promessi's - Rented List
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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
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Look at Me (2004)Comme Une Image
'Look At Me' is a witty story of friendship, ambition and betrayal in the Parisian literary world. The central figure is Lolita Cassard, a self-concious 20-year-old, who worries about her figure. She would love to be considered 'beautiful' in the eyes of her father, renowned author Etienne Cassard. Another writer, Pierre Miller, is becoming disillusioned with his work as he doesn't believe he'll ever become successful. His wife, Sylvia, believes in Pierre's talent, but doubts her own teaching abilities, until she discovers that her pupil is the daughter of her favourite author, Etienne Cassard... - Director:
- Agnès Jaoui
- Cast:
- Marilou Berry, Alexandra Rübner, Jean-Pierre Bacri
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Two young friends, Michel (Michael König), a tile layer, and Gunther (Günther Kaufmann), fresh from military duty, decide to leave Germany in search of a treasure they believe is hidden in the Rio das Mortes area of Peru. Hanna (Hanna Schygulla), Michel's fiancee, opposes this plan and threatens to shoot them both if they embark on his childish adventure. - Director:
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Cast:
- Hanna Schygulla, Michael König, Günther Kaufmann
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Douglas Sirk directed thriller in which several people harbour a secret that could stop an innocent woman from being hanged. Convicted murderess, Valerie Cams (Ann Blyth), is being transported to Norwich to be executed when a flash flood strands her and her guards at a convent hospital. As Nurse Sister Mary (Claudette Colbert) grows to know Valerie, she becomes convinced of her innocence and sets out to find the real killer... - Director:
- Douglas Sirk
- Cast:
- Claudette Colbert, Ann Blyth, Robert Douglas
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Class (2008)Entre les murs
The greatest lessons are learnt when life enters the classroom. The tense environment of a tough inner-city school where cultures and attitudes often clash is revealed in this award-winning drama based on François Bégaudeau's best-selling novel 'Between the Walls'. Bégaudeau himself stars as an idealistic teacher of a class of unruly 15 year-olds, whose spiky independence present a constant challenge to his sometimes unconventional teaching methods. Featuring an outstanding non-professional cast of real teachers and students, Laurent Cantet's gripping and sharply observed film offers a microcosm of contemporary society and explores the issues and challenges of education today. - Director:
- Laurent Cantet
- Cast:
- François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, Angélica Sancio
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The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire
The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe Bernard Milan covets Louis Toulouse's job - director of a secret service. To get rid of his overly ambitious assistant, Toulouse sends Milan off on a wild goose chase after a dangerous spy who is in fact just an ordinary Joe. So Milan starts shadowing Francois Perrin, an absentminded violinist. This odd game of espionage entraps the three men in a web of hilarious situations as they go from one surprise to the next.
The Return of the Tall Blond Man
After a host of misadventures, the Tall Blond Man, with the charming Catherine by his side, has left for Brazil wearing his black shoe and carrying his violin. Tought Toulouse's killers are too ham-handed to upset his well-deserved holiday. Everything would be fine if, in Paris, a lowly police captain with an acute sense of justice, weren't investigating Milan's bizarre death. Colonel Toulouse has a major problem when the Tall Blond Man returns....And everything starts all over again.- Director:
- Yves Robert
- Cast:
- Pierre Richard, Bernard Blier, Jean Rochefort
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Former gangster's mistress, Sherry (Ginger Rogers), is moved from prison to a swanky hotel suite in the hope that she will testify against the dangerous mobster. In this gripping drama Sherry's dilemma is highlighted in vivid detail: testify and she faces assassination, remain silent and she will encounter the wrath of attorney Hallet (Edward G. Robinson). - Director:
- Phil Karlson
- Cast:
- Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson, Brian Keith
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Carnival in Flanders (1935)La Kermesse Héroïque
This tongue-in-cheek farce is set in an early seventeenth century Flemish town facing invasion by the Spanish army. Foreseeing carnage and rape, the mayor plays dead in the hope that the fearsome occupiers will respect the townspeople's mourning and bypass the town. Flowever, his rather more courageous and sophisticated wife takes control of the situation and organizes the townswomen to greet the invaders and preserve the peace with their womanly wiles. - Director:
- Jacques Feyder
- Cast:
- Françoise Rosay, André Alerme, Jean Murat
- Formats:
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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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La Grande Vadrouille (1966)Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
During World War II, when their combat aircraft is shot down by the Germans, three English airmen (including Terry-Thomas as Sir Reginald) parachute to the comparative safety of Nazi occupied France. One lands on the scaffold of an amiable painter and decorator, Augustin (Bourvil). Another lands on top of a concert hall and is rescued by the irascible but patriotic conductor Stanislas Lefort (Louis de Funes). The third ends up in the otter enclosure of a Parisian zoo. When they try to help the airmen keep a rendez-vous at the Turkish baths in Paris, Augustin and Stanislas quickly find that they themselves have become targets for the German soldiers. Assisted by the daughter of a puppeteer and an anti-German nun, the two reluctant heroes accompany the three airmen on a reckless trek across France towards the safety of the neutral zone. - Director:
- Gérard Oury
- Cast:
- Bourvil, Louis de Funès, Claudio Brook
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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
- Formats:
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Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)The Young Girls of Rochefort
Following on from the success of 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' comes 'Les Demoiselles de Rochefort' - Jacques Demy's large-scale tribute to the Hollywood musical featuring screen legend Gene Kelly The story centres on twin sisters Delphine and Solange (played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Frangoise Dorleac) who, tired of their humdrum existence, dream of finding success and romance in Paris. The superb ensemble, also featuring Danielle Darrieux, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Perrin, George Chakiris and Grover Dale, weave and wander around the town, looking for and just missing the love of their lives. - Director:
- Jacques Demy
- Cast:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jacques Thébault, George Chakiris
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Il Bidone (1955)Il bidone
Augusto (Broderick Crawford), Picasso (Richard Basehart) and Roberto (Franco Fabrizi) are small-time conmen who play elaborate tricks on the poor and the credulous. But their cruelty and lack of morality is tested when Augusto is reunited with his estranged daughter and Picasso is faced with his loving wife's disapproving patience. Featuring excellent performances from Crawford, Basehart and Giulietta Masina against a colourful backdrop of sharply observed characters this sincere social drama is by turns comic, bitter and tragic. - Director:
- Federico Fellini
- Cast:
- Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Giulietta Masina
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Martin Scorsese's "Silence" tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) - at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden. The celebrated director's 28-year journey to bring Shusaku Endo's 1966 acclaimed novel to life, examines the spiritual and religious question of God's silence in the face of human suffering. - Director:
- Martin Scorsese
- Cast:
- Andrew Garfield, Shoji Miyata, Noriwo Mitsuda
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The Silent Duel (1949)Shizukanaru Kettô / The Quiet Duel
During a life-saving operation young army surgeon Fujisaki (Toshirô Mifune) contracts syphilis from a patient, a disease virtually incurable in the 1940's Japan, and is forced to abandon his own true love. Based on an acclaimed play by Kazuo Nikuta, 'The Silent Duel' marked the second of numerous collaborations between the director and leading man Toshiro Mifune. - Director:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Cast:
- Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Miki Sanjô
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