greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

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Mae West stars in one of her most unusual roles in this exciting drama set in the Gold Rush of the 1890s. Beautiful Rose Carlton (Mae West), a "kept" woman of the wealthy and possessive Chan Lo, escapes San Francisco's Chinatown on a ship bound for Alaska's gold rush territory.

The ship's captain, Bull Brackett (Victor McLaglen), instantly falls for Rose but she is distracted by her new cabinmate, Sister Annie Alden (Helen Jerome Eddy). Exchanging philosophies, the unlikely pair develop a meaningful friendship before Sister Annie becomes sick and dies. Meanwhile, Bull learns Rose is wanted for murder but tells her he will standby her. Rose, in desperation, changes identities with her deceased friend and, once in Alaska, is inspired to a new calling. It's West at her best as she brings the immoral townspeople to their knees with her unconventional style of evangelism in this spirited tale of divine transformation.

Truck-driving brothers Humphrey Bogart and George Raft battle the dangers of the open road as well as a murder frame-up in this vintage production full of wisecracking wit and great performances.

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Thirty years on from her disappearance from the limelight, one question lingers - why did she end her career and vanish at the peak of her acting powers? The truth lies within a key found by Genya many years prior...

a key that is far more than just a memento, and instead serves as an emblem of her entire raison d'etre. As Chiyoko recounts her story, so Genya and his cameraman are pulled into a wide-ranging journey through the lens of her films. Interviews and recollections, acting and reality, all blur into the single rich tapestry of a remarkable life.

'Tokyo Twilight' is film focused on family disintegration; it is also darkest masterpiece. Two adult sisters return to the family home and discover their long missing mother living with another man, leading to a destructive path of despair and isolation.

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Sixteen minutes or so into this adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play, 1930 audiences got what they were waiting for when Greta Garbo made her entrance and spoke on camera for the first time in her career: "Gimme a whiskey?.

" Here she made her landmark transition to the new era, playing a former prostitute whose past may ruin her chance for happiness.

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Carole Lombard co-stars with Frederic March, in one of her most delightful movie outings and her only feature in colour. The hilarious screenplay by Ben Hecht and James H. Street has her cast as Hazel Flagg, a small town girl who mistakenly believes that she is dying of radium poisoning.

March plays a newspaper reporter who, in the best tradition of yellow journalism, talks his editor into bringing her to New York for one last fling.

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A woodcutter experiences a horrific series of events - an ambush, rape and murder.

In the telling of the tale however, each of the four participants give different views of what actually happened - is any of them telling the truth? Kurosawa's masterful film plays on the subjective nature of truth while unfurling a riveting tale of violence and greed.

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Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange lead an award-winning cast of stars in a powerful, suspense-filled story where honour and duty collide with the seduction of power and hunger for revenge.

When the victorious Roman general, Titus Andronicus (Hopkins), returns home after a long and brutal war with the Goths, his first act is to sacrifice the eldest son of his prisoner, the Goth Queen Taniora (Lange). But when the corrupt Saturninus (Alan Cumming) is made emperor and surprisingly makes Tamora his queen, a new battle ensues as Tamora...and then Titus...enact a campaign of retribution.

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When man-about-town Saheiji (Frankie Sakai) finds himself unable to pay for a bill at a brothel, he is forced to remain there to work off his debt.

However he finds his wit and resourcefulness enable him to turn this situation to his advantage, as he interacts with a whole range of characters, from rivaling courtesans to political activists.

She loves him when he goes away for months. She loves him when he refuses to marry her. But when callow David Sutton (Van Heflin) chooses to marry someone else, Louise Howell's (Joan Crawford) love for him takes a darker turn. Give her a gun and she'll love him to death.

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The story centers on the O'Leary family, pioneer settlers whose eldest boys achieve notoriety and power in bustling Chicago. After Jack (Don Ameche) gets elected mayor with the help of his popular brother Dion (Tyrone Power), the two lock horns over the future of Chicago's slums.

Using his cabaret singer wife (Alice Faye) as a pawn in their dispute, Dion accelerates their intense rivalry as the whole town takes sides. It is not until a massive fire wipes out all of old Chicago that the O'Learys' lives are changed forever.

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Bearing the burden of her father’s debt and desperate to pay for the completion of her brother’s education, young Ayako (Isuzu Yamada) becomes a mistress to her employer.

Although circumstances seem to conspire against her, Ayako attempts to hide the truth from her family and fiance and preserve her reputation.

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Karl (Tim Holt) and Anna (Bonita Granville) are childhood sweethearts growing up together in pre-war Berlin. As the Nazis increase their stranglehold on power, the couple are torn apart. Karl graduates from the Hitler Youth to become an officer in the dreaded Gestapo.

Anna chooses to rebel against her masters and is given a stark choice breed and have babies for the Third Reich or face enforced sterilisation. Her American colleague Professor Nichols (Kent Smith) battles to get Anna out of Germany, but ultimately her fate - and her life - will depend on the boy she once loved...

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When college nostalgia inspires a group of middle-aged businessmen to match-make for the widow - played with measured dignity by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story) - of one of their friends and her daughter, they have no idea of the strife their careless interference will cause.

Late Autumn's examination of familial upheaval moves effortlessly from comedy to pathos and is amongst the finest of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu's post-war films.

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Jean Vigneron's manservant is blackmailing his boss, who is having an affair with Ines de Montalban. The servant is murdered. Everyone accuses Vigneron, who keeps quiet so as not to compromise his lover. His innocence proved, Vigneron flees with Ines.

Montalban, the cheated husband, tries to forget them, but sinks into debauchery. Despite ordeals in an unwelcoming Africa, love conquers all.