mcg's - Rented List
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Call of the Wild (1972)Harry Alan Towers
The immortal Jack London classic tale about John Thronton (Charlton Heston) a prospector in the 1987 Klondyke gold rush trying to eke out a living in the harsh conditions of the bitterly cold Yukon region of Alaska, and buck the German Shepherd dog he befriends. Thornton struggles against unscrupulous rivals and natural hazards in the extreme conditions and is greatly helped by buck who has his own story to tell: he was abducted from a family home and taken north to become a working sled dog. Man and dog forge a true bond of friendship, working together to survive life in the treacherous frozen North. - Director:
- Ken Annakin
- Cast:
- Charlton Heston, Michèle Mercier, Raimund Harmstorf
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Alan Ladd plays the titular gunslinger, the archetypal "man alone" who wanders into town and shortly afterward becomes embroiled in a conflict between a group of Wyoming homesteaders and the nefarious cattle baron who has designs to wrest away their land. As the conflict escalates, and a romance develops between Shane and homesteader Marian Starrett (Jean Arthur, in her last screen role), a who's-who of studio system character talent revolves through the production - Van Heflin, Jack Palance, Elisha Cook, Jr. - before one of cinema's most famous, unforgettable endings. - Director:
- George Stevens
- Cast:
- George Stevens, Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur
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Director/co-writer Michael Mann's 'The Last of the Mohicans' is a soaring story of transcendent love, an authentically detailed recreation of a turbulent era in U.S. colonial history and an exciting saga of flintlocks-and-tomahawks warfare. Daniel Day-Lewis (as Hawkeye) and Madeleine Stowe (as British transplant Cora) are lovers caught up in the tumult of the French and Indian War in this 1992 Academy Award winner set to a rapturous score by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman. The tale itself is a personal touchstone for Mann: the 1936 screen version was the first movie he recalls seeing as a child. It's hard not to detect a sense of boyhood wonder in Hawkeye's outsized heroics. Here, Mann augments that with a bravura style and sweep that shows why he's one of today's most electrifying moviemakers. - Director:
- Michael Mann
- Cast:
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means
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Set among Brooklyn tenements circa 1912, 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' is a portrait of the Nolans, an Irish-American family living in financially challenging circumstances, often made worse by father Johnny's (James Dunn)'s drinking and employment problems. But matriarch Katie (Dorothy McGuire) keeps the family together during all of the obstacles, caring for son Neeley (Ted Donaldson) and daughter Francie (Peggy Ann Garner), as well as Katie's outspoken, oft-married sister Sissy (Joan Blondell). But just as Francie's gift for writing opens up new avenues, more tragic developments test the family's resolve. - Director:
- Elia Kazan
- Cast:
- Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn
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A Town Like Alice (1956)The Rape of Malaya
Jean Paget (Virginia McKenna), an English woman taken prisoner by the Japanese, is among a group of women and children forced to trek through Malaya during the occupation. During her ordeal she meets captive Australian Joe Harman (Peter Finch) and there is an instant magnetism between them; as they talk, Jean learns about Joe's hometown of Alice Springs, and his hope of returning there one day. To relieve the suffering of the women and children, Joe steals some chickens from the sadistic Captain Sugaya (Tran Van Khe), but when he is caught Sugaya orders Joe to be executed in front of Jean and the others... - Director:
- Jack Lee
- Cast:
- Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, Kenji Takaki
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Unheroic yet elegiac, tragic yet uplifting, devastating yet deeply moving. Featuring gripping action on a scale unattainable by conventional war movies, Stuart Cooper's award-winning 'Overlord' is unlike any war film you have ever seen. This powerful and passionate film follows the journey of an ordinary young English soldier, Private Beadows, from his swift, dramatic induction into the army toward his inexorable destiny upon the hell-ravaged beaches at Normandy during in the D-Day invasion. Seamlessly weaving genuine WWII footage into a startlingly authentic story, beautifully shot by Stanley Kubrick's acclaimed cinematographer, the legendary John Alcott, 'Overlord' is not simply a unique piece of fiction, but an exceptional piece of history. Produced by the Imperial War Museum, digitally restored and now available for the first time since it was made over 30 years ago, 'Overlord' is a mesmerising cinematic achievement. - Director:
- Stuart Cooper
- Cast:
- Brian Stirner, Davyd Harries, Nicholas Ball
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The unforgettable original version of acclaimed filmmaker Michael Haneke's classic exploration of screen violence is an uncompromising, sometimes uncomfortable, but never less than compelling experience. Arriving at their remote lakeside holiday home, a middle class family are alarmed by the unexpected arrival of two young men who soon begin to subject them to a twisted and horrifying ordeal of terror. With characteristic mastery, Haneke turns the conventions of the thriller genre upside down and, directly challenges the expectations of his audience, forcing viewers to question the complacency with which they receive images of casual violence in contemporary cinema. - Director:
- Michael Haneke
- Cast:
- Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Arno Frisch
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Bluebeard's 8th Wife (1938)Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Set on the French Riviera, the charming daughter (Claudette Colbert) of a destitute aristocrat (Edward Everett Horton) catches the eye of a dashing millionaire (Gary Cooper). After a brief courtship, she accepts his marriage proposal, only to find out on their wedding day that he has been down the aisle before - seven times! Determined to teach him a lesson, she makes a mockery of their matrimony in a variety of side-splitting situations. - Director:
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Cast:
- Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Edward Everett Horton
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Haunted by his past, WWII veteran and drifter Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) crosses paths with a mysterious movement called The Cause, led by Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) aka The Master and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams). Their twisted relationship is the core of this film. Will Freddie be able to outrun his past? Will The Cause help or hurt him? Can this tortured, violent creature be civilized? Or is man, after all, just a dirty animal? - Director:
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Cast:
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, William O'Brien, Joaquin Phoenix
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Charles McGraw stars as Detective Walter Brown, a cop with a simple mission - get mobster's wife Frankie Neale (Marie Windsor) on the train and take her to the grand jury in Los Angeles, where she's going to testify against her late husband's colleagues. But the mob don't want her to spill the beans and they'll stop at nothing to stop her taking the stand; Brown realises they've planted assassins on the train with them and it's up to him to keep her safe. It's going to be one hell of a journey... - Director:
- Richard Fleischer
- Cast:
- Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White
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Edward G. Robinson stars as a government agent tracking down a sadistic Nazi officer (Orson Welles), who has evaded justice for running Nazi extermination camps. Rankin has crafted a new identity for himself in a quaint Connecticut town by marrying Mary (Loretta Young), the daughter of a local judge; but as his past begins to catch up with him, will his wife side with the investigators or her husband... - Director:
- Orson Welles
- Cast:
- Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young
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Hail, Caesar! follows a single day in the life of a studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix.
- Director:
- Ethan Coen
- Cast:
- Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich
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Jacques Tourneur's (Out of the Past, Cat People) first Western is a lost classic, regarded by some as an equal to the work of the great John Ford. Dana Andrews plays Logan Stuart a scout turned general store and freight company owner, based in the mining settlement of Jacksonville, Oregon. Logan's best friend is George Camrose (Brian Donlevy), a banker and express company owner with an addiction to poker. When a gambling debt turns sour leading to accusations of murder, George is sentenced to death by a kangaroo court but Logan helps him escape. Meanwhile, Indians go on the warpath when the town's brutish Bragg (Ward Bond) kills a young Indian woman. Also featuring Susan Hayward and Patricia Roc as women vying for Logan's attentions and the incomparable Hoagy Carmichael as a wandering minstrel, 'Canyon Passage' is a deft blend of action, romance and colourful location scenery. - Director:
- Jacques Tourneur
- Cast:
- Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward
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I've Loved You So Long (2008)Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
I've Loved You So Long is the outstanding, critically celebrated breakthrough film of the year. Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient) offers a truly sensational performance in this utterly engrossing and deeply moving tale of two sisters who rebuild their relationship after fifteen years apart. The two women gradually rediscover common ground and learn how to relate to one another through the memories of their shared childhood, all the while the spectre of their time apart looming overhead... This intelligent and compassionate film is a testament to the power of family, love and forgiveness. - Director:
- Philippe Claudel
- Cast:
- Kristin Scott-Thomas, Claire Lefevre, Elsa Zylberstein
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When a high-profile couple - a rock star (Tilda Swinton), and a filmmaker (Matthias Schoenaerts) decide to vacation on a remote Italian island, their rest is disrupted by the sudden visit of an old friend (Ralph Fiennes), and his sexy, yet mysterious daughter. Suddenly, what was supposed to be an ideal getaway turns into a whirlwind of jealousy, passion and danger for everyone in the group. - Director:
- Luca Guadagnino
- Cast:
- Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes
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