pbn's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

Live and Become is a gripping story of deception and survival. A beautifully crafted coming of age tale about the fate of a young refugee, told with warmth and humour. The story begins in 1984, when civil war and famine drove hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians into refugee camps in Sudan.

Among them were the Falashas, Ethiopian Jews who claim direct lineage back to King Solomon's days. Amid the chaos, as the operation to take 10,000 Falashas to Israel begins, a starving Christian woman entrusts her nine-year old son to a bereaved Falasha mother. Arriving in Tel Aviv, the boy is declared an orphan and adopted by a local French family. He begins a new life constantly fearing the discovery of a double lie, that he was neither Jewish or orphaned.

Show moreShow less

Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns from college in America to his father's (Claude Rains) mansion in Wales. After meeting Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) in the local village, he escorts her to the local fair.

She tells him the local legend of the werewolf, but he laughs it off - even when gypsy fortune teller Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) and her son Bela (Bela Lugosi) also tell him to beware. Later in the evening Gwen's friend Jenny is attacked by a wild wolf. Larry rescues her, but is bitten in the process. Sure enough, when the next full moon comes round, Larry finds himself transformed into the wolfman - a murderous creature that can only be destroyed by silver.

Told from the perspective of two children, 'Kasaba' describes the relationships between members of an extended family in a small Turkish town. Told in four parts which unfold with the seasons, the film is a touching and bittersweet portrait of childhood and adult hopes and fears.

Show moreShow less

Part road movie, part suspense thriller, the plot is high-tension simplicity itself. In the South American jungle, supplies of nitro-glycerine are urgently needed at a remote oil field.

The unscrupulous American oil company pays four out-of-work men (Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli and Peter Van Eyck) to deliver the supplies in two sets of drivers: a tension magnified thousand fold by the unforgiving heat, the lure of filthy lucre and the rough and rocky roads where the slightest jolt can result in agonising death. Which of the disparate, desperate desperadoes will survive the white-knuckle journey and claim the loot and the glory?

Feature follows the exploits of the laconic Taisto, a newly-unemployed Lapland miner who sets off in a Cadillac convertible for a fresh start in Helsinki. Joined in his odyssey by meter maid Irmeli and her young son, Taitso's plans take a series of unexpected turns...

Show moreShow less

'The Adventures of Prince Achmed' premiered in Germany on 23rd September 1926, hailed as the first full-length animated film in the history of cinema.

Seventy-five years on, this enchanting film still stands as one of the great classics of animation - lively, delicate, inventive, stirring and romantic. Taken from "The Arabian Nights", the story tells of a wicked sorcerer who lures Prince Achmed onto a magical flying horse and sends him off on a flight to his death. The Prince foils the magician's evil plan, however, and flies headlong into a series of adventures - joining forces with Aladdin, doing battle with assorted ogres, monsters and spirits, and falling in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu.

Show moreShow less

A groundbreaking feat of filmmaking, Alexander Sokurov's amazing journey through 300 years of Russian art and history is the first ever feature to be shot in a single, unedited take - the ultimate director's cut.

Magically transported to St Petersburg's Hermitage museum in the early 1700s, a contemporary filmmaker and a cynical 19th Century French diplomat become accomplices in an extraordinary voyage through Russia's turbulent past to the present day. As they explore the splendid corridors and salons of the Palace, the two men witness prominent historical figures enacting startling scenes from the Tsarist Empire. Digitally shot with a state-orf-the-art high definition steadicam and featuring a masterfully orchestrated cast of 2,000, 'Russian Ark' is destined to stand as a defining moment in cinema history.

The film is set against the impressive backdrop of Monument Valley in Utah and tells the story of a mixed group of travellers who are making their way across the country to Arizona. They are endangered by an Indian War Party and this, along with their personal histories, results in difficulties.

Show moreShow less

Father "Chuck" O'Malley (Bing Crosby) is dispatched to fix up an inner-city parochial school on its last legs, and his easy-going, unconventional demeanour instantly clashes with that of the firm, no-nonsense Sister Superior Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman), who is keeping the school open through

sheer will and faith alone. Over the course of the school year, the pair bicker and ultimately bond over their differing visions on how to save the school - and the role a miserly businessman (Henry Travers) who wants the building condemned might play in doing so.

Show moreShow less

Julio and Tenoch are typical over-sexed and under-occupied teenagers. During a festive afternoon with their families they meet Luisa, a twenty eight year old Spaniard, and flirt with her with all the style and grace seventeen year old boys are known for.

As a joke, they invite her to accompany them on a road trip to a beach called Boca Del Cielo, neglecting to mention that they wouldn't know where to find it, even if it did actually exist. To their astonishment, she accepts.

Show moreShow less

With 'The Searchers', John Wayne and director John Ford forged an indelible saga of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, an ex-Confederate who sets out to find his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family.

He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive quest, Ethan finds something unexpected: his own humanity. One of the most influential movies ever made.

Show moreShow less

Overcoming considerable challenges, Herzog captures the stunning majesty of the Chauvet Cave in southern France, where the world's oldest cave paintings have been discovered. Herzog reveals a breathtaking subterranean world including the 32,000-year-old artworks.

With his humorous and engaging narration Herzog reflects on our primal desire to communicate and represent the world around us, evolution and our place within it, and ultimately what it means to be human.

Show moreShow less

Set in the 1890s, West plays a brash barroom entertainer with a soft spot for men in trouble, especially the mission director, young Cary Grant. She unknowingly gets caught up in a murder, as well as a white slavery ring, and sets about clearing things up as only Mae can.

In between rescues she manages to perform some of her heated, hip-swinging classics including a steamy belting of "Frankie and Johnnie". Dripping in gems and low cut splendour, Mac is a delight for all of the senses. No one comes close to this lady's style of pure brazen wit and suggestive invitations to "Come up some time and see me?"

Nominated for four Oscars, 'Top Hat' is the amazing musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The hilarious plot of mistaken identity and breathtaking designs, transport you into a Hollywood fantasy in this true musical classic.

Show moreShow less

A middle-aged lawyer, Frederik Egerman (Gunnar Björnstrand), his inexperienced young wife, Anne (Ulla Jacobsson), and her step-son, Henrik (Björn Bjelfvenstam), are invited to spend the weekend at the country mansion of a beautiful actress, Frederik's ex-mistress, Desiree Armfeldt (Eva Dahlbeck).

Amongst the guests are Desiree's current lover Count Malcolm (Jarl Kulle) and his wife Charlotte (Margit Carlqvist). During the course of the weekend these three couples meet, separate and exchange partners, providing some lively comedic action and illustrating. Bergman's sardonic attitude towards the vagaries of love. Behind the scintillating and witty approach to this charming period comedy of manners lie and illusions and pretensions of the haute bourgeois, which Bergman cleverly illustrates with his collection of fickle husbands and scheming women.