense, masterful thriller. While the seductive Rose Loomis (Monroe) and her husband George (Joseph Cotten) vacation in a charming guest cabin at spectacular Niagara Falls, Rose and her lover plot to kill George. But things go terribly wrong, and soon, an innocent honeymooning couple find themselves swept up in the crime. - Director:
- Henry Hathaway
- Cast:
- Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters
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"I'm not living with you", Maggie snaps at Brick. "We occupy the same cage, that's all". The raw emotions and crackling dialogue of Tennessee Williams' 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play rumble like a thunderstorm in this film version, whose fiery performances and grown-up theme made it a box-office hit. Paul Newman earned his first Oscar nomination for his nuanced portrayal of troubled former sports hero Brick. Capturing her second, Elizabeth Taylor makes Maggie the cat, digging her claws in and holding on to life, not as it is, but as she hopes it someday will be, a vivid portrait of passionate loyalty. - Director:
- Richard Brooks
- Cast:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives
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In one of the finest comedic performances of her career Marilyn plays a delicious, yet decidedly vision-impaired, young model, who, along with her two equally scheming friends, rents out a Manhattan penthouse in the hope of hooking a rich husband.
- Director:
- Jean Negulesco
- Cast:
- Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall
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Sweet Smell of Success (1957)La mentira maldita
A powerful film about a ruthless journalist and an unscrupulous press agent who'll do anything to achieve success, this fascinating, compelling story crackles with taut direction and whiplash dialogue. Bristling with vivid performances by Curtis and Lancaster, this gutsy expose of big-city corruption is a timeless classic that cuts deep and sends a chilling message. It's late at night in the steamy, neon-lit streets of New York's Times Square, and everything's buzzing with nervous energy. But press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is oblivious to the whirlwind of street vendors, call girls and con men bustling around him as he nervously waits for the early edition of The Globe. Whose career did gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) launch today…and whose did he destroy? - Director:
- Alexander MacKendrick
- Cast:
- Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison
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House of Strangers (1949)East Side Story
Gino Monetti (Edward G. Robinson) is a self made man, an Italian immigrant who has dragged himself up from the slums of New York to be president of his own bank. The struggle has made him hard and bitter - alienating him from three of his sons. Monetti is still close to his fourth son Max (Richard Conte), a sharp lawyer with an even sharper society girlfriend (Susan Hayward). As Monetti's banking empire begins to crumble, tensions within the family reach boiling point - and thoughts turn to revenge - and murder... - Director:
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Cast:
- Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte
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When one of his mobsters stages an unauthorised hit, Manhattan crime boss Charlie Lupo (Broderick Crawford) calls in Nick Magellan (Richard Conte) an enforcer from Chicago in order to stamp his authority. Conte soon cuts through the undisciplined crime syndicate and the widowed Lupo begins to treat him as the son he never had and promotes him to the top rung of the mob. Lupo's hard-drinking, rebellious daughter Kathy (Anne Bancroft) wants nothing to do with her father's business, or with any of his minions but the steely 'torpedo' from Chicago has sent her pulse racing. But when Kathy has to fight for Magellan's affections with her father's platinum blonde mistress (Marilyn Maxwell) the newly formed 'father-son' relationship is set to explode... - Director:
- Russell Rouse
- Cast:
- Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, Anne Bancroft
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Edge of Darkness (1943)Norway in Revolt
In 1930, director Lewis Milestone won an Academy Award for his eloquent anti-war masterpiece, 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. But with 'Edge of Darkness', made in 1943 during the dark days of the German blitzkrieg, Milestone displays no such pacifist sentiments. Indeed, this remarkable drama, set in a small Norwegian village, pays tribute to the heroic spirit of common people taking up arms against the Nazi invaders. Errol Flynn delivers a fine, understated performance as a common fisherman who leads the town's resistance efforts. Ann Sheridan's strong character reflects the strength of all womankind. And featured in the superb ensemble cast are Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon and Judith Anderson. - Director:
- Lewis Milestone
- Cast:
- Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, Walter Huston
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