greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

Intrigue and espionage abound when a young woman travelling aboard a transcontinental express train strikes up an acquaintance with a charming elderly English governess, who then disappears without a trace. Is the young woman hallucinating, or is something altogether more sinister afoot...?

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Poor fisherman Pete (Carl Brisson) falls in love with Kate (Anny Ondra), the daughter of a landlord on Man island. Pete decides to leave on his ship to earn some money and then to marry the girl.

Before leaving, Pete asks his friend Philip (Malcolm Keen) to take care of Kate, but the young man is in love with her too. There comes the tragic news: Pete's ship is wrecked. Philip and Kate have to hide no more and they plan to marry; however, Pete is not dead.

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This wild Stephen Sondheim musical about a raucous gaggle of ancient Romans is a flip, glib and sophisticated, yet rump-slappingly bawdy and fast-paced look at the seamy underside of classical Rome through hipster's shades.

When a wily, witty, lying, lazy, cheating slave discovers that his master's son is in love with the girl-next-door - a virgin courtesan - he promises to help win her heart in exchange for his freedom. But the road to romance is blocked with stunning surprises, cunning disguises - and the wildest chariot race ever!

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Set against a backdrop of the dangerous and often brutal days of the early Western pioneers, David Harvey (William Holden) is a widower with a young son, living on an isolated Ohio farm.

David wants his son to be raised the way his wife wanted, with schooling, Bible study and proper manners, so he consults the preacher at a nearby settlement who recommends that a bonded servant Rachel (Loretta Young) would make him a suitable wife. David takes Rachel on to cook and clean for him as a marriage of convenience, and although he treats her well, there is no affection between them, until his smooth-talking friend, Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum) arrives. When Jim shows an obvious interest in Rachel, David begins to realise that there is a woman in his house.

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When police find aspiring theater star Diana Baring (Norah Baring) standing over the corpse of a fellow actress, Diana gets arrested. Although amnesia leaves her with no recollection of the incident, she ends up convicted of murder.

But juror John Menier (Herbert Marshall) starts having second thoughts about Diana's guilt and takes it upon himself to capture the true killer in director Alfred Hitchcock's first-rate thriller.

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A young Broadway producer, Gary Blake (Dick Powell), is busy putting together his latest big-time musical starring Mona Merrick (Alice Faye).

Mona's role as "The Richest Girl in the World" is a pointed impersonation of Park Avenue socialite Mimi Caraway (Madeleine Carroll), who catches a performance and becomes enraged at what she sees. Mimi goes backstage to complain to Gary about Mona's performance. Gary is swept off his feet but the young debutante and agrees to tone down the role. The thing is, Gary used to go out with Mona, and Miss Merrick isn't so keen on the "agreement". When Mimi and her family come to the next performance, they are met with a performance from Mona that is even more nasty and self-centred than before. Incensed and out for retribution, Mimi and her family buy out the production and Mimi makes changes that make Gary wake up and realise that this pretty face is killing his show.

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One of the most visually striking of all the later silent films, 'The Man Who Laughs' reunites German Expressionism director Paul Leni and cinematographer Gilbert Warrenton from their horror hit the previous year, 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927).

Both films are often considered to be among the earliest works of legendary horror classics from Universal Studios, yet the undeniably eerie 'The Man Who Laughs' is more accurately described as a Gothic melodrama. However, its influence on the genre and the intensity of the imagery - art director Charles Hall and makeup genius Jack Pierce would go on to define the look of those 1930's Universal horror landmarks - have redefined it as an early horror classic, bolstered by one of the most memorable performances of the period. Adapted from the Victor Hugo novel, 'The Man Who Laughs' is Gwynplaine (an extraordinary Conrad Veidt), a carnival sideshow performer in 17th-century England, his face mutilated into a permanent, ghoulish grin by his executed father's royal court enemies. Gwynplaine struggles through life with the blind Dea (Phantom of the Opera's Mary Philbin) as his companion - though she is unable to see it, his disfigurement still causes Gwynplaine to believe he is unworthy of her love. But when his proper royal lineage becomes known by Queen Anne, Gwynplaine must choose between regaining a life of privilege, or embracing a new life of freedom with Dea. The startling makeup on Veidt was the acknowledged direct inspiration for The Joker in the 1940 Batman comic that introduced the character, and film versions of The Joker have been even more specific in their references to Leni's film. While 'The Man Who Laughs' contains powerful elements of tragedy, doomed romance, and even swashbuckling swordplay, its influence on horror cinema is most pronounced. Leni died suddenly at the age of 44 a year after this film (with Veidt also unexpectedly passing away too soon in 1943), and 'The Man Who Laughs' endures as one of the most haunting and stylish American silent films, made just as that era was coming to a close.

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Shipwrecked and adrift, Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) finds himself a guest on Dr.

Moreau's (Charles Laughton)'s isolated South Seas island, but quickly discovers the horrifying nature of the doctor's work and the origin of the strange forms inhabiting the isle: a colony of wild animals reworked into humanoid form via sadistic surgical experiments. Furthermore, Parker quickly begins to fear his own part in the doctor's plans to take the unholy enterprise to a next level.

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America is a hostile and savage land being torn apart in a territorial war between the British and French, each side assisted by rival Native Indian tribes.

Also fighting for the British are the men of Major Rogers corps, known to history as Rogers' Rangers, a perfect blend of soldier and survival expert. Trained to fight in all conditions, the Rangers must cross the vast mountains and rivers to reach St Francis undetected but it will prove a bloody and costly mission.

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In pre-war Britain, newsreel Chief Will Ferguson (Will Fyffe) and his son Steve (Anthony Hulme) plan to make a documentary celebrating human achievement - but the events in Europe sour their plans. Hitler's Third Reich is on the march and has just invaded Czechoslovakia.

Europe is in flames and instead they make a documentary fiercely condemning the rise of Fascism. Steve leaves for South America - but as World War Two erupts in all its fury he soon finds that the war has followed him. The Giant German battleship Graf Spee has fled into Montevideo Harbour after a punishing encounter with the British warships Exeter and Ajax. As events unfold in a very unexpected way, Steve is there with his newsreel camera to capture the dramatic end to the encounter. Made in 1940 and starring Will Fyffe, this stirringly patriotic film boosted morale in the nation's cinemas, cleverly combining new scenes with genuine newsreel footage to show one of Britain's great naval triumphs in the early months of the war.

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"The Great Buster: A Celebration" celebrates the life and career of one of America's most influential and celebrated filmmakers and comedians, Buster Keaton, whose singular style and fertile output during the silent era created his legacy as a true cinematic visionary.

Filled with stunningly restored archival Keaton films from the Cohen Film Collection library, 'The Great Buster: A Celebration' is directed by Peter Bogdanovich, a filmmaker and cinema historian whose landmark writings and films on such renowned directors as John Ford and Orson Welles have become the standard by which all other studies are measured.

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When an actor is murdered during the recording of a radio play, Detective Inspector Gregory (Ian Hunter) quickly discovers that the victim had many enemies enemies amongst his fellow players.

When his deductions lead him nowhere he decides to reconstruct the crime with the full help of Broadcasting House, hoping that this tried and tested strategy will lead him to the killer.

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An antiquarian bookseller and his wife; a disgruntled, hard-drinking naval clerk and the lonely secretary he recruits; a polished Soviet agent who assumes the identity of a dead Canadian citizen...

the players in a familiar Cold War story of hidden cameras, microdots and a long-range radio calling Moscow Central. 'Ring of Spies' charts a duel between Soviet intelligence and British counter-espionage, and a trade in deadly secrets directed from a bungalow in suburban Ruislip, hidden for years from unsuspecting neighbours and British spycatchers...

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By 1917, Harold Lloyd had grown tired of his Chaplinesque figure Lonesome Luke and, along with his producer Hal Roach, developed the "Glasses Character" with whom he would achieve worldwide fame.

This 'Harold' was a more mature comedy character with greater potential for sympathy and emotional depth; an eager young all-American, willing to risk anything to achieve his goals - invariably a girl, played by Bebe Daniels or Mildred Davis. Featured here is the "Glasses Character" in many of his popular shorts, films that perfectly illustrate his trademark comedy style - athletic, enthusiastic, and quick-paced. Harold Lloyd had found a truly unique character, one who would seal his place in the pantheon of silent comedy greats.