ryan-the-american's - Rented List

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The first pairing of legendary Western director John Ford with star Jimmy Stewart, 'Two Rode Together' is a taut, suspenseful story of two lawmen who invade Comanche Indian territory to rescue the white captives of the tribe.

As in all of his seven previous Westerns, Jimmy Stewart rode his lucky horse and wore his lucky, sweat-stained Stetson. But unlike earlier Westerns where the outcome was sure to be a happy one, Two Rode Together is a dramatic and unsentimental depiction of hostages confronted by the savagery of "civilised" society. Stewart stars as a U.S. Marshal assigned to trade guns for hostages with the fearsome Comanche. Cynical and corrupt, the character was a striking departure from Stewart's usual roles as stalwart do-gooder. Paired with Richard Widmark, Stewart locates the hostages but argues against bringing them home, knowing they will be unable to readapt to settler life. But Widmark prevails, and the party's triumphant return results in tragedy.

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With extraordinary beauty, talent and grace, Spanish dancer Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) was born to be a star. Aided by American movie director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart), she attains great success and fortune in Hollywood's land of dreams.

But, though she gives her all for stardom, there is one thing Maria will never compromise - her soul. No matter what the cost, The Barefoot Contessa will dance to no-one's music but her own.

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Set in the early 1930's and filmed on location in the Tennessee Valley, Wild River features Montgomery Clift as an idealistic Tennessee Valley Authority agent who is assigned the task of convincing the locals to move from their property so that a beneficial dam can be built.

One major barrier stands in his way, a feisty old woman (the estimable Jo Van Fleet) who simply refuses to budge from her land. Elia Kazan's masterful recreation of a troubled and complex period in American history is marked not only by its astounding locations, its first rate performances (alongside Van Fleet, Lee Remick excels as the holdout's granddaughter and look out also for an uncredited Bruce Dern in his first screen role) but by its forward thinking and undeniably powerful social liberalism.

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Bart Allison (Randolph Scott) arrives in Sundown planning to kill Tate Kimbrough (John Carroll). Three years earlier he believed Kimbrough was responsible for the death of his wife.

He finds Kimbrough and warns him he is going to kill him but gets pinned down in the livery stable with his friend Sam (Noah Beery Jr.) by Kimbrough's stooge Sheriff (Andrew Duggan) and his men. When Sam is shot in the back after being told he could leave safely, some of the townsmen change sides and disarm the Sheriff's men forcing him to face Allison alone. Taking care of the Sheriff, Allison injures his gun hand and must now face Kimbrough left-handed.

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'The Caine Mutiny' is a classic film about the unstable Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) and his tumultuous command of an old minesweeper and her weary crew.

On the high seas during the dramatic battles of World War II, Queeg's by-the-book approach pushes his crew and his popular second-in-command, Lt. Maryk (Van Johnson), to the breaking point. After a series of questionable orders, Maryk confronts Queeg when he orders the ship directly into the path of a deadly typhoon. Maryk invokes naval code and relieves Queeg of his command, forcing the crew to mutiny. Once safely back in port, Maryk is court-martialed for treason, setting off a tense trial that exposes the true state of Queeg's mind. Nominated for Best Actor, Humphrey Bogart gives a searing performance as he is systematically broken down in this classic tale of military conduct in a time of war.

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Cary Grant plays John Robie, reformed jewel thief who was once known as 'The Cat' in this suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller. Robie is suspected of a new rash of gem thefts in the luxury hotels of the French Riviera, and he must set out to clear himself.

Meeting pampered heiress Frances (Grace Kelly), he sees the chance to bait the mysterious thief with her mother's (Jessie Royce Landis) fabulous jewels. His plan backfires, however, but Frances, who believes him guilty, proves her love by helping him escape. In a spine-tingling climax, the real criminal is exposed.

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Shipwrecked and adrift, Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) finds himself a guest on Dr.

Moreau's (Charles Laughton)'s isolated South Seas island, but quickly discovers the horrifying nature of the doctor's work and the origin of the strange forms inhabiting the isle: a colony of wild animals reworked into humanoid form via sadistic surgical experiments. Furthermore, Parker quickly begins to fear his own part in the doctor's plans to take the unholy enterprise to a next level.

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Dana Andrews stars as Mark Dixon, a corrupt cop, in this gritty noir thriller shot on the rain-slicked streets of New York. Already in trouble for his brutal methods, alienated from his colleagues, he pursues a gang leader with vindictive zeal and accidentally kills a possible murder suspect.

His guilt deepens when he falls in love with the dead man's wife and her father, an innocent cab driver, finds himself accused of the murder. Dixon finds the ultimate redemption - at a price. Otto Preminger brings a welcome sympathy and complexity to every character on-screen, from the nervous police informer through to the cocky mobster, the exasperated police chief, and Dixon himself, burdened with self-hatred as the son of a thief. Joseph LaShelle's photography lends a seedy glamour to the run-down lodging houses, cheap cafe's and night-time exteriors.

Al Roberts (Tom Neal) decides to hitchhike to California to follow his girlfriend Sue (Claudia Drake). After discovering one of the drivers who has given him a lift dead, Al assumes his identity for fear of being charged with his murder. This leads him into trouble and blackmail along the way.

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When her father threatens to annul her marriage to a fortune-hunting playboy, spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) hops on a cross-country bus to New York, where she plans to live happily ever after with her handsome new hubby.

Romantic complications however, when she's befriended by fellow passenger Peter Warne (Clark Gable), a brash and breezy reporter who offers his help in exchange for her exclusive story.

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Written by Bunuel and his regular writing partner Jean-Claude Carriere, the film charts the ambitions of Celestine (Jeanne Moreau), a woman who comes to work in the Normandy estate occupied by Monsieur Rabour (Jean Ozenne), his daughter (Francoise Lugagne), and the daughter's husband, the right

wing Monsieur Montiel (Michel Piccoli). Celestine quickly learns that M. Rabour is a more or less harmless boot fetishist, his daughter a frigid woman more concerned with the family furnishings than in returning the affections of her husband, who, in turn, can't keep his hands off the servants. Celestine picks her way through this minefield carefully, spurning the advances of all of the men until it's convenient for her.

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Marriage, the class system, the church, the state and the frivolous hypocrisy of modern life all come within the firing line of Jimmy Porter, cinema's original angry young man and celebrated playwright John Osborne's most iconic creation.

An absolute landmine of a movie on its original release, 'Look Back in Anger' inspired and shocked audiences with its unrepentant realism, explosive dialogue and frank portrayal of everyday, contemporary British life. Featuring an incredibly intense, breakthrough performance from screen legend Richard Burton, "Look Back in Anger" is often cited as igniting the radical 'Angry Young Men' movement in film and theatre, which ran parallel with America's 'Beat Generation' and formed a gritty, groundbreaking pre-cursor to the sixties 'Kitchen Sink' dramas. By night he drunkenly prowls the local Jazz clubs, by day he runs his own market stall. Disaffected and abusive, Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) is constantly at odds with his mundane existence, his middle-class wife and their squalid living conditions. But what really lies at the core of his resentful rebellion?

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After the May '68 protests, Gilles (Clément Métayer), a young Parisian student, is taken in by the political and creative turmoil of the times.

Through a haze of wild parties, social activism and romantic encounters, he and his friends partake in some of the most defining moments of the post-war period. But as the weight of reality presses down on him, issues of personal responsibility and the nature of idealism will cause him to question his actions and his hopes for the future.

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Small-town Slovakia 1942. Nazi concentration camp deportations have begun. Tono, a poor carpenter, is appointed 'Aryan controller' of the elderly and frail Jewish widow Rozalia's shop.

Believing Tono is her new assistant, the two develop a friendship in which he maintains that illusion to try and protect her from the encroaching Nazi terror. Wonderfully written and performed, and with an extraordinary Zdenek Liska score, the film becomes a devastating examination of how minor compromises can finally lead to complicity in the horrors of tyranny.

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Rosa Luxemburg (Barbara Sukowa), a dedicated Marxist and pacifist, is arrested in 1905 for her political activities. Determined to stick to her principles, she goes on to be repeatedly convicted and imprisoned for her protests and speeches.

In 1915, growing disillusioned with the German Social Democrats when they endorse World War I, she founds the Spartacist League, later the Communist Party of Germany. Despite the many men in her life, Rosa remains focused on social justice.