ryan-the-american's - Rented List
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Unlike most "message" films which date themselves almost immediately, Lewis Milestone's low-key unpolished and deeply-felt screen adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque anti-war novel has lost little of its original impact. Years after its release it was still being banned in countries mobilizing for war.
The plot follows a group of young German recruits in World War I through their passage from idealism to disillusionment. As the central character Paul Baumer declares, "We live in the trenches and we fight. We try not to be killed - that's all". All Quiet is an anthology of now famous scenes: Ayres trapped in a shell crater with a man he has killed; the first meeting of the recruits and the veterans; infantrymen being mowed down to machine-gun visual rhythms; a moonlight swim with French farm girls; Ayres' pacifist speech to his astonished schoolmates; and the final shot of the soldier's hand reaching for a fatal butterfly.- Director:
- Lewis Milestone
- Cast:
- Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray
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Sherlock Jr. (1924)Sherlock Junior / Sherlock Holmes Jr.
A film projectionist (and amateur detective) offers to solve the case of a missing watch, but is instead framed for the crime himself. Desperate to clear his name, the projectionist dreams of being the great Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton), and in one of cinemas most iconic sequences, literally steps into the screen to bring his fantasies to life. - Director:
- Buster Keaton
- Cast:
- Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton
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Charles Chaplin's Limelight is a glimmering homage to what was, a proud look at a bygone entertainment era and a bittersweet tale of an artist passing the torch to a new generation. Chaplin portrays Calvero (the "tramp comedian" per an old theatrical poster in his room), who rescues a distraught ballerina from suicide and mentors her to success. Among the film's comedy highlights is a musical routine that's anything but routine in the hands of legend Chaplin and stoney-faced Buster Keaton. The extraordinary score by Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell earned the screen legend his only competitive Oscar. - Director:
- Charles Chaplin
- Cast:
- Charles Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce
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John Wayne teams with William Holden and eminent westerner John Ford for this frontier action packed with laughter, romance and thrills. Written by John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin, this faithful representation of one of the most daring cavalry exploits in history, is both a moving tribute to the men who fought and died in that bloody war, and a powerful, action-packed drama. Based on an actual Civil War incident, The Horse Soldiers tells the rousing tale of a troop of Union soldiers who force their way deep into Southern territory to destroy a rebel stronghold at Newton Station. In command is hard-bitten Colonel Marlowe (Wayne), a man who is strikingly contrasted by the company's gentle surgeon (Holden) and the beautiful but crafty Southern Belle (Constance Towers) who's forced to accompany the Union raiders on perhaps the most harrowing mission in the war. - Director:
- John Ford
- Cast:
- John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers
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The year is 1870, and former Union soldier Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) is recruited to remove a tribe of Apache warriors from a U.S. Mail delivery route by any means necessary. Jeffords chooses peace instead of more killings and decides to learn the Apache way of life. He agrees to a peace treaty with Apache chief Cochise (Jeff Chandler) and marries a beautiful Native American woman (Debra Paget). Tragedy strikes after the settlers break the peace treaty, but now it s Cochise trying to stop Jeffords from acting out in vengeance. - Director:
- Delmer Daves
- Cast:
- James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget
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12 Angry Men (1957)Twelve Angry Men
Eleven jurors are convinced that the defendant is guilty of murder. The twelfth has no doubt of his innocence. How can this one man steer the others toward the same conclusion? It's a case of seemingly overwhelming evidence against a teenager accused of killing his father in "one of the best pictures ever made". - Director:
- Sidney Lumet
- Cast:
- Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler
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Ex-outlaw Link Jones (Gary Cooper) boards a train to Foil Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his town when he's knocked unconscious and robbed - by a gang of outlaws associated with his own uncle (Lee J. Cobb) whom he abandoned years earlier in his bid to go straight. Soon after, and in order to protect the life of the woman he'd earmarked for teacher, saloon singer Billie Ellis (Julie London), Link rejoins the gang for one last hold-up... - Director:
- Anthony Mann
- Cast:
- Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb
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Frank Capra's adaptation of James Hilton's novel that follows British diplomat and historian Robert Conway (Ronald Colman) as he comes to the rescue of four refugees during the Chinese Revolution. The refugees - his younger brother, George (John Howard), scientist Alexander P. Lovett (Edward Everett Horton), con man Henry Branard (Thomas Mitchell) and ailing prostitute Gloria Stone (Isabel Jewell) - escape the revolution on a plane, but instead of flying to safety they end up crashing in the Himalayas. Upon climbing out of the wreckage the passengers find themselves in the hidden city of Shangri-La, a paradisiacal place where the air is clean and time stands still. - Director:
- Frank Capra
- Cast:
- Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton
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Under Mann's superb direction, Stewart departs from his well-loved "ordinary hero" role and gives a riveting performance as a resolute vigilante obsessed with finding the man responsible for his brother's death. Among the suspects are an arrogant cattle baron (Donald Crisp), his sadistic son (Alex Nicol) and his ranch foreman (Arthur Kennedy). One explosive confrontation, in which Stewart is dragged by a wild horse and shot in the hand at close range, is one of movie history's most memorable sequences. - Director:
- Anthony Mann
- Cast:
- James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp
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Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), a beautiful and mysterious Serbian-born fashion artist living in New York City, falls in love with and marries average-Joe American Oliver Reed (Kent Smith). But Irena believes that she suffers from an ancient curse and whenever she is emotionally aroused she will turn into a panther and savage her victims. Oliver thinks that is absurd and sends her to psychiatrist Dr. Judd (Tom Conway) to cure her. But truth is sometimes stranger than fantasy... - Director:
- Jacques Tourneur
- Cast:
- Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith
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Judy Holliday gives an unforgettable, Oscar-winning performance as Billie Dawn, the 'dumb blonde' girlfriend of corrupt millionaire junkyard tycoon Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford). A man with social ambitions, Harry is embarrassed by Billie's uncouth behaviour and lack of social refinement, so he sends her on a crash course in culture with young journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden). Billie proves to be an able student in lessons of life and love, whilst also becoming all too aware of her partner's crooked business dealings. Emboldened by her new education, she stands up to Harry and his bad ways. - Director:
- George Cukor
- Cast:
- Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford
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The letter of the title is written with a poisonous pen: the three women (portrayed by Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, and Ann Sothern) receive a note stating that one of their husbands has run off with a woman named Addie Ross - which husband in particular, however, remains unmentioned, though each husband had their own affinity for Ross. And so amid the women's mounting anxiety commences a series of flashbacks, each telling the story of how the three individual marriages had come in their own way to be so strained at the present... - Director:
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Cast:
- Celeste Holm, Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell
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In this irresistible musical, the legendary dancing duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are at the pinnacle of their art as a feckless gambler and the shrewd dancing instructor in whom he more than meets his match. Director George Stevens laces their romance with humor and clears the floor for the movies showstopping dance scenes, in which Astaire and Rogers take seemingly effortless flight in a virtuosic fusion of ballroom and tap styles. Buoyed by beloved songs by Dorothy Fields and Derome Kern - including the Oscar-winning classic "The Way You Look Tonight" - 'Swing Time' is an exuberant celebration of its stars' chemistry, grace, and sheer joy in the act of performance. - Director:
- George Stevens
- Cast:
- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore
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Paul Newman heads a superb cast featuring Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott and Piper Laurie in this riveting film that received an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture of 1961 and brought all four of its stars Oscar nominations. Newman is electrifying as Fast Eddie Felson, an arrogant, amoral hustler who haunts back street pool rooms fleecing anyone who'll pick up a cue. Determined to be acclaimed as the best, Eddie seeks out the legendary Minnesota Fats, who's backed by Bert Gordon. The love of a lonely woman could turn Eddie's life around, but he won't rest until he bests Minnesota Fats, no matter what price he must pay. - Director:
- Robert Rossen
- Cast:
- Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie
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When shy, emotionally fragile Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland), the daughter of a wealthy New York doctor, begins to receive calls from the handsome spendthrift Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she becomes possessed by the promise of romance. Are his smoldering professions of love sincere, as she believes they are? Or is Catherines calculating father (Ralph Richardson) correct in judging Morris a venal fortune seeker? - Director:
- William Wyler
- Cast:
- Olivia De Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson
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