greatest-ever-made's - Rented List
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The Saga of Anatahan (1953)Ana-ta-han
Josef von Sternberg - the innovative director with an unmatched eye for detail and a reputation for his intensity - brings to life this vulnerable tale of human trauma, survival and redemption. Set during the dying stages of World War II, 'The Saga of Anatahan' tells the story of twelve Japanese seaman stranded on a forgotten island for seven years. Accompanied only by Keiko (Akemi Negishi), a young Japanese woman, all rationality and discipline are soon overcome by a struggle for power and control over Keiko's affections. Narrated by Sternberg himself, the director positions himself as the story's unconscious viewpoint amidst his othertrademark qualities: lush mise-en-scene, theatrical lighting and bleak yet poignant storytelling. - Director:
- Josef Von Sternberg
- Cast:
- Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma, Kisaburo Sawamura
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Persona (1966)Kinematografi
Bergman's masterpiece of self-doubt, identity and eroticism is an audacious example of cinematic art. The notional story centres on newly mute actor Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) recuperating at her coastal holiday home in the care of a nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson). As tensions between the pair grow, their very selves seem to blur, chronology becomes uncertain and what is real and unreal loses significance. Yet the true impact of Persona goes beyond mere storytelling, touching, as Bergman said, 'wordless secrets that only the cinema can discover'. - Director:
- Ingmar Bergman
- Cast:
- Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook
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Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948)Saraband
In the 18th century, Sophie Dorothea (Joan Greenwood) Is forced into marriage with Prince George Louis (Peter Bull), an aristocrat destined to inherit the British crown. But after he becomes king, Sophie meets suave Swedish mercenary Count Philip Konigsmark (Stewart Granger) - the two quickly fall in love and plot to flee England together. Their scheme is discovered, and the lovers must figure out a way to escape the tightening noose of retribution. - Director:
- Basil Dearden
- Cast:
- Stewart Granger, Joan Greenwood, Flora Robson
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W.C. Fields: International House / Million Dollar Legs (1933)International House / On Your Mark
A double bill of films by the popular 1930's comedian...
International House (1933)A Chinese scientist invents TV, and agents gather in the remote Chinese city to buy the rights. Tommy Nash (Stuart Erwin) is in trouble with his fiancée Carol (Sari Maritza) because his illnesses deeps postponing their wedding; playgirl Peggy (Peggy Hopkins Joyce) evades jealous ex-husband Petronovich (Bela Lugosi) and pursues rich Professor Quail (W.C. Fields). Much of the movie is old-time radio comedy and musical acts, made visible by the 'radioscope'.
Million Dollar Legs (1932)
Aviator Professor Quail (W.C. Fields) lands of a hotel roof in Wu Hu, China, where international representatives are bidding for a new television device. Quail's attention is diverted by much-married Peggy Hopkins Joyce, who is in turn attracted to the wealthy flyer. The mechanical television provides an excuse to present various acts of the period.- Director:
- Edward F. Cline
- Cast:
- W.C. Fields, Jack Oakie, Andy Clyde
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Mississippi Mermaid (1969)La sirène du Mississipi / Waltz Into Darkness
This enthralling, erotic tale of a young millionaire and his mysterious bride is bewitching, exciting and beautiful. Written and directed by legendary cinematic genius Francois Truffaut and featuring European superstars Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo, 'Mississippi Mermaid' is nothing less than breathtaking. Beauty is by no means rare on the lush, tropical Isle de Reunion. yet when island resident and tobacco tycoon Louis Mahe first meets Julie Rouselle - his mail order fiancée - he's completely enraptured by her radiance. But it soon becomes clear that Julie is hiding a dark secret. And when she disappears without a trace, Louis vows to stop at nothing to find her - a resolution that lures him into a tangled web of relentless obsession, uncontrollable passion, and ultimately...cold-blooded murder! - Director:
- François Truffaut
- Cast:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Nelly Borgeaud
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A little orphan boy Wheeler (Andrew Ray) who survives by scavenging on the River Thames, decides to walk to Windsor Castle to see Queen Victoria (Irene Dunne). For many years, Queen Victoria has shut herself away in the castle, in mourning for her beloved husband Albert (Michael Brooke) - and England is suffering. Despite the best advice of Prime Minister Disraeli (Alec Guinness) and her close friend John Brown (Finlay Currie), the queen refuses to return to her people. Can one small and desperately lonely child change her heart when the highest in the land have failed? - Director:
- Jean Negulesco
- Cast:
- Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness, Andrew Ray
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California surgeon Dr. Mike Parker (Rock Hudson) is away at a conference in New York, having a drink in a bar, when he is introduced to a caricaturist named Victor (George Sanders) in the company of Mike's German ex-wife Lisa (Cornell Borchers). Lisa, panicked, darts from the bar - and is run over by a car. As Mike treats her wounds and aids her recovery, the story of their love affair, marriage and painful parting is retold. Lisa, now living under an assumed name, went missing, presumed dead, eight years earlier after being trapped in the Russian quarter of post-war Vienna, where Mike was serving as a US Army medic. Visiting her father, whose home lies behind the Iron Curtain, Lisa is arrested for breaking a curfew. Word leaks back to the Allied side that her father is dead and, fearing the worst, Mike is persuaded to return to America to raise their young daughter Suzy (Shelley Fabares). Back in the present, a still frail and recuperating Lisa agrees to accompany Mike back to his California home, but Suzy gets hysterical, refusing to believe any suggestion that her mother can have come back into her life. Can the family be pieced back together, or is it best for everyone that they leave the past behind? - Director:
- Jerry Hopper
- Cast:
- Rock Hudson, Cornell Borchers, George Sanders
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"Mary Queen of Scots" explores the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan). Queen of France at 16, widowed at 18, Mary defies pressure to remarry and instead returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. By birth, she also has a rival claim to the throne of Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), who rules as the Queen of England. Determined to rule as much more than a figurehead, Mary asserts her claim to the English throne, threatening Elizabeth's sovereignty. Rivals in power and in love, the two Queens make very different choices about marriage and children. Betrayal, rebellion and conspiracies within each court imperil both Queens - driving them apart, as each woman experiences the bitter cost of power. - Director:
- Josie Rourke
- Cast:
- Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden
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Adapted from Mary Jane Ward's autobiographical novel, Anatole Litvak's 'The Snake Pit' is a vital precursor to Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor in its concern with issues relating to mental illness. An Oscar nominated Olivia de Havilland stars as Virginia, an outwardly normal woman whose marriage to a caring husband (Mark Stevens) unravels when her behaviour becomes erratic. On professional advice Virginia is committed to an overcrowded state hospital where she encounters the bullying antics of the resentful matrons and the threat of the fearsome snake pit, an open room where the most deranged cases are held. - Director:
- Anatole Litvak
- Cast:
- Olivia De Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn
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The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)El hombre que nunca estuvo
Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), a barber in a small northern California town. Ed is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' (Frances McDormand) infidelity presents Ed with an opportunity for blackmail that he thinks will help him to change it. However, Ed's scheme unravels and lays bare even darker secrets before leading to murder. - Director:
- Joel Coen
- Cast:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco
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Errol Flynn shot to stardom as Peter Blood, a 17th-century physician turned pirate after escaping unjust political imprisonment. It was a role the handsome, sea-loving Tasmanian was born to play, and he shaped it into Hollywood's archetypal image of the adventurous hero. That he also became a romantic idol and a vision of gallantry in love is due in large part to his ideally cast co-star: radiant Olivia de Havilland in the first of their eight films together. - Director:
- Michael Curtiz
- Cast:
- Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Lionel Atwill
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Bette Davis and Errol Flynn made The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex fascinatingly public, striking sparks with this lavish Technicolor tale of the ill-fated love between the aging Elizabeth I and the dashing Earl of Essex. Thoroughly unglamorous here - eyes and hairline shaved, face painted chalky white – Bette Davis exudes such intelligence, energy and ardor that her romance with the decades - younger Essex is completely believable. - Director:
- Michael Curtiz
- Cast:
- Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland
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Written by a discharged journalist as a publicity stunt, and as a parting shot at the paper's new editor, the premise of the letter unexpectedly fires the imagination of the Bulletin's readers and the wider American public. Its real author, Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) who has fabricated the letter in her final column, is rehired, and now needs to find someone to play the part of the fictional "John Doe." Gary Cooper is perfectly cast as Long John Willoughby, an injured and penniless former baseball pitcher lured into impersonating "John Doe" with the promise of medical treatment. In what would have undoubtedly been an Oscar winning performance, were it not for his own success that same year in Howard Hawks' "Sergeant York," Cooper excels himself here as Willoughby's initial indifference to his undertaking turns to genuine concern at his role. But, as he becomes an increasingly culpable pawn in an ever more treacherous game, just how can "John Doe" redeem himself? - Director:
- Frank Capra
- Cast:
- Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold
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The Dolly Sisters (1945)Dolly Sisters
Betty Grable and June Haver pour on the singing, dancing and show-biz razzmatazz in this jaunty tale of sisters who become vaudeville sensations in Europe and America. Grable, then in the fourth year of her decade-long reign as a Top 10 box office star, grabs the spotlight as Jenny, a gifted performer torn by career demands and by her on-again, off-again romance with a Tin Pan Alley tunesmith (John Payne). Laced throughout are songs (including Oscar Nominated "I Can't Begin to Tell You") and splashy production numbers that let the GI's favourite pinup girl show off her talents and the gams that Fox, in a noted publicity stunt, had insured for a million dollars. - Director:
- Irving Cummings
- Cast:
- Betty Grable, John Payne, June Haver
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Suffering from headaches and inexplicable blackouts, timid housewife Eve White (Joanne Woodward) begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Luther (Lee J. Cobb). He's stunned when she transforms before his eyes into the lascivious Eve Black (Joanne Woodward), and diagnoses her as having multiple personalities. It's not long before a third, calling herself Jane (Joanne Woodward), also appears. Through hypnosis and continued therapy, Luther struggles to help Eve recall the trauma that caused her identity to fracture. - Director:
- Nunnally Johnson
- Cast:
- Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb
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