greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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The acclaimed sequel to the original 'Frankenstein', one of the most popular horror classics in film history, has now been restored in stunning high definition. The legendary Boris Karloff reprises his role as the screen's most misunderstood monster, now longing for a mate of his own.

The last horror film directed by James Whale features a haunting musical score that helps make 'The Bride of Frankenstein' one of the finest and most touching thrillers of its era.

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Washed-up producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler (William Holden) attempts to lure the iconic but reclusive actress Fedora (Marthe Keller) out of retirement in a bid to revive both their careers.

But her privacy is hard won, and with good reason, and opening up the secrets surrounding her could spell disaster.

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Deep in the English countryside, the tranquil village of Lipsbury Lea seems a long way from the war raging beyond. So it's the perfect spot for Battle of Britain fighter ace (and keen bird watcher) Jimmy Bancroft (Niall MacGinnis) to recover from his war-wounds. Jimmy's not the new arrival, however.

For only the second time ever, a pair of Tawny Pipits have arrived in Britain to nest. Led by the redoubtable Colonel Barton-Barrington (Bernard Miles), the good folk of Lipsbury Lea rally around to show these birds some traditional British hospitality, protecting their little guests from the might of the army, the stupidity of bureaucracy and the machinations of some very determined egg hunters...

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Cannons thunder, blades clatter and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's incomparable music swirls and flourishes in The Sea Hawk. In one of his best roles, Errol Flynn plays Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, who commandeers a 40-gun galleon, endures captivity, then boldly escapes to warn England of Spain's armada.

Working on his 10th of 12 movies with Flynn, Michael Curtiz masterfully directs the film's blend of royal intrigue and derring-do heroics - made on a then lavish $1.7 million-scale that included construction of two full-sized ships.

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The film is Fritz Lang's seventh Hollywood feature, made in 1953 on a miniscule budget and shot in just twenty days by one of the best 'noir' cameramen Nicholas Musurca and is considered one of his best murder mystery films.

Norah (Anne Baxter) is a pretty telephone operator engaged to a soldier posted overseas. When she receives a letter from him ending their engagement, feeling despondent, she falls for the charms of Officer Lothario and agrees to a date. They go to the Blue Gardenia Club, where he gets her drunk and then takes her back to his apartment. She is later forced to fight off his lecherous advances by bludgeoning him to death and flees, leaving behind her handkerchief, high heels and a blue gardenia at the scene. She awakes the next morning remembering nothing while a nationwide murder hunt gets underway, but journalist Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) offers his support and suggests an interview in exchange for a fair trial.

When Prince John (Claude Rains) and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla army.

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Set in Midwestern America, 'The Magnificent Ambersons' tells the tale of Isabel Amberson Minafer (Dolores Costello) and her son George (Tim Holt), an upper middle class family experiencing social decline at the turn of the century.

With the industrial and technological age taking full force, the chances within the family are self destructing. After the death of her husband Wilbur (Don Dillaway), Isabel is romantically linked with Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten) whom she knew from years previous to her marriage. George, unhappy with this courtship, proceeds to do everything in his power to destroy their relationship despite falling for Eugene's daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter). Disaster strikes for the Amberson family and events do not turn out as George expected...

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Tom Keefer is a man falsely convicted of a murder and sentenced to death by hanging. He has escaped from prison and is hiding out in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp. Keefer is dedicated to finding the real killer and clearing his name.

A trapper, Ben Ragan, is out searching for his dog when he finds Keefer hiding in the swamp. Ben believes the man's tale of being falsely railroaded. The two men trap animals together and Ben sells the furs. Keefer tells Ben to give his share of the money from their pelt sale to his daughter, Julie. Ben eventually falls in love with Julie, arousing the wrath of Ben's girlfriend Mabel, who tells authorities about Keefer's secret. Ben, however, refuses to co-operate with officials' efforts to locate the escaped convict.