matti's - Rented List
-
Peopled by the pimps, the punters, the brasses and the bookies, and with boils on its face like the sleazy Peepshow club where Sammy (Anthony Newley) comperes the strip-tease. Sammy Lee is worried. When you owe £300 to a bookie like Conner you're entitled to be worried. Particularly when his muscle men (Kenneth J. Warren and Clive Colin Bowler) are coming in a few hours' time to collect the cash. Refused help from brother Lou (Warren Mitchell) by Lou's wife (Miriam Kariin) who won't pour the profits of their delicatessen into bookies' pockets, Sammy is desperately setting up shady deals to raise the money. - Director:
- Ken Hughes
- Cast:
- Anthony Newley, Julia Foster, Robert Stephens
- Formats:
-
-
James Cagney takes the lead in this biopic of silent horror film star Lon Chaney, star of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Born to deaf, mute parents, Chaney, mildly successful as a mime and juggler in vaudeville, employs and later marries his assistant Cleva Creighton (Dorothy Malone). But Cleva's disgust on discovering Chaney's parents are deaf mutes is soon compounded when she gives birth to their son, believing he too will be deaf. With Chaney's vaudeville career taking off, Cleva, psychologically frail, walks out on her husband and son, forcing a cash-strapped Chaney to place his son in a home. Determined to get his son back, Chaney travels to Hollywood and immerses himself in as much work as he can find, soon building a reputation for himself as a respected and talented artist. Now remarried, and with his life back on track, Chaney's world is turned upside down once more when Cleva reappears demanding the return of her son. - Director:
- Joseph Pevney
- Cast:
- James Cagney, Dorothy Malone, Jane Greer
- Formats:
-
-
Night Train (1959)Pociag
Kawalerowicz's celebrated film is considered one of the finest achievements of Polish cinema. Employing a classic Hitchcockian premise - two people, one possibly a killer on the run, sharing a compartment on a crowded overnight train - Kawalerowicz turns a thriller into an intriguing character study of ordinary people in unusual circumstances. - Director:
- Jerzy Kawalerowicz
- Cast:
- Lucyna Winnicka, Leon Niemczyk, Teresa Szmigielówna
- Formats:
-
-
The Marseillaise (1938)La Marseillaise
This long-forgotten gem in Renoir's canon is the director's only truly epic film. Made towards the end of France's left wing "Popular Front" government when Europe was on the brink of war, 'The Marseillaise' is a markedly political film about a country in flux. With an innovative new-reel style, the film follows a cross-section of people - from the citizens of Marseilles to Louis XVI - who are affected by the shifting political and social forces in the early days of the French revolution. - Director:
- Jean Renoir
- Cast:
- Lise Delamare, Louis Jouvet, Pierre Renoir
- Formats:
-
-
A Double Tour (1959)À double tour
Henri Marcoux (Jacques Dacqmine), a respectable middle-class man living in Provence with his wife and two children, is having an affair with a younger woman, Leda (Antonella Lualdi). His wife, the redoubtable Therese Marcoux (Madeleine Robinson), is determined to avoid a scandal at any price, even to the extent of breaking off her daughter's engagement when she learns that her future son-in-law Laszlo (Jean-Paul Belmondo) has been sympathising with her husband. Then the unthinkable happens - Leda is found dead. But who is the killer? - Director:
- Claude Chabrol
- Cast:
- Madeleine Robinson, Antonella Lualdi, Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Formats:
-
-
The Story of Sin (1975)Dzieje Grzechu
The life of a beautiful, young and pious woman (Grazyna Dlugolecka) is thrown into chaos when her parents takes in a dashingly handsome lodger. Having embarked on a torrid affair, the lodger goes off to Rome to seek a divorce from his estranged wife. Unable to live apart from her beloved, our hero leaves home only to fall prey to the infatuations and lusts of a band of noble admirers, unsavoury criminals and utopian do-gooders... - Director:
- Walerian Borowczyk
- Cast:
- Grazyna Dlugolecka, Jerzy Zelnik, Olgierd Lukaszewicz
- Formats:
-
-
Pharaoh (1966)Faraon
The end of the XXth dynasty saw Egypt and her empire showing signs of decay. She is crippled by the enormous human and economic effort required to construct and support great cities, temples and tombs, and to wage foreign wars, plus the vast expenses demanded to maintain the Pharaoh's court and imperial armies, many of whom comprise foreign mercenaries. In the east, the Assyrians are rapidly expanding their empire which is threatening both Phoenicia and Israel. War between Egypt and Phoenicia would serve the Phoenicians' cause well but Egypt has no reserves to pay her armies although is fearful of the growing Assyrian menace. The power behind the throne of Pharaoh Rameses XII lies with the select body of the priests led by the high priest Herhor. These worshippers of the gods Amon and Osiris are jealously fighting to guard their position and influence as rulers of Egypt. The young, rash and hot-headed prince Rameses, heir to the throne and commander of the armies, sees the solution in open confrontation with Assyria, and sets himself against the priests to this end. While on military manoeuvres in the Nile basin, Rameses meets the beautiful Hebrew girl Sarah and brings her back to his palace as his mistress. Meanwhile, in the temple of Amon, a secret messenger front Assyria arrives and seals a peace treaty with the priests but at the cost of relinquishing Egypt's rights to Phoenicia. The Phoenicians try to incite Rameses to make war with Assyria. They use the influence of Kama, a seductive priestess-dancer in the temple of Astoreth, with whom he becomes increasingly infatuated and turns his attentions away from Sarah. In due course, Sarah bears Rameses a son whom he wishes to proclaim his heir but learns from Kama that the high priest Herhor has baptised the child as a jew with the intention of offering him to the Israelites who have been clamouring for a king. Angered by this Rameses sends both Sarah and the boy into slavery and tries to overcome his remorse in wild orgies. Kama, then runs away with Likon. The empire is running out of money so Rameses needs to find more in order to continue repressing rebellion. He goes to the temple where he knows priests are hiding gold but gets assassinated. - Director:
- Jerzy Kawalerowicz
- Cast:
- Jerzy Zelnik, Annekathrin Bürger, Wieslawa Mazurkiewicz
- Formats:
-
-
Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1960)Romeo, Julia A Tma
A young man shelters a fugitive Jewish girl in the attic of his apartment building during the brutal 1942 Nazi occupation of Prague, becoming her only link to the outside world. Fear, anxiety and suspicion soon turn into gratitude and love between them. A poetic and beautifully-filmed drama which examines the consequences of their actions. Jiri Weiss was a leading figure in post-war Czechoslovak cinema. Fleeing his homeland during the 1968 Soviet invasion, he settled in the USA and died there in 2004. - Director:
- Jirí Weiss
- Cast:
- Ivan Mistrík, Daniela Smutná, Jirina Sejbalová
- Formats:
-
-
Illumination (1973)Iluminacja
Unanimous winner of all three main prizes at the 1973 Locarno International Film Festival, Zanussi's landmark film is a dazzling kaleidoscope of ideas and images. Illumination explores the life of a self-absorbed young physicist trying to understand his place in the universe. He thinks science will provide the answers, but ultimately learns far more about himself through experiencing love, betrayal, loss, and facing his own mortality. As much a philosophical essay as a narrative feature, Illumination is a cinematic mosaic combining art and science, intellect and emotion. Innovatively structured, this unflinching examination of one man's life became an iconic cultural marker for a whole generation. - Director:
- Krzysztof Zanussi
- Cast:
- Stanislaw Latallo, Malgorzata Pritulak, Monika Dzienisiewicz-Olbrychska
- Formats:
-
-
Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)Matka Joanna Od Aniolow
One of the landmarks of Polish cinema, this film is based on the documented story of the 'possession' of a group of nuns that led to the burning of a priest at the stake in Loudun, France in 1634. Mother Joan of the Angels is a spare, visually rigorous, and profoundly disturbing exploration of faith, repression, fanaticism, and eros. Anyone who is a fan of classics of the strange will find much to savour in Mother Joan Of the Angels. - Director:
- Jerzy Kawalerowicz
- Cast:
- Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska
- Formats:
-
-
Kings of the Road (1976)Im Lauf der Zeit
The final part of Wim Wenders' loose trilogy of road movies (following on from Alice in the Cities and Wrong Move), Kings Of The Road (aka in the course of time) has been hailed as one of the best films of the 1970s and remains Wenders' most remarkable portrait of his own country. After driving his car at high speed off road and into a river, losing all his worldly possessions, Robert Lander (Hanns Zischler) hitches a ride with Bruno Winter (Rudiger Vogler), who travels across Germany's hinterland repairing projectors in run-down cinemas. Along the way, the two men meet people whose lives are as at odds with the modern world as their own. In attempting to reconcile their past, the two men find themselves increasingly at odds with each other. - Director:
- Wim Wenders
- Cast:
- Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer
- Formats:
-
-
La Bete Humaine (1938)Judas Was a Woman / The Human Beast
Charting the turbulent relationship between a train-driver and a married woman as they plot to kill her husband, Renoir's adaptation of Emile Zola's classic novel is often cited by critics as one of the director's greatest films. Made at the height of Renoir's 1930s poetic realism period, the film also has shades of film-noir with its sexually charged story and self-destructive, hard-boiled anti-hero. Featuring a truly unforgettable performance by Jean Gabin as Lantier, the tormented train-driver, 'La Bete Humaine' was one of Renoir's biggest successes and is just as compelling today as when it was first released. - Director:
- Jean Renoir
- Cast:
- Jean Gabin, Julien Carette, Simone Simon
- Formats:
-
-
Les Misérables (1934)The Wretched
Originally released in quick succession as three separate features in 1934, Bernard's film recounts the story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean (Harry Baur) harried by the wicked Inspector Javert (Charles Vanel); of the virtuous Fantine (Florelle, nee Odette Rousseau) who sells herself into prostitution for the welfare of her daughter Cosette (Gaby Triquet as the young girl Cosette, and Josseline Gael as the young woman); and of intersections of these threads and more in an impressive rendering of Hugo's stately tapestry. - Director:
- Raymond Bernard
- Cast:
- Harry Baur, Charles Vanel, Paul Azaïs
- Formats:
-
-
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)Hiroshima, My Love
A French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada) engage in a brief, passionate affair in post war Hiroshima. Their deeply intense connection brings out scarred but fading memories of love and suffering, which Resnais communicates with the use of flashback techniques innovative to the time. - Director:
- Alain Resnais
- Cast:
- Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas
- Formats:
-
-
Camouflage (1977)Barwy Ochronne
Camouflage takes place during an university linguistics summer school where personal and professional rivalries are unflinchingly exposed. An idealistic young teacher comes under the influence of a veteran professor whose intentions are deeply ambiguous -is he nurturing the younger man, or seeking ways to destroy him? Krzysztof Zanussi brought an unique sensibility to Polish cinema - observant, analytical and rigorously unsentimental in portraying characters' weaknesses and self-deception. Camouflage probes the moral fabric underlying Poland's Communist regime, uncovering layers of corruption, disillusionment and a confused set of public values, marking it as one of Zanussi's most politically subversive works. - Director:
- Krzysztof Zanussi
- Cast:
- Piotr Garlicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Christine Paul-Podlasky
- Formats:
-