paul-b's - Rented List

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This, the last film Preston Sturges made for Paramount, is another great satire on the American penchant for hero worship. It stars Eddie Bracken as Woodrow Truesmith, a soldier who, due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, never actually went to war.

His attempts to keep his secret are scuppered when his home town has him repatriated for a civic celebration of his exploits. In this sentimental comedy, many of Sturge's regular repertory of character actors give the performances of their lives.

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Frances (Chloe Grace Moretz), a sweet, naive young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, doesn't think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner.

That owner is Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta. The two become fast friends - but Greta's maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta's life is what it seems...

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Epic romantic drama based on Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning novel set during the American Civil War. Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) often uses men to get what she wants, but is unable to get the one man she truly desires, Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard).

She soon meets her match in the roguish Captain Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and in the war itself which destroys the genteel way of life she has always known. With determination she rebuilds her life from the shattered remains the Union Army leaves behind.

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Rene (Gerard Depardieu) is successful manager in a textile factory facing the prospect of down-sizing with his position under threat; Pierre (Roger Pierre) is a political star on the rise but whose marital life is in tatters; and Janine (Nicole Garcia), is a struggling actress who works for Rene

and is having an affair with Pierre, connecting the two men.

A recovering alcoholic (Maurice Ronet) decides to commit suicide. He spends 24 hours wandering through Paris and visiting old friends, hoping to find some meaning to life and a reason to go on living.

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A satirical, subversive, surreal and irreverent story of rebellion, Vera Chytilova's classic film is arguably the most adventurous and anarchic Czech movie of the 1960's.

Two young women, both named Marie, revolt against a degenerate and decayed society by attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture in hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative ways. Defiant feminist statement? Nihilistic, avant-garde comedy? Refreshingly uncompromising, Daisies is a riotous, punk-rock poem of a film that remains a cinematic enigma and continues to provoke, stimulate and entertain audiences and influence filmmakers even today.

Jean Arthur stars as Alice Sycamore, the stable family member of an offbeat clan of free spirits who fall for Tony Kirby (James Stewart), the down-to-earth son of a snooty, wealthy family. Amidst a backdrop of confusion, the two very different families rediscover the simple joys of life.

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In their small-town meeting hall, a maladroit committee of volunteer fire-fighters holds a ball to celebrate the retirement of one of their own, but thanks to poor planning and lack of leadership, the evening quickly devolves into a catastrophe.

Nobody can prevent the lottery prizes from being stolen out from under the very noses of those guarding them. A beauty contest turns into an embarrassing farce, and the brigade can't even respond properly to a real fire next door. The Firemen's Ball was Czechoslovakian director Milos Forman's final film in his home country; he was scouting locations in Paris when the Russians moved their tanks into Prague in 1968 causing Forman to decide to remain an expatriate.

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Garbo Talks!, proclaimed ads when silent star Greta Garbo debuted in talkies. Nine years and 12 classic screen dramas later, the gifted movie legend was ready for another change.

Garbo Laughs!, cheered the publicity for her first comedy, a frothy tale of a dour Russian envoy sublimating her womanhood for Soviet brotherhood until she falls for a suave Parisian man-about-town (Melvyn Douglas). Working from a cleverly barbed script written in party by Billy Wilder, director Ernst Lubitsch knew better than anyone how to marry refinement with sublime wit. "At least twice a day the most dignified human being is ridiculous", he explained about his acclaimed Lubitsch Touch. That’s how we see Garbo’s lovestruct Ninotchka: serenely dignified yet endearingly ridiculous. Garbo laughs. So will you.

A remote cabin in the woods becomes e blood-soaked chamber of horrors when a group of 20-something friends unwittingly awakens an ancient demon in Evil Dead, the highly anticipated re-imagining of Sam Rami's 1981 cult-hit horror film 'The Evil Dead'.

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The cynical political satire about down-and-out corrupted Dan McGinty's. Corruption rise from skid row to the state governor's mansion, manipulated by a crook known as The Boss (Akim Tamiroff), who has his own on-the-make agenda.

It is only when he makes one attempt to be honest, that McGinty's false world crumbles.

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Train engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) is turned down when he tries to enlist in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War as his occupation is deemed too important.

When his train (The General) is stolen by Union soldiers so that it can be used to attack Confederate forces, only Johnny and his girl Annabelle Lee can save the train and warn the Confederates about an impending attack.

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Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an ageing silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in Sunset Boulevard.

Winner of three Academy Awards, director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood. Erich von Stroheim as Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband and butler, and Nancy Olson as the bright spot in unrelenting ominousness, are equally celebrated for their masterful performances.

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San Pietro lies in the valley between two hills, Monte Lungo and Monte Sammucro. It's just off Route 6, the road to Rome, and was vital to the Allied cause during their push into Italy. The battle for San Pietro saw newly re-formed Italian Forces working with the Allies for the first time.

They suffered appalling losses in what quickly became a battle of epic proportions. The 'Italian Cemetry' is a monument to their exceptional courage and heroism. The town was ultimately destroyed. Defeated German forces withdrew to Cassino leaving the victorious Allies one step nearer their goal: the collapse of Mussolini's Italy. Today, the new town of San Pietro is about a kilometre and a half from the ruins of the old one. The story of the spectacular battle that led to its creation is vividly portrayed in this awesome film.

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Melodrama casts noirish shadows in this portrait of maternal sacrifice from Hollywood master Michael Curtiz.

Its iconic performance by Joan Crawford as Mildred, a single mother hell-bent on freeing her children from the stigma of economic hardship, solidified Crawford's career comeback and gave the actor her only Oscar. But as Mildred pulls herself up by the bootstraps, first as an unflappable waitress and eventually as the well-heeled owner of a successful restaurant chain, the ingratitude of her materialistic firstborn (a diabolical Ann Blyth) becomes a venomous serpent's tooth, setting in motion an endless cycle of desperate overtures and heartless recriminations. Recasting James M. Cain's rich psychological novel as a murder mystery, this bitter cocktail of blind parental love and all-American ambition is both unremittingly hard-boiled and sumptuously emotional.