smw's - Rented List
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Hangmen Also Die! (1943)Trust the People / Never Surrender
At the height of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, four German exiles in Hollywood - director Fritz Lang, playwright Bertolt Brecht (earning his only US credit), composer Hanns Eisler and actor Hans Heinrich von Twardowski - pooled their talents to create Hangmen Also Die!, a remarkable film about the Czech resistance. Twardowski plays Reinhard Heydrich, an SS Obergruppenfuhrer and the 'Reich-Protector' of Czechoslovakia, known alternately as The Hangman' and The Butcher of Prague'. When he is assassinated by a surgeon (played by Brian Donlevy), the city is locked down and the doctor must rely on the help of the resistance to evade capture. - Director:
- Fritz Lang
- Cast:
- Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee
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Claire Danes delivers another phenomenal performance as Carrie Mathison in the fifth enthralling season of the acclaimed series Homeland. Now working at a private security firm in Berlin, Carrie is trying to start a new life, but she soon discovers she can't escape her past. Blindsided by stunning betrayals, and without Saul (Mandy Patinkin) and Quinn (Rupert Friend) to rely on, Carrie must uncover a deadly conspiracy that puts thousands of lives at risk, including her own. - Director:
- Lesli Linka Glatter
- Cast:
- Claire Danes, Hélène Cardona, Rupert Friend
- Formats:
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After his release from the asylum, to celebrate his return to the real world, Neale (Ray Milland) visits a local carnival, only to accidentally receive the "prize" of a cake which was meant for a Nazi agent. When he discovers the error, he turns for help to a detective, whose investigations only serve to make the situation more complicated. Neale soon winds up on the run from both the Nazis and the police, who mistakenly believe him guilty of murder. He is led to Scotland Yard, where his fate entwines further with a Nazi front organization, and an unlikely love affair. - Director:
- Fritz Lang
- Cast:
- Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond
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When Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a young African-American man, visits his white girlfriend's (Allison Williams) family estate, he becomes ensnared in the more sinister, real reason for the invitation. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behaviour as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined. - Director:
- Jordan Peele
- Cast:
- Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener
- Formats:
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Gripping suspense escalates to a fever pitch in the brilliantly reinvented fourth season of this Emmy Award-winning thriller. In her new role as a CIA station chief. Carrie (Emmy winner Claire Danes) convinces Saul (Emmy winner Mandy Patinkin) and Quinn to help her hunt down one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. But when Carrie recruits a young Pakistani as an asset, the lines between right and wrong are blurred and the operation spins out of control. Facing unclear loyalties at every turn. Carrie must take extreme measures and risk everything to protect her country. - Director:
- Lesli Linka Glatter
- Cast:
- Claire Danes, Mona Sishodia, Rupert Friend
- Formats:
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The Tower is this year's visually stunning, high rise roller-coaster. When disaster strikes at the top of a 108 floor skyscraper, the lives of thousands are put in danger. Faced with catastrophe, the city's fireman must overcome the odds and find a way to safety for those trapped. As chaos reigns and the building nears collapse will the ultimate sacrifice have to be made...? - Director:
- Ji-hoon Kim
- Cast:
- Sang-kyung Kim, Darrel Delfin, Joe Thomas
- Formats:
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As Carrie (Emmy winner Claire Danes) and Saul (Emmy winner Mandy Patinkin) search for the truth behind the bombing of CIA headquarters, lines are blurred between friend and foe and no one can be trusted. While hiding a stunning secret of her own. Carrie helps recruit Brody (Emmy winner Damian Lewis) for a dangerous mission that could offer him a chance at redemption. But when the plan unravels and Brody is targeted deep inside Iran, he must put his life in Carrie's hands, leading to one of the most suspenseful and shacking season finales in TV history. - Director:
- Lesli Linka Glatter
- Cast:
- Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Rupert Friend
- Formats:
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Beneath Jim Marshall's veneer as the all-American father and Husband, there lies a deep-seated and long-suppressed desire that is about to ruin his family's idyllic existence. When Elaine Marshall catches her husband and his lover in a hotel room, her anger quickly turns to shock as she discovers that Jim's paramour is actually a young man. What ensues is painful soul-searching for Elaine and her children: was their once tight-knit family nothing more than a sham And when it comes to assigning blame, who is at fault for Jim's sudden change of heart? When word finally spreads throughout the community, the Marshall kids have trouble dealing with the inevitable indignities. Over time, Elaine and her children come to accept Jim's lifestyle and through the painful process of healing they learn that they can still love one another as a family. - Director:
- Arvin Brown
- Cast:
- Jean Smart, John Terry, Phillip Geoffrey Hough
- Formats:
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Deep below the streets of London, descending past Temple tube in the beating heart of the city, lies a dark secret. An illegal clinic has been set up in an abandoned subterranean network of tunnels. Daniel (Mark Strong) is a surgeon driven by personal tragedy to treat anyone who is willing to pay for medical help outside the system. Aided by Lee (Daniel Mays), a disgruntled transport employee, and Anna (Carice van Houten) a guilt-ridden medical researcher, they treat a variety of increasingly desperate and highly dangerous patients, as Daniel's morality is tested to the limit. - Director:
- Luke Snellin
- Cast:
- Mark Strong, Daniel Mays, Carice van Houten
- Formats:
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Sarah Lancashire stars in the compelling four-part drama about the abduction of a young child, written by award-winner Jack Thorne. Miriam (Sarah Lancashire) is an experienced, no-nonsense social worker who loves and believes in her job, but has a maverick and instinctive approach to protecting the children in her care. Miriam arranges for Kiri to have an unsupervised visit with her biological grandparents. But when Kiri disappears during the visit, the fingers of suspicion and blame from the police, the press, and even her colleagues, point firmly at Miriam. As the media spotlight around the story intensifies, Miriam, as well as both sets of families, are forced to ask the toughest questions, not just of themselves, but of each other. - Director:
- Euros Lyn
- Cast:
- Finn Bennett, Paapa Essiedu, Sarah Lancashire
- Formats:
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Manhunt: Series 2 (2021)Manhunt: The Night Stalker
"Manhunt II: The Night Stalker", a four-part drama, is the real-life story of the police pursuit of a notorious serial rapist whose 17-year reign of terror left thousands of elderly people in south east London living in fear. It is based on the diaries of Colin Sutton (Martin Clunes) and is an important case that he became involved in just before his retirement from the Force. This inquiry has a very different emphasis to the Levi Bellfield case explored in Manhunt; the victims were elderly, and the crimes were unsolved for many years. The drama explores how Colin came late to the inquiry and helped solve it in a matter of weeks, taking an incredibly dangerous serial rapist off the streets. - Director:
- Marc Evans
- Cast:
- Martin Clunes, Jude Akuwudike, Sara Lloyd-Gregory
- Formats:
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Midway (1976)The Battle of Midway
Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda lead an all-star cast in 'Midway', interweaving the dramatic personal stories of the men who fought one of the most important battles of World War II. Just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway sounded its furious thunder in June 1942, which became the turning point of the Pacific for the United States. Featuring breakthrough war footage, Midway conveys the powerful reality and epic sweep of a nation's defining battle. - Director:
- Jack Smight
- Cast:
- Charlton Heston, Paul Frees, Henry Fonda
- Formats:
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Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant engineer on her first shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). On a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone, tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the darkness. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go farther out into the terrifying expanse of space. - Director:
- Alfonso Cuarón
- Cast:
- Ed Harris, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
- Formats:
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As the 1970's are drawing to a close, Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) and her family find themselves preoccupied with safeguarding the line of succession by securing an appropriate bride for Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor), who is still unmarried at 30. As the nation begins to feel the impact of divisive policies introduced by Britain's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), tensions arise between her and the Queen which only grow worse as Thatcher leads the country into the Falklands War. While Charles' romance with a young Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin) provides a much-needed fairytale to unite the British people, behind closed doors, the Royal Family is becoming increasingly divided. - Director:
- Benjamin Caron
- Cast:
- Michael Buerk, Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies
- Formats:
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49th Parallel (1941)The Invaders
A powerful and important piece of Second World War propaganda, which controversially takes the Nazi's point of view. Asked to make a flag waver by the Ministry of Information, Michael Powell elected to set the action in Canada and, like Casablanca, called for an end to the USA's isolationist policy. The film features a stellar cast, who all waived their fees in the interests of the war. A Nazi U-boat is sunk by the Canadian Air Force and all the crew are lost except six men who had been sent ashore before the attack. They stumble across a village where Scott, Peter and his servant Martin live. The Allies send an S.O.S plane, and it is the intention of the Nazis to hijack it and fly to neutral America. - Director:
- Michael Powell
- Cast:
- Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Richard George
- Formats:
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