denry's - Rented List
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Written by Academy Award winners Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, 'Midnight' has been hailed as 'just about the best comedy ever caught by the camera from the Golden Age of Hollywood!' Academy Award winners Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore simply light up the screen. The fun begins when a penniless showgirl (Colbert) impersonates a Hungarian Countess and, with the help of an aristocrat (Barrymore), quickly adapts herself to her new lifestyle. But can she stop herself from falling in love with yet another poor man (Ameche)? - Director:
- Mitchell Leisen
- Cast:
- Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore
- Formats:
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Germany, a group of international passengers become entwined with a Nazi plot to assassinate the German peace campaigner Dr Bernhardt (Paul Lukas). As the express train leaves from Paris to occupied Berlin the German, French, American, British and Russian passengers, are not all what they seem. A political assassination n route threatens the planned peace conference, and when Dr Bernhardt is kidnapped, the beautiful Frenchwoman Lucienne (Merle Oberon) recruits the American Robert Lindley (Robert Ryan) and three other passengers to help find the missing doctor. As time runs out, the five must comb the shadowy ruins of bombed-out Frankfurt, with only a few clues to uncover the loyalist Nazi spy ring. - Director:
- Jacques Tourneur
- Cast:
- Merle Oberon, Robert Ryan, Charles Korvin
- Formats:
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Long-awaited, much sought after, never previously released and unseen anywhere for decades, this definitive adaptation of Georges Simenon's world famous novels stars Rupert Davies as Commissaire Jules Maigret, the dogged French detective. Though Simenon's books have been adapted many times for film and television, Davies's celebrated, BAFTA-winning portrayal won the approval of Simenon himself, who stated: "At last, I have found the perfect Maigret!" Running to 52 episodes and a feature-length play, this complete 1960's series... - Director:
- Andrew Osborn
- Cast:
- Rupert Davies, Ewen Solon, Helen Shingler
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Smash and Grab (1937)Larceny Street
John Forrest (Jack Buchanan), an insurance investigator with a weakness for model railways, is on the trail of a gang of smash-and-grab thieves targeting Europe's most prestigious jewellers. As the chase leads him to Ireland, Forrest finds he needs help - and who better to call upon than his impossibly elegant, highly capable wife, Alice (Elsie Randolph)? - Director:
- Tim Whelan
- Cast:
- Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph, Arthur Margetson
- Formats:
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George Winter (John Lodge), a self-made businessman and MP, lets nothing get in the way of his climb to the top. Certain in his belief in the corruptible and foolish nature of others, whenever Winter meets a competitor who can't be bought, he destroys the man through methods both legal and underhanded. Then, he meets his 'tenth man': a victim who refuses to be silenced by threat or bribery, with the power to bring Winter's house of cards crashing down around him... - Director:
- Brian Desmond-Hurst
- Cast:
- John Lodge, Antoinette Cellier, Athole Stewart
- Formats:
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The Luck of the Navy (1938)North Sea Patrol
International relations are strained; there is a strong possibility of war and when the ultimatum expires, Britain must be prepared to strike the first, and probably the decisive, blow. The British Navy is the instrument, and Commander Clive Stanton (Geoffrey Toone) the man chosen for a special and secret mission. He receives sealed orders as he is about to go ashore to dine with Mrs. Maybridge (Doris Hare), a local socialite and wife of a retired Admiral (Edmund Breon) - unaware that the house has been infiltrated by fifth columnists... - Director:
- Norman Lee
- Cast:
- Geoffrey Toone, Clifford Evans, John Wood
- Formats:
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After accidentally killing the brother of the woman he loves during a reckless air stunt, Lieutenant Stacey (John Clements) is given a court martial from his squadron and left to face his demons. Taking refuge on a tiny Greek island, Stacey joins the ranks of a local, civilian air force. But after a close friend is killed by Nazi spies Stacey decides to take things into his own hands, battling the common enemy and his past, hoping for one last heroic shot at heroism and redemption. - Director:
- Sergei Nolbandov
- Cast:
- John Clements, Leslie Banks, Jane Baxter
- Formats:
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A £20,000 insurance claim is lodged when a nightclub is destroyed by fire, and claims investigator Mike Davies is assigned to get to the bottom of things. One suspect is Harry Drayson, the club owner but if he torched his own property for the insurance, how safe are his other, heavily-insured properties..? - Director:
- Montgomery Tully
- Cast:
- Lee Patterson, Rona Anderson, John Le Mesurier
- Formats:
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Olivia Harwood (Ann Todd) is a missionary's widow who meets Mark Bellis (Ray Milland), a charming artist and rogue, on the ship taking them back to Victorian London. When Olivia opens a boarding house, Mark becomes her lodger, but then quickly graduates to become her lover. Soon Olivia falls completely under the spell of Mark and casts aside her religious scruples to fall in with Mark's ambitious and immoral schemes of theft and blackmail. But perhaps his schemes are too ambitious when he attempts to swindle their own friends, leaving Olivia to decide whether to completely fall in with the devil - or redeem herself by betraying the man she loves... - Director:
- Lewis Allen
- Cast:
- Ray Milland, Ann Todd, Geraldine Fitzgerald
- Formats:
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Nightbeat (1947)Night Beat
Don (Hector Ross) and Andy (Ronald Howard), two young commando sergeants, are demobilised from the army. Unable to find jobs that suit, they both join the police - where Don does well and is soon promoted, but Andy's rebellious nature makes it hard for him to accept discipline. When he becomes involved with a "good-time girl", Andy finds himself on a downward slope which puts both his career and life in jeopardy. - Director:
- Harold Huth
- Cast:
- Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, Ronald Howard
- Formats:
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Your Witness (1950)Eye Witness
Adam Heyward (Robert Montgomery), a leading American lawyer, hears that the man who saved his life at Anzio beach is now facing a murder charge and decides to come to England to defend him. Arriving in a picture-postcard village, he learns of a female witness whose evidence might exonerate his friend, but who had fled the scene of the alleged crime in fear. In his efforts to trace her, Heyward faces a number of delicate and perplexing situations, all leading to a gripping climax... - Director:
- Robert Montgomery
- Cast:
- Robert Montgomery, Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer
- Formats:
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Background (1953)Edge of Divorce
Two years of deterioration sees John (Philip Friend) and Barbara (Valerie Hobson) Lomax's marriage reduced to bitter sniping and "keeping up appearances" for the sake of the children. When John's old friend Bill (Norman Wooland) professes his love for Barbara, the marriage finally breaks up - causing their three children to react in different ways and their son secretly determined to do Bill harm... - Director:
- Daniel Birt
- Cast:
- Valerie Hobson, Philip Friend, Norman Wooland
- Formats:
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Set in early 1950s London, Charley Porter is the captain of a pub darts team who embark on a day trip to Boulogne. Led by landlord Fred Collins (James Hayter) many of his patrons rekindle fond memories of bygone days as they try and avoid over indulging in the delights that France has to otter. Former soldier Jim Carver (Donald Sinden) recounts memories of wartime experiences and is reunited with a lovely French girl, Martine (Odile Versois), who he met during the war. Shorty Sharpe (Bill Owen), conscious of his lack of height and tired of being the butt of people's wisecracks, decides to Join the Foreign Legion while the rest of the gang become involved in all kinds of high jinks in this postcard style romp. At the end of the day the lads board their terry for the return trip - with some promising to return. - Director:
- Ralph Thomas
- Cast:
- Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden, Joan Rice
- Formats:
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Nine disparate Britons are transported to a mysterious city where, according to their class and disposition, they find themselves either in an earthly paradise of peace and equality or a hell starved of ambition and riches. From the pen of JB Priestley, this fantastical allegory is a striking expression of post-war utopian impulses and among Ealing's most unusual features. - Director:
- Basil Dearden
- Cast:
- John Clements, Googie Withers, Raymond Huntley
- Formats:
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Adam and Evelyne (1949)Adam and Evalyn
The father of a girl in an orphanage has been writing his daughter, who doesn't remember him, tales of his success in business. Actually, he is impersonating a friend, a handsome gambler. When the father dies, the gambler takes to girl from the orphanage and tells her the truth. But the girl is now a full-grown beauty and complications arise, including those provided by a black-sheep brother. - Director:
- Harold French
- Cast:
- Edwin Styles, Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons
- Formats:
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