greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

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Nancy (Peggy Ann Garner) is an ambitious young writer - and Peter (Van Heflin) offers her the use of his apartment while his wife Iris (Gene Tierney) is out of town. Iris returns to find a dead body in the apartment and her husband the prime suspect. With Detective Lt.

Bruce (George Raft) hot on his trail and his celebrity neighbours (Ginger Rogers and Reginald Gardiner) spreading poisonous rumours, Peter must prove his innocence - by uncovering the real murderer...

Following General Custer's defeat at the battle of Little Big Horn, Captain Benson's absence is regarded by many as cowardice. In order to repair his name and reputation, he volunteers to retrieve Custer's body.

Silent movies are giving way to talking pictures - and a hoofer-turned-matinee idol (Gene Kelly) is caught in that bumpy transition, as are his buddy (Donald O'Connor), prospective ladylove (Debbie Reynolds) and shrewish costar (Jean Hagen).

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Mary (Kim Hunter) travels to New York to discover the reason for her sister Jacqueline's sudden disappearance. The cosmetics shop that Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) owned has been sold and her rented room is empty, save for a solitary chair and a noose.

Suspecting that her sister is under the influence of Satanists, Mary hires a private detective to stakeout the shop at night, but she then discovers that he has been murdered. Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway) contacts Mary to explain that he is a psychiatrist and that Jacqueline is under his care because she is mentally ill. But when Jacqueline vanishes again, it becomes clear to Mary that she in the clutches of a satanic cult whose penalty for revealing anything about themselves is death. Six people have already been murdered... will Jacqueline become the seventh victim?

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"Corvette K-225" is a stirring salute to the heroism of the Corvette crews and commanders who steered Allied convoys through the treacherous, U-Boat-infested Atlantic ocean throughout WWII. The story follows a particularly perilous voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Britain.

The nail-biting tension is heightened by our knowledge that the film uses actual historic sea combat footage! Better known previously for his 'tall in the saddle' Western roles, Randolph Scott brings dignity and restraint to the role of a heroic Canadian Navy commander in what's possibly his finest performance. In addition to the thrilling battle scenes, as the doughty Corvette strives to protect the convoys from attack after attack, the film has far greater emotional maturity and depth than most Hollywood wartime action films.

Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), naive insurance man. Falls for the seductive charms of his beautiful client Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) Together they plot to get rid of her dull husband and collect on the "double indemnity" life policy.

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Kelly plays an ex-GI who loves Paris and loves even more an alluring (but engaged) perfume-shop clerk. Dance sequences spun around Gershwin songs accent Kelly's romantic pursuit. And the final 17-minute ballet - combining the title symphony.

Impressionist set stylings and Kelly's unique talent for telling a story in dance - lifts this winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture into the ether of timelessness. Love Is Here To Stay Kelly sings. So is An American In Paris.

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"Beauty and the Beast " is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death that have never been equalled.

Josette Day is luminous yet feisty as Beauty, and Jean Marais gives one of his best performances as the Beast, at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust. Henri Alekan's subtle black and white cinematography combine with Christian Berard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema, a children's fairytale refashioned into a stylised and highly sophisticated dream.

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A double bill of James Bond spoofs.

Our Man Flint (1966)

Move over, 007. The U.S. has a secret agent even braver, even smarter and even more popular with the ladies. His name: Derek Flint (James Coburn). On his first cinematic secret mission, Secret Agent Flint faces off against the most dangerous weapon of all, the weather! An evil organization called Galaxy has learned how to send icebergs crashing into the Mediterranean, to flood whole valleys and even to cause volcanoes to erupt on cue. To save the world, Flint must first overcome the beautiful but deadly Gila (Gila Golan), Galaxy's top agent. It's a task that demands all of Flint's awesome powers of deduction, destruction and - most of all - seduction.
In Like Flint (1967)
Flint is back. Derek Flint (James Coburn), that is. This time, the all-round genius, super secret agent and supreme ladies' man really has his hands full. A group of wealthy and powerful female tycoons has developed a way of brainwashing women through beauty salon hair dryers! With all the women of the world enslaved, this power-hungry group is able to commandeer the United States' first "space platform" and then replace the President (Andrew Duggan) with their own surgically reproduced clone! From their secret headquarters in the Virgin Islands, a lavish spa called "Fabulous Face", they plan to use nuclear energy to force the entire world into submission.

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Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) is a struggling and mostly failing New York artist until one day, in Central Park, he meets Jennie (Jennifer Jones).

Jennie seems to possess an almost mystical quality and as Eben sketches her, his work shows more expression and emotion than anything he has ever done before. But before he knows it, Jennie has disappeared. Eben frantically searches for his mysterious model and when they meet again a few weeks later, Jennie seems to have aged several years. What then unfolds is one of the most unusual and unforgettable love stories ever told as they are both swept up in a strange love that even time cannot contain.

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Ruthless criminals, a dedicated honest cop, sultry women and a gripping plot - all the elements of a classic police action-drama are here in force. Police Sergeant Bannion (Glenn Ford) is investigating the apparent suicide of a corrupt cop, then is suddenly ordered to stop - and The Big Heat is on.

Driven to unravel the mystery, Bannion continues probing until an explosion meant for him, kills his wife. He resigns from he force and soon learns that behind it all is the powerful underworld led by Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and his cold-blooded henchman, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin). When Stone's girl Debby (Gloria Grahame) makes a play for Bannion, Stone disfigures her face and in revenge, she tells all she knows. A life-or-death confrontation between Bannion and Stone brings this classic film noir thriller to a climatic unmissable finale!

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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.

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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'.

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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.

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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.