fmj's - Rented List
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Desire (1936)The Pearl Necklace
Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper star in this comedic drama about a crime spree that leads to love. In the most elaborate jewel heist in European history, the beautiful and conniving "Countess" Madeline (Dietrich) embezzles a small fortune in pearls. As she makes her getaway to Spain to deliver the hot goods, her escape is thwarted by car trouble, until a handsome and likeable young tourist (Cooper) helps her out. She shows her gratitude by leaving the unsuspecting good Samaritan in the dust - literally! But when he accidentally ends up with the pearls, she must feign romantic interest to get them back. The charade soon turns into the real thing however; and Madeline realises that her only hope of happiness is to clean up her act - no matter what the cost - or lose the man she loves. - Director:
- Frank Borzage
- Cast:
- Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, John Halliday
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Charles Chaplin's Limelight is a glimmering homage to what was, a proud look at a bygone entertainment era and a bittersweet tale of an artist passing the torch to a new generation. Chaplin portrays Calvero (the "tramp comedian" per an old theatrical poster in his room), who rescues a distraught ballerina from suicide and mentors her to success. Among the film's comedy highlights is a musical routine that's anything but routine in the hands of legend Chaplin and stoney-faced Buster Keaton. The extraordinary score by Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell earned the screen legend his only competitive Oscar. - Director:
- Charles Chaplin
- Cast:
- Charles Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce
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Here is one of the screen's most famous and beautiful love stories. Set in Hong Kong at the time of the Korean War, it tells the story of an American war correspondent (William Holden) and his love for a beautiful Eurasian doctor (Jennifer Jones). As their love grows, problems arise to mar their happiness. He has a wife at home, and she meets with disapproval from her family and friends - and fate is waiting to take a hand in their tangled affair. All the exotic splendours of Hong Kong are brilliantly captured by Leon Shamroy's beautiful photography, and the film's Oscar winning-score and title song are among the finest ever written for the screen. Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing is truly a high point in Hollywood's great tradition of romantic movies. - Director:
- Henry King
- Cast:
- Philip Ahn, William Holden, Jennifer Jones
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"Marriage" follows married couple Ian (Sean Bean) and Emma (Nicola Walker) as they negotiate the ups and downs of their 30-year marriage. We see them dealing with the insecurities, the ambiguities, the hopes and the fears that are part of all marriages, as the drama explores the risks and the gifts of a long-term intimate relationship. Sometimes funny, sometimes moving, always revealing. - Director:
- Stefan Golaszewski
- Cast:
- Sean Bean, Nicola Walker, Henry Lloyd-Hughes
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In the House (2012)Dans la maison
A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, and finds himself strangely compelled as the boy becomes more dangerously involved with his class-mate's attractive mother. However, as the line between reality and fiction becomes blurred, the boy's intrusion unleashes a series of uncontrollable events. - Director:
- François Ozon
- Cast:
- Fabrice Luchini, Vincent Schmitt, Ernst Umhauer
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Sent to the city by his stuffy father to reign in the womanising ways of his cousin Keith (James Ellison), young university professor Peter Morgan (James Stewart) falls in love with nightclub performer Francey Brent (Ginger Rogers) and marries her after a whirlwind romance. When he goes back home, he can't bring himself to tell his conservative, ultra-respected family or his bitchy ex-fiancee Helen, about it. To avoid revealing the news abruptly to his ailing mother (Beulah Bondi), Peter passes her off as Keith's girl, and stashes her at his cousin's apartment. At a college dance where the professor intends to introduce Francey to all, Helen (Frances Mercer), who's sniffed out the truth, initiates a vicious cat fight, and anarchy reigns. Stewart and Rogers make an appealing couple, and the supporting cast is outstanding, with amusing turns by Bondi and Grady Sutton. - Director:
- George Stevens
- Cast:
- Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, James Ellison
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The Outfit is a gripping and masterful thriller in which an expert tailor (Mark Rylance) must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night.
- Director:
- Graham Moore
- Cast:
- Zoey Deutch, Dylan O'Brien, Mark Rylance
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"Shogun" is one of the most famous and award-winning television events in history. From best-selling author James Clavell comes the sweeping story of love and war, set against the brutal background of feudal Japan at the beginning of the 17th century. Richard Chamberlain stars as John Blackthorne, a sailor shipwrecked off the coast of Japan. Rescued, he becomes an eyewitness to a deadly struggle involving Toranaga, a feuding warlord intent on becoming 'Shogun' - the supreme military dictator. Blackthorne is irresistibly drawn to the magnificent Lady Mariko, the married confidant to Toranaga, while at the same time vying to become the first-ever foreigner to be made a samurai warrior. For the first time on Blu-ray", this landmark television event is packed with fascinating special features that take you inside the spectacular world of 'Shogun'. - Director:
- Jerry London
- Cast:
- Richard Chamberlain, Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Shimada
- Formats:
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The Lost City (2022)Lost City of D
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have "dynamite chemistry" in this "laugh-out-loud" comedy adventure. Loretta Sage's novels are filled with ancient tombs and daring adventures, but that doesn't mean she's prepared for them in real life. When she is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire who wants her to locate a legendary lost city, Loretta's handsome cover model, Alan, sets off on a heroic but hapless rescue mission. Thrust into an epic thrill ride through the jungle, the unlikely pair must work together to survive the elements - and each other - to find the city's fabled treasure before it's lost forever. - Director:
- Aaron Nee
- Cast:
- Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe
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A Brighter Summer Day (1991)Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian
Among the most highly praised titles in all contemporary film, this singular masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, directed by Edward Yang, was unavailable for years and much sought after. Set in the early 1960s, 'A Brighter Summer Day' is based on the true story of a crime that rocked Taiwan. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual but inexorable fall of a young teenager (Chang Chen, in his first role) from innocence to delinquency, and is set against a simmering backdrop of restless youth, rock and roll, and political turmoil. - Director:
- Edward Yang
- Cast:
- Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang
- Formats:
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The Phantom of the Open (2021)The Fantastic Flitcrofts
"The Phantom of the Open" tells the remarkable true story of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a crane operator and optimistic dreamer from Barrow-in-Furness who, with the support of his family and friends, managed to gain entry to the 1976 British Open qualifying, despite never playing a round of golf before. With pluckiness and unwavering self-belief, Maurice pulls off a series of stunning, hilarious and heartwarming attempts to compete at the highest level of professional golf, drawing the ire of the golfing elite but becoming a British folk hero in the process. - Director:
- Craig Roberts
- Cast:
- Mark Rylance, Ian Porter, Tommy Fallon
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Roger Livesey brilliantly portrays a British officer, Clive Candy, through the trials and tribulations of three wars, three lovers and a lifelong friendship across enemy lines. During the Boer War, candy is sent to Berlin to trap a German spy. There he befriends a German officer, Theo (Anton Walbrook), who marries the girl (Deborah Kerr) Candy is in love with. During the First World War, Candy marries a girl who resembles his lost love and helps Theo - now a POW - to get repatriated. Candy comes back in the Second World War as Brigadier General and once again encounters Theo. On joining a Home Guard exercise, Candy is captured, however, and the two are forced to either aid or betray each other. - Director:
- Michael Powell
- Cast:
- Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)Massive Talent / Unbearable Weight
In this wildly entertaining, action-packed comedy, Oscar winner Nicolas Cage plays...Nick Cage! Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage accepts a million-dollar offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take an unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and he must use his legendary acting skills, channeling his most iconic and beloved characters to become a real-life action hero. - Director:
- Tom Gormican
- Cast:
- Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish
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Set in Midwestern America, 'The Magnificent Ambersons' tells the tale of Isabel Amberson Minafer (Dolores Costello) and her son George (Tim Holt), an upper middle class family experiencing social decline at the turn of the century. With the industrial and technological age taking full force, the chances within the family are self destructing. After the death of her husband Wilbur (Don Dillaway), Isabel is romantically linked with Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten) whom she knew from years previous to her marriage. George, unhappy with this courtship, proceeds to do everything in his power to destroy their relationship despite falling for Eugene's daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter). Disaster strikes for the Amberson family and events do not turn out as George expected... - Director:
- Orson Welles
- Cast:
- Orson Welles, Tim Holt, Dolores Costello
- Formats:
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The Academy Award winning performance from Jose Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac in one of the most spectacular and romantic epics ever to grace our cinemas screens. Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950's cinematic adaptation of Rostand's famous romantic play circa 1896, based on the character of Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a 17th century duellist, wit, poet, musician and self-styled philosopher. - Director:
- Michael Gordon
- Cast:
- José Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince
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