greybob's - Rented List

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When Alice Guy-Blache completed her first film in 1896 Paris, she was not only the first female filmmaker, but one of the first directors ever to make a narrative film. In 'Be Natural', Pamela B.

Green acts as a detective, revealing the real story of Alice Guy-Blache and highlighting her pioneering contributions to the birth of cinema and her acclaim as a creative force and entrepreneur in the earliest years of movie-making.

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Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families in comedy history. Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success programme... with no success.

Meanwhile, "pro-honesty" mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers - the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin), whose outrageous behaviour recently got him evicted from his retirement home. When Olive is invited to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in fat-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her - with riotously funny results.

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Her story is well-known - the lonely child who yearned for affection and approval which she finally seemed to find as Hollywood's greatest love goddess. But even though she scaled heights few could even dream of, she was one of the loneliest of stars.

And yet, in spite of the breakdowns, the failed marriages, the sordid rumors surrounding her life - and her death, Marilyn Monroe was never just a "victim". She was unique, a phenomenon that is as vital today as it ever was. She was all that is blazingly magical in a star. Here is the "real" Marilyn, drawn from some of her greatest moments on film - 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', 'How to Marry a Millionaire', 'The Seven Year Itch', 'Some Like It Hot', 'Bus Stop', 'The Misfits' - and more. Here too are the earliest films, the home movies, archival footage, and the memories of those who knew her best, like Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Sheree North, Susan Strasberg, Don Murray, Celeste Holm and Josh Logan. Narrated by Richard Widmark.

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Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) is a fussy angel. Crowley (David Tennant) is a loose-living demon. They've both been on Earth for over 6,000 years. During that time they've grown quite fond of it, and, against all odds, each other.

But there's a problem - the Antichrist has arrived here on Earth, which means the world they have become too fond of will end in flames, if they don't manage to save it. This wildly imaginative and gloriously funny drama follows Aziraphale and Crowley as they join forces in an attempt to find an 11-year-old Antichrist (and his dog) and avert the Apocalypse. Armageddon is coming - but it doesn't have to be the end of the world.

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Pioneering, immensely influential and often challenging, 'Armchair Theatre' was ITV's flagship drama anthology series.

Bringing high-quality drama to the viewing public, the series easily demonstrated the network's potential to rival the BBC's drama output, with diverse and powerful plays showcasing some of Britain's most gifted writers. This release comprises four plays featuring performances by some of the era's most celebrated and accomplished actors including Harry H. Corbett, Lee Montague, Kenneth Griffith, Derek Jacobi, Yootha Joyce, Reginald Marsh, Patrick Allen and Ronald Lacey.

Featured Plays:
- The Bird, the Bear and the Actress (1959)
- The Fishing Match (1962)
- The Man Who Came to Die (1965)
- Dead Silence (1966)

In 1934, four brilliant, but seemingly conventional young men at Cambridge University are recruited to spy for the Soviet Union. Fuelled by youthful idealism, a passion for communism, a talent for lying and a hatred of Hitler and fascism, they began a 20-year career of deceit and treachery.

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Pioneering, immensely influential and often challenging, 'Armchair Theatre' was ITV's flagship drama anthology series.

Bringing high-quality drama to the viewing public, the series easily demonstrated the network's potential to rival the BBC's drama output, with diverse and powerful plays showcasing some of Britain's most gifted writers. This release comprises four plays featuring performances by some of the era's most celebrated and accomplished actors including Rupert Davies, Roger Livesey, Constance Cummings, John Stride, Leslie Phillips, Caroline Mortimer and Denis Quilley.

Featured Plays:
- The Thought of Tomorrow (1959)
- Toff and Fingers (1960)
- Late Summer (1963)
- The Gong Game (1965)

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An illuminating tribute to Jack Kerouac, king of the Beat Generation and author of 'On the Road', a cultural icon whose influence is felt around the world.

The words come from Kerouac himself, as well as fellow Beat writers, his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, his daughter, his priest, and the incredible footage of Kerouac on the Steve Allen (1959) and William Buckley (1968) TV shows. This revealing portrait shows us what happened when fame and notoriety were thrust upon an essentially reticent man.

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Featuring 40 films over four discs, this extensive collection is a major retrospective of the British documentary film movement during its period of greatest influence.

These films - many of which are made available here for the first time since their original release - capture the spirit and strength, concerns and resolve of Britain and its people before, during and after the Second World War. Bearing witness to the social and industrial transformations of a rapidly changing world, these fascinating historical documents are all striking for their different approaches to the form. Using poetry, dramatic reconstruction, modernist techniques and explicit propaganda, the filmmakers found fresh, new ways to get their message across. Bringing together celebrated and lesser-known works from such luminaries as Paul Rotha, Humphrey Jennings, Ruby Grierson, Basil Wright and Paul Dickson...

Volume one of "Erotic Tales". Conceived by one of Germany's most successful producers, Regina Ziegler, this is a series of short films by prolific international directors who were given carte blanche to create films that captured their vision of the erotic in their cultures.

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"Lost Empires" is a powerful and evocative recreation of the dying days of the music hall circuit. Adrift in the world, young Richard Herncastle (Colin Firth) is taken on by his formidable Uncle Nick (John Castle), a top-of-the-bill magician working under the 'exotic' name of Ganga Dun.

Richard finds himself immersed in the dusty glamour of a life onstage introducing him to comedians, dancers, musicians, jugglers, singers...and women, beautiful, talented, tempting women. Featuring a superb cast, including Laurence Olivier, gripping in one of his last performances as a comic past his prime, and Pamela Stephenson as a beautiful Siren beckoning Richard to the rocks, 'Lost Empires' captures the fading magic and constant upheaval of a life on the road with its glamorous theatres and dour boarding houses; the smell of more than just greasepaint, the roar of more than just the crowd.

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Pretty Anne Fielding (Dulcie Gray) has her pick of men. There's her boyfriend, the sophisticated Victor (Eric Portman), and now there's Jack... He's the humble bus conductor who comes to her rescue after the bus stalls and delays her journey by an hour.

She was on her way to meet Victor at the Hampstead Heath fairground and Jack gallantly escorts her there. Sparks fly between the pair as they share ice cream and enjoy the fair while keeping an eye out for Victor. When they finally reunite, Anne and Victor head for home at the same time a young woman is found dead on the Heath. She appears to be the latest victim of The Strangler', a notorious serial killer who has already struck five times before. With Jack seen storming away from the scene and Victor's handkerchief found near the body, the police seize both men to appear in the lineup of potential suspects. A crazed game of cat and mouse ensues and Anne soon finds herself in serious danger. The police are up against time in this race to draw the threads together - but in the end, which neck will they close around? Will the police get their killer before he gets Anne?

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Pioneering, immensely influential and often challenging, 'Armchair Theatre' was ITV's flagship drama anthology series.

Bringing high-quality drama to the viewing public, the series easily demonstrated the network's potential to rival the BBC's drama output, with diverse and powerful plays showcasing some of Britain's most gifted writers. This release comprises four plays featuring performances by some of the era's most celebrated and accomplished actors - including Barry Foster, Joseph Tomelty, Patrick Wymark, Athene Seyler, Clive Morton, Zena Walker, Earl Cameron, Donald Houston, Katharine Blake and Lynn Redgrave.

Featured Plays:
- Worm in the Bud (1959)
- The Invasion (1963)
- The Chocolate Tree (1963)
- What's Wrong With Humpty Dumpty? (1967)

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Pioneering, immensely influential and often challenging, Armchair Theatre was ITV's flagship drama anthology series.

Bringing high-quality drama to the viewing public, the series easily demonstrated the network's potential to rival the BBC's drama output, with diverse and powerful plays showcasing some of Britain's most gifted writers. This release comprises four plays featuring performances by some of the era's most celebrated and accomplished actors including Clifford Evans, Kenneth Griffith, Robert Lang, Pauline Yates, Anna Massey, Ronald Hines, Beryl Reid, Ian Holm and Alfred Burke.

Featured Plays:
- Nothing to Pay (1962)
- The Cherry on the Top (1964)
- Light the Blue Touch Paper (1966)
- Edward the Confessor (1969)

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This is the incredibly powerful story of the Stalin years. It is based on rarely seen archival footage, contemporary diaries and documents and personal memoirs, as well as interviews with relatives and those people who survived the Gulag labour camps and World War II.

It follows events from Stalin's rise to power, his association with Hitler and the Soviet involvement in the Second World War right through to his death. With an introduction by Nobel Peace Prize winner, diplomat and statesman Dr. Henry Kissinger, this is the incredibly powerful story of the Stalin years. It is based on rarely seen archival footage, contemporary diaries and documents and personal memoirs as well as interviews with relatives and those people who survived the Gulag labour camps and World War II.

Part 1
Part One begins with the death of Lenin and the power struggle that followed. Stalin's rise to power saw him launch an assault on the peasantry and his political rivals, as well as a disastrous purge of the Red Army. An alliance with Nazi Germany was soon to follow, yet would be quickly rendered meaningless as the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, leading to chaos and confusion as the Red Army fell back. Stalin, paralysed by the shock, retreated to his dacha. Minsk, Kiev and Smolensk fell. Stalin returned from hiding and signed the infamous Order 270, branding captured Soviet officers as traitors and committing their wives to forced labour. All too soon, the Wehrmacht would arrive at the gates of Moscow.
Part 2
Part Two begins with the Germans at the gates of Moscow, as the winter closed in and starvation claimed thousands of lives in the besieged city of Leningrad. During the war in the occupied Soviet Union, many oppressed Soviet citizens welcomed Hitler, but their enthusiasm was shortlived as they discovered his plans. The Partisan resistance began without Stalin's support, but he would soon grow to accept the Partisans, providing them with supplies. As the Wehrmacht moved south toward the oil fields of the Caucasus, Stalin specifically prohibited any retreat on the battlefield on pain of death. The battle for Stalingrad would test that resolve.
Part 3
Part Three opens with 'the spring stalemate'. Soviet war production, now moved out of the reach of German bombers, had begun to increase dramatically. The Germans prepared to meet the Red Army on the plains of Kursk, in the greatest tank battle in the history of warfare. After a 900-day siege, the Soviets finally liberated Leningrad. The Red Army pushed westward and began to retake the territories that had been occupied by the Germans for so long. Once again, Stalin had plans for the people who suffered under the occupation.
Part 4
Part Four begins with Germany on the brink of defeat. As the Red Army approached Berlin, Hitler mobilised both young and old to defend the doomed city. Following the fall of Berlin and the death of his old enemy, Stalin turned once again to the control of his own people. As old age crept up on him, Stalin's obsessive paranoia continued and he further persecuted his people. With the threat of the atomic bomb blocking his plans for territorial expansion, the world entered the new era of the Cold War.