smw's - Rented List

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Directed by Philip Leacock, this sensitive children's adventure paints a fine picture of an isolated community in a harsh environment.

Set early in 20th Century Nova Scotia, Canada, two orphaned Scottish boys are sent to live an austere life with their puritan grandfather Jim Mackenzie (Duncan Macrae) and kindly grandma (Jean Anderson). Mackenzie is respected but not liked and has a bitter heart due to the death of his son during the Boer War. However his love for the boys is undeniable and his desire to protect them from the evils of the world results in them feeling isolated and starved of affection. To fill the void in their lives, the boys ask for a dog, but when this request is denied, they adopt a baby they find abandoned in the woodlands. Meanwhile, a search party has assembled to track down the lost baby which results in a happy conclusion for all concerned.

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It's 1966, and it's a testing time for the nuns and midwives. With Trixie's help, Sister Julienne is determined to steer Nonnatus House out of its financial quandary. Dr Turner deals with an array of difficult cases, including a former soldier involved in nuclear test explosions.

Meanwhile, Sister Monica Joan experiences a crisis of faith, and Sister Frances realises she needs to be a little less spiritual if she's to really connect with the local women. There are some interesting challenges ahead, as well as great celebrations when England wins the football World Cup.

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Johnny Aysgarth (Cary Grant) is a handsome gambler who seems to live by borrowing money from his friends. Whilst travelling on a train in a first class carriage with only a third class ticket, he meets shy Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) whom he soon starts to date and before long they marry.

Only after their honeymoon does she discover his true character in this film-noir thriller.

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Deborah Kerr (in the performance of her career) plays the emotionally repressed vicar's daughter who takes up a job as a governess to two seemingly angelic orphans.

Gradually coming to believe that the children are possessed by the perverse spirits of their former governess and her sadistic lover, she begins to see manifestations of the ghosts prowling the huge gothic mansion of Bly House. Director Jack Clayton sustains a superbly haunting atmosphere throughout the film, and like James' original work, cleverly retains the ambiguity of wether the ghosts are real or the products of the governess's fevered imagination. Aided by Freddie Francis's exquisitely inventive and atmospheric CinemaScope photography, we, like the governess, are never quite sure what unspoken horrors are lurking beyond the edge of the frame and are kept guessing until the film's tragic conclusion.

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Opening with the funeral of Winston Churchill in January 1965, series nine continues with Nonnatus House entering a bold and innovative era. As the tower blocks multiply, and a new East End rises from the ashes of the old, society becomes more prosperous, but more complex.

Our familiar team of medics and midwives face unexpected challenges as the population shifts, rules change, and old diseases come back to haunt them. Meanwhile, their own experiences are fuelled by love, loss, and doubt - and the very fabric of their lives is jeopardised when Nonnatus itself comes under threat of demolition.

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The Tower of London stands on the banks of the River Thames, one of the most stately and recognisable symbols of Britain. For over 900 years it has served the nation in many ways - as a fortress, palace, prison, treasure house, armoury and Royal Mint.

Since it was founded by William the Conqueror, it has seen both fabulous opulence and the darkest of deeds, spectacular pageantry and insidious intrigue. Kings have been murdered here and Queens put to the axe. Spies and traitors have been executed and innocents butchered to suit ruthless ambitions. It has gained the nickname 'The Bloody Tower', with good reason indeed...Made with unique access, this hugely detailed Channel 4 series uncovers both the private and public sides of The Tower, revealing the hidden history of well-known stories and uncovering forgotten Tower secrets. Using dramatic reconstructions, sumptuous aerial photography, detailed computer generated walkthroughs and expert commentary from Tower historians, it includes all the famous incidents in the Tower's history from the daring escape bids and Captain Blood's theft of the Crown Jewels to the disappearance of the Little Princes and the execution of Ann Boleyn. 'The Tower' also takes you behind the scenes to see how the Tower is run and to witness many of its private ceremonies including the Ceremony of the Keys, the Ceremony of Lilies and Roses and the Installation Parade for the new Constable of the Tower.

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Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier), an itinerant handyman, is driving through the Arizona desert when he meets five impoverished nuns.

Stopping to fix their leaky farmhouse roof, Homer discovers that not only will the Mother Superior not pay him for the job, but she also wants him to build their chapel - for free! Hesitant at first, Homer soon finds himself single-handedly raising the chapel and the financing. But although he will not receive monetary reward, Homer knows that when his work is done, he'll leave that dusty desert town a much better place than when he found it.

Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty. Richard Harris is an ill-fated killer-for-hire. And Hackman is a lawman of sly charm...and chilling brutality

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Relive the classic moments from all six Christmas specials. Christmas is here, and in Poplar the nuns and midwives of Nonnatus House are busier than ever.

From the discovery of an abandoned baby on the convent's doorstep, to Chummy staging an unforgettable nativity play, and the midwives being transported to South Africa to try and save Hope Clinic, a tiny mission hospital - each Christmas proves to be a memorable one.

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"Ackley Bridge" returns for a fourth season -xu with more irreverent and emotionally charged stories.

Newly appointed headteacher, Martin (Robert James-Collier) grapples with the mounting demands of his job as well as a crumbling marriage, all while trying to keep the head of the Valley Trust, Ken Weaver (George Potts) off his back. Kaneez (Sunetra Sarker) has settled into her role as Head of Student Support, but she's also juggling with the guardianship of her complicated 15-year-old nephew, Tahir (Shobhit Piasa), who arrives from Manchester to stay with the Paracha's (Nazmeen Kauser)'s and joins the classmates of Ackley Bridge College. Plus there could be trouble in paradise - all's been well between her and Rashid (Tony Jayawardena), but can they get through the visit of his difficult mother Zainab (Leena Dhingra) who comes to stay from Lahore?

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Public schoolmaster Andrew Crocker-Harris (Michael Redgrave) has become a bitter, disillusioned man.

Stuck in a loveless marriage with a wife Millie (Jean Kent) who openly cheats on him, the enthusiasm he once showed for his career and his pupils has long since vanished and The Crock' has become a figure of disdain among the students whose life he has made a misery. With ill-health forcing him to resign his long-standing post, a simple act of kindness from one boy has a profound impact on the seemingly heartless master.

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This gripping psychological drama stars Emily Watson as dedicated forensic psychiatrist, Emma Robertson, who is assigned to work with Connie Mortensen (Denise Gough), a wife and mother accused of a despicable crime.

Her assessment of the so-called 'yummy mummy monster's' sanity will determine whether Connie faces life in jail, life in a secure psychiatric hospital, or the chance of rehabilitation and release. Emma hopes that the high-profile case will make her career, but her sessions with Connie quickly become a complex psychological game of cat and mouse with confusing sexual undercurrents. Connie has a searing insight into Emma's insecurities and brutally exploits them. Can Emma see to it that justice is done without destroying herself in the process?

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Meis is fifteen, lives in the back of beyond and aspires to a grand and stirring life, dreaming of love and sex with a fantasy figure "Brad". Meis is not the only one dreaming of escape: her whole family seem to be waiting and dreaming of escape to a better life.

During one of Meis' forbidden, dangerous nocturnal visits to a half-collapsed bridge, deliverance finally arrives as she witnesses a car crash - and from the wreckage emerges a young man about 19 years old.

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Series 8 of BBC One's 'Call the Midwife' continues to explore complex medical and personal stories on the midwifery and district nursing rounds.

It is now 1964 and times are changing, from the introduction of the contraceptive pill and the availability of a new cancer-screening programme, to the building of high-rise tower blocks. The nuns and nurses continue to face a variety of challenging issues including cleft palate, sickle cell and illegal abortion. And for one of the team, romance could be on the horizon.

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Henry Buchanan (David Warner), travels from England to teach in a small Canadian town. His outspoken views on the evil of war causes a ripple in the town, and when it is discovered that he was a conscientious objector in World War I, the citizens of the town are outraged.

But it's his friendships with both the enigmatic rich divorcee Mrs. Boswell (Honor Blackman) and Clarissa (Trudy Young), the daughter of the town's most prominent citizen, that will get Henry into the most trouble of all...