soniagee's - Rented List

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What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930's and 40's and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of cell phone and bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for 'Snow White' and 'Catwoman' and a

technological trailblazer who perfected a radio system to throw Nazi torpedoes off course during WWII. Weaving interviews and clips with never-before-heard audio tapes of Hedy speaking on the record about her incredible life - from her beginnings as an Austrian-Jewish emigre to her scandalous nude scene in the 1933 film 'Ecstasy' to her glittering Hollywood life to her ground-breaking, but completely uncredited inventions - 'Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story' brings to light the story of an unusual and accomplished woman, spurned as too beautiful to be smart, but a role model to this day.

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An angry young Marlon Brando scorches the screen as 'The Wild One' in this powerful 50s cult classic. Brando plays Johnny, the leader of a vicious biker gang that involves a small, sleepy California town.

The leather-jacketed young biker seems hell-bent on destruction until he falls for Kathie (Mary Murphy), a "good-girl" whose father happens to be a cop. Unfortunately for Johnny, his one shot at redemption is threatened by a psychotic rival, Chino (Lee Marivn) plus the hostility and prejudice of the townspeople. All their smouldering passions explode in an electrifying climax.

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Liverpool 1978: What starts as a vibrant affair between a legendary femme fatale, the eccentric Academy Award-winning actress Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening), and her young lover, British actor Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), quickly grows into a deeper relationship, with Turner being the person Gloria

turns to for comfort. Their passion and lust for life is tested to the limits by events beyond their control.

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Jack Nicholson gives a show-stopping performance as Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive novelist who takes pride in his ability to affront, repulse, offend and wound. His targets are random, his aim reckless. But when neighbour Simon is hospitalised, Melvin is forced to babysit Simon's dog.

And that unexpected act of kindness - along with waitress Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) - helps put Melvin back in the human race.

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A gripping tale of romance and crime set in the dark alleyways of the Casbah in Algiers. Charles Boyer is gangster Pepe Le Moko who has been on the run from the authorities in his native Paris.

The Casbah is a safe haven, where he mixes with people similar to himself; but years of being trapped in a routine without change has taken its toll and he becomes homesick for the lights of Paris. His spirits are lifted when Gaby (Hedy Lamarr) appears. She's elegant and beautiful and oozes sophistication - all reminders of his previous life in the clubs and bars of Paris - unfortunately she's also the mistress of an older man; and Pepe also has Ines (Sigrid Gurie), not known for her even temper. The jewel bedecked Gaby is too much of a prize for Pepe to ignore, even though the feisty Ines is ignored at your peril. But police Inspector Slimane (Joseph Calleia) is only too well aware of the unfolding love tangle and just bides his time before landing his biggest prize yet.

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Jo (Rita Tushingham) is an awkward, shy 17-year-old girl living with her promiscuous alcoholic mother, Helen (Dora Bryan) in the grey, bleak, tenement houses of Manchester.

Desperately longing to simply be loved, when her mother's latest boyfriend drives Jo out of their apartment she spends the night with a black sailor on a brief shore leave. When Jo's mother abandons her to move in with her latest lover, Jo finds a job and a room for herself. Then Geoffrey (Murray Melvin) drifts into her world, a shy and lonely homosexual, with whom she agrees to share her flat. When Jo discovers that she is pregnant with the sailor's child, Geoffrey, Grateful for her friendship, looks after her, even offering marriage. But their brief taste of happiness is short-lived for Jo's fickle and domineering mother wants to be part of the picture.

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John Payne, Sonja Henie and Milton Berle star in this lighthearted romantic comedy that features the Glenn Miller Orchestra as a struggling band named The Dartmouth Troubadours.

The group is about to get its big break at a posh Sun Valley ski resort, when the romance between singer Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari) and piano player Ted Scott (Payne) is shaken by a publicity stunt set up by band manager "Nitty" Allen (Berle). "Nifty" has arranged for Ted to adopt a war refugee, and Ted becomes responsible for a beautiful Norwegian (Henie) who decides she wants to marry him!

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I've Loved You So Long is the outstanding, critically celebrated breakthrough film of the year.

Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient) offers a truly sensational performance in this utterly engrossing and deeply moving tale of two sisters who rebuild their relationship after fifteen years apart. The two women gradually rediscover common ground and learn how to relate to one another through the memories of their shared childhood, all the while the spectre of their time apart looming overhead... This intelligent and compassionate film is a testament to the power of family, love and forgiveness.

A murdered girl's defiant mother (Frances McDormand) boldly paints three local billboards, each with a controversial message, igniting a furious battle with a volatile cop (Sam Rockwell) and the town's revered chief of police (Woody Harrelson).

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When her mother falls ill under mysterious circumstances, young Eve (Fantine Harduin) is sent to live with her estranged father's wealthy relatives in Calais. But trouble is brewing, as a series of intergenerational back-stabbings threaten to tear the family apart.

Meanwhile, distracted by infidelities and betrayals, they fail to notice that their new arrival has a sinister secret of her own.

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"Dance with a Stranger" is a moving insight into a tragic "Crime of Passion" that changed the conscience of a nation. It is the story of one woman and two lovers - each driven by the all-powerful forces of sexuality.

Ruth Ellis (Miranda Richardson), a glamorous nightclub hostess and mother of two children, embarks on a tempestuous affair with a handsome racing driver David Blakely, played by Rupert Everett. A series of tragic consequences culminate in the execution of Ellis in 1995 - an execution that led to a tidal wave of emotion and the abolition of capital punishment. This is a film that does more than chronicle a series of events; it captures perfectly the mood of a post-war nation.

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Winona Ryder stars as Finn, a Berkeley graduate student whose summer months are divided between her thesis and pondering a marriage proposal at the home of her grandmother and great aunt.

Stories of past love and heartache unfold from members of her grandmother's quilting bee and things get even more complicated when Finn meets the sexy Leon.

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Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) has just been appointed to a key ministerial position in the shadow cabinet the crowning achievement of her political career. She and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) plan to celebrate this with a few close friends.

As the guests arrive at their home in London the party takes an unexpected turn when Bill suddenly makes some explosive revelations that take everyone present by surprise. Love, friendships and political convictions are soon called into question in this hilarious comedy of tragic proportions

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1902: John McCabe (Warren Beatty) turns up in a northwest mining town called Presbyterian Church, starts gambling and sets up a successful brothel with his girlfriend Constance Miller (Julie Christie), an opium-addicted madam.

They refuse an offer from the mine operators to buy them out, but the mine bosses refuse to take no for an answer.

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Years of police work have taught Detective Finlay that where there's crime, there's motive. But he finds no usual motive when investigating a man's death by beating. The man was killed because he was Jewish. "Hate", Finlay says, "is like a gun".

Robert Young portrays Finlay, Robert Mitchum is a laconic army sergeant assisting in the investigation of G.l. suspects, and Robert Ryan plays a vicious bigot in a landmark film noir nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Edward Dmytryk (Murder, My Sweet) directs, draping the genre's stylistic backdrops and flourishes around a topic rarely before explored in films: anti-Semitism in the U.S. Here, Hollywood takes aim at injustice...and catches bigotry in a 'Crossfire'.