The Archers (Powell & Pressburger): S/D

"Pity?"

"Pity when you get home and people ask you what you've seen in England and you say, 'I saw a movie in Salisbury... and I made a pilgrimage to Canterbury and saw another one.'"

"You've got me all wrong. I know that in Canterbury I have to look out for a cathedral."

"Do look out for it. It's just behind the movie theater, you can't miss it."

sorry

I loved A Canterbury Tale but I've only seen it once & long ago so cannot be too helpful about it. I'm not sure that there is anything profound underlying its mysticism but it is quintessentially English and beautifully done. I need to see this film again, it's the only major Archers film I haven't seen several times and I suspect it'd be at least my second favourite.

A Matter of Life and Death, Peeping Tom (not Pressburger, from memorty) and Black Narcissus all excellent, but I've never managed to get much enthusiasm up for Colonel Blimp despite it probably being regarded as among their best (if not their best?).

I admire it most for its beautiful, and somewhat eerie evocation of a centuries-old way of English life.

I saw Jack Cardiff a few weeks ago, and he told some great stories. And apparently Michael Powell loved almost every suggestion that he got from people. "Wonderful! Let's do it!" or something to that effect - he said exactly the same phrase every time.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002153/

Anyway, no, that wasn't a death tribute - that was the prelude to his Honorary Oscar. (Which, IIRC, is the only honorary one ever awarded to a technician.)

am hoping A Canterbury Tale gets a repeat shortly (the ch4 matinees seem to repeat on a yearly basis - things are turning up again now that i watched this time last year, The Spy In Black being one of them).

Red Shoes was on in the last month or so too but i think i was helping hopkins move house.

monday 19th 13:15: the elusive pimpernel
tuesday 20th 13:00: a canterbury tale
thursday 22nd 13:20: ill met by moonlight

Destroy: Powell's autobiography, rivaled only by Isaac Asimov's in length and tediousness.

The Pressburger bio that came out several years back was pretty good though. Maybe the guy who wrote it was his nephew or grandson?

And has anybody seen any of Powell's quota quickies? I have this strange memory of being in a hotel and a movie called something like Rynox came on the television and then it said "Directed by Michael Powell," but I had to go out so I didn't watch it. The beginning was nothing special.

http://telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/08/13/bfdvds13.xml&menuId=564&sSheet=/arts/2005/08/13/ixfilmmain.html

The Powell & Pressburger Box Set:
Battle of the River Plate;
A Canterbury Tale;
49th Parallel;
I Know Where I'm Going;
Ill Met by Moonlight;
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp;
The Red Shoes;
A Matter of Life and Death;
They're a Weird Mob
Granada Ventures, DVD (9 discs), £17.99; only in HMV

18 quid is a good deal.
"only in HMV"?

I saw A Canterbury Tale last year, then went to Canterbury with the Vicar and Rener! It was a bit like, in the film.

I seem to have had half an eye on I Know Where I'm Going so many times.

A Matter Of Life and Death will always be the central picture for me.

including the HMV website (where it's still 40 quid). i guess this is an instore deal or the website's old. (or the guardian and the times were both wrong)

I saw a (WWII?) lifeboat movie that was shot by Jack Cardiff once that was pretty interesting- google tells me it was called Western Approaches.

Is it only £17.99 if you pick it up "in store"? I'm not familiar with HMV as I'm not from the UK. But damn, I want this.

No, the radio subplot involves her fiancé. Checking up on this led me to discover that Petula Clark has a small role in the movie.

not even then according to starry who popped out at lunchtime. appears both papers were incorrect.

Next Sunday is The Red Shoes and the TCM premiere of- they said it couldn't be shown on television - Peeping Tom.

Yes

I saw it at MoMA but it is also streaming on MUBI UK & Ireland

It’s good. It tells a story you may already know but still packs a little bit of a punch.

This review is a wee bit harsh at times but basically OTM. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/made-in-england-the-films-of-powell-pressburger-review/

Thought it was a reasonable choice to keep close to Marty’s POV.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, but I would say make sure you watch all the key movies before seeing it as it's pretty spoilerish

Good point!

Some of the bigger scenes in BLACK NARCISSUS, of course I’d seen many times before but having seen the doc immediately beforehand lessened any residual shock or surprise even more. Which wasn’t really a problem, there was plenty of other stuff to focus on.

Yeah. But I think it would be sad to have the end of Red Shoes, Life and Death and the plot of Blimp all revealed before seeing these fantastic movies!

Totally

Basically always good to go in knowing as little as possible.

I remember certain films where I was the man who knew too much going in and I then had to watch extra times before I could enjoy them properly.

One thing that still managed to shock and cause laughter was the first sight of David Farrar riding that tiny Bhotiya pony/Bhutia horse, bare-legged and in earth-color shorts, like some kind of cover boy UPS man mystery date.

One thing I recently learned from a commentary track was that Kim Hunter had been recommended to Powell by Alfred Hitchcock. Prior to AMoLaD she was a contract player who had mostly only been in screen tests and only then offscreen, feeding lines to the other actors. While Mickey was in the US to fetch her he ran into Kathleen Byron, who he convinced to move back to the UK to appear in that film and of course the two others.

Of course when I was a kid I only knew Kim Hunter as Zira.

Seems like there are some other minor roles in her filmography before that so maybe this was just another Mickey print the legend exaggeration, simliar to him claiming that "Poppa" Percy Day had worked with Méliès and that the famous rocket in the moon's eye image was his.

The latter did work with Abel Gance on NAPOLEON though.
https://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/07/walter-percy-day-master-of-matte.html

Some people seem to like Emeric’s novel THE GLASS PEARLS.

Is “Blimp” worth seeing on a big screen? I saw ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ a couple of weeks ago, which I think does merit the big screen.

Definitely, and I’ve been meaning to type that in now for the past two days.

It’s very long and sweeping and in Technicolor. I don’t know how you would sit through it on a small screen in this day and age

Trying to decide whether I can make A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.

Think I saw it a few years back at the Film Forum.

Xpost Looks kind of interesting - had no idea he was a novelist as well until I saw the doco. What struck me watching the doco was how all these quintessentially British movies of the 40s were made by Hungarian emigre Pressburger and Powell who got his break working for an American studio in France. I guess the experimental side of their movies is not so British...

No

In the commentary track to THE SMALL BACK ROOM, Charles Barr talks about the prominence of drinking coffee in this film, as well as in BLACK NARCISSUS, as opposed to the traditional British drink of tea, and then goes into a riff about Powell being a gourmet and both of them having Continental tastes.

Don’t think I’d ever heard Pressburger speak until I saw the doc.

No Taster’s Choice Freeze-dried for The Archers

https://cinemacats.com/the-small-back-room-1949/

This 111 minute DCP version of GONE TO EARTH has clearly been restored since the 82 minute WILD AT HEART version they showed seven years ago.

Sorry, THE WILD HEART

Reminds me that I geeked out and listened to an audio adaptation of BLACK NARCISSUS with Cyril Cusack’s daughter Sinéad as Sister Clodagh.

Xpost Looks kind of interesting - had no idea he was a novelist as well until I saw the doco. What struck me watching the doco was how all these quintessentially British movies of the 40s were made by Hungarian emigre Pressburger and Powell who got his break working for an American studio in France. I guess the experimental side of their movies is not so British...

Kinda but you also have to take into account that when the Archers were working the UK as a film industry was much more open to foreign talent, there was a lot of give and take with the continent and elsewhere. The Kordas, Cavalcanti, René Clair...

my other half has read Pressburger's novel and says it is very good

my other half has read Pressburger's novel and says it is very good

oops so interesting I had to post it twice!

it was a kindle-daily-deal a month or so ago (but only kindle, it didn't filter down to the kobo-friendly stores)

Kinda but you also have to take into account that when the Archers were working the UK as a film industry was much more open to foreign talent, there was a lot of give and take with the continent and elsewhere. The Kordas, Cavalcanti, René Clair...

Think Pressburger may have actually written more than one novel

Xpost Yes good point, and I guess also that not all the films of their imperial phase were so quintessentially English - I can imagine The Red Shoes as a late 40s French movie. Can't really see A Canterbury Tales transposed to Rouen or wherever though!

Parts of ACT aren't so very far from e.g. Vigo

been a long time since I've seen it, but perhaps Clouzot's Le Corbeau?

Got my eye on GONE TO EARTH and THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL this weekend

Guess there is also a version of this series in LA right now.

These BFI notes linked by MoMA are pretty good.

Although sometimes the story changes a bit. Here Powell is quoted as saying the germ of the idea of BLIMP was from Emeric, but elsewhere he says the suggestion came from David Lean.

been a long time since I've seen it, but perhaps Clouzot's Le Corbeau?

also a very distinctively weird movie that I liked, in many ways they both directors were at odds with over-censorious arseholes from right-wing/fascist regimes, but still managed to make a great movie

https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/2016/04/04/pontesbury-woman-talks-about-her-familys-time-on-film/

Because I saw GONE TO EARTH yesterday.

Today was THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL