greatest-ever-made's - Rented List

"This is Spinal Tap" is Rob Reiner's directorial debut that is often named as one of the funniest films ever made. A fly-on-the-wall look at the comeback tour of the world's loudest heavy metal band.

David Lean directed this stylish film presentation of Charles Dickens' heart warming story of a young man befriending an escaped convict who becomes his unknown benefactor, and of the consequences for the young man as he establishes himself in the world.

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Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a brilliant computer engineer hired for work on top-secret projects. After each job, Jenning's short-term memory is erased so he can not recount any project information.

Emerging from his latest assignment - a three-year contract with an eight-figure paycheck, given to him by an old friend (Aaron Eckhart) - Jennings is shocked to be told that he agreed to forfeit all payment. It appears he is left with no comeback - until he receives a mysterious envelope containing clues to his forgotten past. With the help of a beautiful scientist (Uma Thurman), Jennings must race to solve the puzzle of his past... whilst avoiding a terrifying discovery which awaits him in the future.

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Alan Crabbe (Michael Crawford) is 19 - and as gauche as they come. Every time he tries a manful stride into the jungle of sex, his two left feet turn the attempt into a stumble.

But then he meets Eileen (Nyree Dawn Porter), the new waitress in the corner cafe, who signals unmistakable messages at Alan with her large, inviting eyes...

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Rudolf Klein-Rogge plays Dr. Mabuse, the criminal mastermind whose nefarious machinations provide the cover for - or describe the result of - the economic upheaval and social bacchanalia at the heart of Weimar-era Berlin.

Initiated with the arch-villain's diabolical manipulation of the stock-market, and passing through a series of dramatic events based around hypnotism, charlatanism, hallucinations, Chinese incantations, cold-blooded murder, opiate narcosis and cocaine anxiety, Lang's film maintains an unrelenting power all the way to the final act...which culminates in the terrifying question: "Where is Mabuse?!"

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Fans of screen swashbuckling found a successor to the legendary Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Errol Flynn when Burt Lancaster brought a unique blend of exuberance and swagger to this exciting Robin Hood-like yarn.

In medieval Lombardy, wily Dardo the Arrow (Lancaster) leads the peasantry in revolt against a vile Hessiam warlord /Frank Allenby) and wins the hand of a lady (Virginia Mayo). Lancaster's former circus partner Nick Cravat plays Dardo's comical sidekick. Amid the Technicolor array of mammoth sets, elaborate costumes and vivid pageantry, the pair puts on a rollicking display of acrobatic roughhousing. They leave earthbound foes looking like 90-pound weaklings - and will leave you breathlessly dazzled.

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A fast-paced comedy that's also an engaging slice of Americana, Rogers stars as Dr. John, the proprietor of a travelling waxworks cum medicine show aboard an old steamboat on the Mississippi. Along for the ride is a skeleton crew, including the wonderfully named Fleety Belle (Anne Shirley).

Their mission? To raise funds to pay the legal fees that may save Dr. John's nephew from the gallows. Also featuring the comedic talents of Irvin S. Cobb, 'Steamboat Round the Bend' has all the charm of a Mark Twain novel and is equally full of colourful characters and outrageous (mis) adventures.

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Cher is devastatingly funny, sinuous and beautiful as Loretta, an unlucky-in-love Italian widow who finds romance through the intervention of the Manhattan moon.

With her wedding to a close friend just weeks away, she meets - and falls hopelessly in love with - his younger brother (Nicolas Cage)! Her dilemma - and her equally passionate and hilariously eccentric family - make for an unforgettable film you'll find beguiling, enchanting and irresistible.

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In a fascinating departure from the austere moral drama in which he specialised, D.W. Griffith demonstrates his talent for warm-hearted comedy in 'Sally of the Sawdust'. Fresh from the 'Ziegfield Follies', W.C.

Fields made his third screen appearance as Professor Eustace McGargle, a lovable disruptable confidence man who becomes the unlikely guardian of an orphaned circus waif (Carol Dempster). lntending to return Sally to her grandparents, McGargle learns that her wealthy and esteemed grandfather (Erville Alderson) is a stern judge who harbors a deep contempt for shysters and shoe people. Faster than a sucker can say "three-card monte" McGargle finds himself wanted by the police and chased by bootleggers while trying to protect his cherished Sally, who has won the affection of a slumming socialite (Alfred Lunt).

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Jimmy Brewster (Alan Bates) is a working-class lad using his dynamism, natural cockiness and abundant charm to overcome any obstacles to the champagne lifestyle he craves.

He has his sights firmly set on his boss s attractive daughter, Ann (Millicent Martin), and finds a perfect mentor in the form of the caddish, crooked Charlie (Denholm Elliott). But just how far is Brewster prepared to go in order to get what he wants?

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Set amidst the glittering theatre world of 19th century Paris, the story revoles around the beautiful and free-spirted courtesan, Garanace, and the four men who compete for her affections; a mime-artist, an actor, an aristocrat and a criminal.

As the melodrama unfolds, we are treated to one of cinema's greatest love stories, a captivating tale of passion, deception and murder.

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Stanley T. Banks (Spencer Tracy) is the father and Kay Banks (Elizabeth Taylor) the bride in this lively Vincente Minnelli-directed classic. Taylor is glowingly showcased - and reflected in three mirrors when first seen in a wedding gown.

Tracy's performance captures every loving father's exasperations and joys as the day approaches. Here comes the bride, there goes dad's wallet... and everyone's heart. What sparkling fun!

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Adapted from a hit radio series, each episode has the 'Whistler' emerge from the shadows to introduce a nightmarish, twisting tale in his own sardonic manner, with the first seven films starring Richard Dix (It Happened in Hollywood).

Mysterious Intruder (1946)

The fifth entry in the Columbia series based on the CBS radio program, "The Whistler", opens with kindly old music store owner Edward Stillwell (Paul E. Burns) hiring private detective Don Gale (Richard Dix) to find a girl Stillwell hasn't seen in seven years. Gale sends Freida Hanson (Helen Mowery') to pose as the missing Elora Lund (Pamela Blake), and she learns that some items left by Elora's mother are now extremely valuable before Harry Pontos (Mike Mazurki) comes into the room and kills Stillwell. He also kidnaps Freida but releases her when Don announces she is an impostor. With Freida's help, Gale locates Pontos' apartment, who is shot down in a gun battle with the arriving police. Gale returns to his place but is arrested by detectives Taggart and Burns and jailed. The detectives later find the real Elora, who has been in a sanitarium recovering from an accident. Gale is released and Elora is sent by the detectives to see if he will disclose why Stillwell was looking for her. Gale, planning to cheat her, tells her what the secret treasure is. Gales disappears and becomes the object of a manhunt when he is wrongfully accused of killing Freida, who has been killed by James Summers, her apartment manager, who has also discovered the secret. Joan Hill, Gale's secretary, locates and warns him about the police. He tells her he is going to the record store to find some recordings made by Jenny Lind worth $200,000.
The Secret of the Whistler (1946)
An artist married to a wealthy but ill woman begins an affair with one of his models, who is after him solely for his money. His wife discovers the affair and threatens to cut him out of her will. In order to be able to keep both the wife's money and his girlfriend, he begins to secretly poison his wife - but events take a surprising turn after she eventually dies.

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Concerned about his friend's cocaine use, Dr. Watson (Robert Duval) tricks Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) into travelling to Vienna, where Holmes enters the care of Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin).

Freud attempts to solve the mysteries of Holmes' subconscious, while Holmes devotes himself to solving a mystery involving the kidnapping of Lola Deveraux (Vanessa Redgrave).

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Set in America during the Great Depression, "Emperor of the North" is the story of a violent battle of wills between a sadistic train guard, Shack, (Ernest Borgnine) who has vowed no vagrant will ride his tram and survive, and a single-minded drifter.

Number 1, (Lee Marvin) who is determined to make a lie of the boast. Bound together by their mutual loathing, Shack and Number 1 hurtle together across America aboard the steam train, locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, as each seeks to secure their position in local legend by destroying the other.