denry's - Rented List
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Armed with a 1936 edition of Bradshaw's Handbook, Michael Portillo takes to the tracks to navigate the golden age of rail travel, when glamorous locomotives travelled at world-record speed through a discernibly modern era of mass consumption. As Art Deco cinemas and dance halls entertained millions, industrial Britain was thrown into unemployment and poverty as storm clouds gathered across the Channel. Michael Portillo continues to chart the great British romance with the railways in this phenomenally successful series. Steered by George Bradshaw's famous railway handbook, he retraces journeys inspired by his guide, witnessing what's changed while celebrating our love of the railways. Along the way, Michael stops at some of Britain's most beautiful cities, towns and secluded villages, meeting extraordinary people and hearing how the railways have shaped their lives. - Director:
- Anthony Holland
- Cast:
- Michael Portillo
- Formats:
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Armed with a 1936 edition of Bradshaw's Handbook, Michael Portillo takes to the tracks to navigate the golden age of rail travel, when glamorous locomotives travelled at world-record speed through a discernibly modern era of mass consumption. As Art Deco cinemas and dance halls entertained millions, industrial Britain was thrown into unemployment and poverty as storm clouds gathered across the Channel. Michael Portillo continues to chart the great British romance with the railways in this phenomenally successful series. Steered by George Bradshaw's famous railway handbook, he retraces journeys inspired by his guide, witnessing what's changed while celebrating our love of the railways. Along the way, Michael stops at some of Britain's most beautiful cities, towns and secluded villages, meeting extraordinary people and hearing how the railways have shaped their lives. - Director:
- Tom Richardson
- Cast:
- Michael Portillo
- Formats:
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Major Hammond of Scotland Yard (Ralph Richardson) is called in to investigate the mysterious disappearance of prototype British aeroplanes when on their test flights. At first Hammond is seen as an outsider at the factory but he soon finds a friend in star pilot Tony McVane (Laurence Olivier) who helps him try to unravel the case. Hammond becomes convinced that the company secretary at the factory Jenkins (George Curzon) is a foreign agent and follows him to London. Meanwhile, the mystery still remains unsolved when Tony returns to the aircraft factory determined to make the next test flight. His aircraft is brought down by a powerful ray beamed from a mysterious salvage ship. Tony is taken hostage on the ship, where he discovers many other missing pilots have suffered the same fate. Will Hammond come to McVane's rescue and save the day? - Director:
- Tim Whelan
- Cast:
- Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Valerie Hobson
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Petty crook Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is arrested at the scene of a robbery and takes the rap without squealing. When he learns that his accomplice has betrayed him, he decides to go against the criminal code and become an informant. But when his testimony against psychopathic killer Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) puts his family in danger, Nick is forced to take matters into his own hands. - Director:
- Henry Hathaway
- Cast:
- Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray
- Formats:
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Armed with his Victorian copy of Bradshaw's Railway Handbook, Michael Portillo takes to the tracks as, over a series of four journeys, he travels from coast to coast to discover what of Bradshaw's Britain remains. Passionate about trains, Michael Portillo continues to chart the great British romance with the railways in this phenomenally successful series. Armed with his copy of George Bradshaw's famous railway handbook, he retraces four journeys that were first documented in the Victorian guide, witnessing what's changed and discovering how our love of the railways began. Throughout, he makes stops at some of Britain's most beautiful cities and secluded villages, meeting extraordinary people and hearing how their lives have been shaped by the railways. This complete seventh series sees Michael visit the home of Beatrix Potter, enjoy a Brief Encounter with British film history, navigate a precipitous tightrope walk and take a ride on the very first passenger heritage line in Britain. - Director:
- Cassie Farrell
- Cast:
- Michael Portillo, Alec Crouch, Trevor Howard
- Formats:
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The Glass Key is based on the popular Dashiell Hammett novel. The Glass Key follows the story of Paul Madvig - a cone-corrupt politician who's decided to give up his past and join forces with Ralph Henry, a respectable candidate in an upcoming election. However, Madvig's crooked history is hard to forget when he finds himself at the centre of a murder plot. In this early collaboration between Donlevy, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, unforgettable performances and masterful directing by Stuart Heislen make this a truly classic film noir. - Director:
- Stuart Heisler
- Cast:
- Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy
- Formats:
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Dana Andrews stars as Mark Dixon, a corrupt cop, in this gritty noir thriller shot on the rain-slicked streets of New York. Already in trouble for his brutal methods, alienated from his colleagues, he pursues a gang leader with vindictive zeal and accidentally kills a possible murder suspect. His guilt deepens when he falls in love with the dead man's wife and her father, an innocent cab driver, finds himself accused of the murder. Dixon finds the ultimate redemption - at a price. Otto Preminger brings a welcome sympathy and complexity to every character on-screen, from the nervous police informer through to the cocky mobster, the exasperated police chief, and Dixon himself, burdened with self-hatred as the son of a thief. Joseph LaShelle's photography lends a seedy glamour to the run-down lodging houses, cheap cafe's and night-time exteriors. - Director:
- Otto Preminger
- Cast:
- Dana Andrews, Charles Tannen, Gene Tierney
- Formats:
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Armed with his copy of Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook, Michael Portillo takes to the tracks and over a series of five journeys, he travels from coast to coast to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains. Michael's first journey follows the track that help fuel the Industrial Revolution. Beginning in the rolling Chiltern Hills, he makes his way through to the stunning Severn Valley and finishes at the Victorian sea-side resort of Aberystwyth. He then travels from port to port from the centuries old naval hub of Portsmouth to the historic Grimsby docks. On Michael's third journey, he explores the awe inspiring scenery of rural and coastal Scotland, from Stirling in the east and ending at 'the start of Great Britain', John O' Groats. The fourth journey of the series, he retraces the footsteps of the master engineer of the Great Western Railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, beginning at London Paddington Station through to Newton Abbott in Devon, the scene of one of Brunel's heroic failures. In Michael's final journey, he uses 'Bradshaw's Handbook for Tourists in Great Britain and Ireland' as he journeys through the Republic of Ireland from Killarney to Galway on the Atlantic Coast. - Director:
- Dean Griffiths
- Cast:
- Michael Portillo
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Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), a press agent down on his luck, drifts into a small Californian coastal town. He meets June (Alice Faye), a wealthy but reclusive woman, and has his eye on Stella (Linda Darnell), a sultry waitress. In love with Stella but broke, Eric marries June for her money, planning a rapid divorce. However when Stella is murdered, the story takes an unexpected turn. - Director:
- Otto Preminger
- Cast:
- Dick Haymes, Alice Faye, Dana Andrews
- Formats:
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Based on Patrick Hamilton's celebrated stage play, Thorold Dickinson's 'Gaslight' is a narrowing and claustrophobic study of murder, abuse and lust in Victorian London. By turns charming and cruel, Anton Walbrook excels as the sadistic husband who attempts to drive his wife (Diana Wynyard) mad to prevent her from disclosing his dark past. - Director:
- Thorold Dickinson
- Cast:
- Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell
- Formats:
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The Great Maximus (Claude Rains) has got a new act for the music halls where he makes his living. Working with his beautiful wife Rene (Fay Wray), he poses as a mind reader. It's all a trick, of course: he certainly doesn't have the gift for real. Or so he thinks... When he correctly predicts a terrible train crash, Maximus becomes an instant celebrity. But his new-found fame - and his friendship with sultry Christine Shawn (Jane Baxter) - threatens his marriage. Worse is to come: he is accused not of foreseeing accidents but actually causing them... - Director:
- Maurice Elvey
- Cast:
- Claude Rains, Fay Wray, Mary Clare
- Formats:
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The Roaring Twenties (1939)The World Moves On
The speakeasy era never roared louder than in this gangland chronicle that packs a wallop under action master Raoul Walsh's direction. Against a backdrop of newsreel-like montages and narration, it follows the life of jobless war vetran Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) who turns bootlegger, dealing in 'bottles instead of battles'. Battles await eddie within and without his growing empire. Outside are territorial feuds and gangland bloodlettings. Inside is the treachery of double-dealing associate (Humphrey Bogart). It would be 10 years before Cagney played another gangster (in White Heat), a time in which gangster movies themselves became rare. 'He used to be a big shot'. Panama Smith (Gladys Goerge) says at the finale, marking Bartlett's demise...and signalling the end of Hollywood's focus on the gangster era. - Director:
- Raoul Walsh
- Cast:
- James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane
- Formats:
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After being wounded covering the Spanish Civil War, dashing newspaper reporter Vincent Bullit (Melvyn Douglas) convalesces at his boss's guesthouse. Unfortunately, the boss's daughter Alice (Deanna Durbin) and her teenage friends were using the house to rehearse their play. They decide to make life unbearable for the hapless Bullit - hoping he'll take the hint and go away! Bullit agrees to go. He'd much rather enjoy the bright lights of New York City anyway. However, there's just one snag. Alice has now developed a huge crush on the reporter and is determined to do everything in her power to make him stay.
'That Certain Age' is one of Deanna Durbin's most outstanding musicals, featuring fine songs including "Be a Good Scout", "Les Filles de Cadiz", "You're as Pretty as a Picture", "Juliet's Waltz Song" and "That Certain Age" - as well as the Oscar-nominated "My Own".- Director:
- Edward Ludwig
- Cast:
- Deanna Durbin, Melvyn Douglas, Jackie Cooper
- Formats:
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Former Minister of State for Transport Michael Portillo takes to the tracks in the second series of the BBC TV Documentary Great British Railway Journeys. Passionate about trains, Michael Portillo embarks on five epic rail journeys, each split into five legs, travelling the length and breadth of the UK as he retraces routes that were described in his original 1860's copy of 'Bradshaw's Railway Handbook'. Along the way he witnesses all the things that have changed since the early days of rail transport and what still remains of Bradshaw's Britain, discovering the effect the railways had on the public and finding out how the British love of trains all began. Michael samples some classic Cromer crab, gets a rare chance to drive a heritage diesel and gets up close and personal with a pedigree Hereford bull. He also discovers a secret World War II chemical weapons plant at Rhydmwyn, takes a steam train across the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors, attempts to make an authentic Melton Mowbray pork pie, discovers how the railways turned cricket into a national sport and hunts for gold in Scotland's mountains. - Director:
- Marc Beers
- Cast:
- Michael Portillo, Nicholas Owen, Nigel Brown
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Pat Heaton (John Lodge) may be the best crime reporter in town but his fiancee Claire (Margaret Vyner), despairing of the more tawdry aspects of his profession, makes him promise to give the job up. When a pretty waitress is found murdered, however, Pat falls in line with the rest of the 'Murder Gang' - the pack of reporters who gather to glean stories by fair means or foul! - Director:
- Brian Desmond-Hurst
- Cast:
- John Lodge, Diana Churchill, Francis Lister
- Formats:
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