Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger films

[Konway]

What are your favorite and least favorite films from Michael Powell and Emeric pressburger? You can also write about Peeping Tom. I also always liked their Black Narcissus especially because of beautiful scenery in the film and also great performance from Kathleen Byron. I also enjoyed other films like Colonel Blimp and The Small Back Room. Peeping Tom was an interesting effort from Michael Powell.

My least favorite was The Red Shoes. I tried to like it. But somehow I wasn't into it.

[movieman1957]

There are some older posts here about P & P.

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... ressburger

I'm partial to "Black Narcissus." Looking at his imdb list I was surprised to see how many listings there are for his writing.

[charliechaplinfan]

Black Narcissus is stunning, I love The Red Shoes, I know Where I'm Going, Gone To Earth and A Matter of Life and Death. We had a directors poll here a while back Konway and Michael Powell was ranked at number 2, he's definetly a favourite around here.

I've noticed 2 threads on British directors Konway, are a fan of British movies? Who are your favourite stars from British cinema and your favourite films?

[moira finnie]

Konway, I think you'll find many of us love P & P movies. My personal favorite is I Know Where I'm Going (1945) which still enchants, but I'm also very partial to The Spy in Black (1939), parts of The 49th Parallel (1942) and Gone to Earth (1952). I know what you mean about The Red Shoes. I can enjoy it visually as a triumph in Jack Cardiff's career and a great ballet film, but the only person I feel for in the story is Anton Walbrook, who's trapped in the hermetically sealed world he's created for himself (and is clearly envious of the young couple and his prima ballerina's ability to feel and express herself).

I have yet to see the intriguingly odd-sounding Oh, Roslinda! (1955), though I wasn't wild about The Tales of Hoffman (1951), which was in a similar vein. I'd still like to see them. I have to give Black Narcissus a rest for a few years before seeing it again. I must have caught it about 35 times in the last few years and it needs to burnish over time in my memory again before I look at it with fresh eyes. Peeping Tom was okay, and I liked The Small Back Room very much.

[ChiO]

I went back to that 2-year old thread to see how I might have changed my mind. Nope. Still my three favorites, in order:

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
PEEPING TOM (post-Pressburger)
EDGE OF THE WORLD (pre-Pressburger)

I also love:

49th PARALLEL
ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING
A CANTERBURY TALE
I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING

I can't think of any that I dislike (the above just being the favorites), but the two that I just haven't been able to feel great love for and sense that I must really be missing something are BLACK NARCISSUS and THE RED SHOES (Forgive me, Marty!).

[Konway]

charliechaplinfan, my favorite British actors are Alastair Sim, Michael Redgrave, Robert Donat, and Esmond Knight. But my favorite actor is Cary Grant (born in England, but his films were made in America). I also like other actors like Laird Cregar, Michael Wilding, Robert Montgomery, and George Sanders. My favorite actresses are Kathleen Byron and Teresa Wright. My favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock. I also like Anthony Asquith, Jack Clayton, and David Lean.

ChiO, I can understand your feeling when you saw you weren't into Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. I share the same feeling with you about The Red Shoes. This is the same case with me about Citizen Kane. I can't understand why it is known as the greatest film of all time. I liked Black Narcissus, because I liked Sister Ruth. I felt sorry for her just like Taplow's feeling toward Crocker Harris in The Browning Version (1951). What do you think about Colonel Blimp?

Despite its flaws, I like Peeping Tom. For the people who love The Red Shoes, I noticed couple of similarities between The Red Shoes (1948) and Alfred Hitchcock's Waltzes From Vienna (1934). I wonder if Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger got some influences from Waltzes from Vienna.

SPOILERS (The Red Shoes)

In The Red Shoes, Victoria loves Julian. But she also wants to be a successful dancer. In Waltzes from Vienna (1934), Johann Strauss Jr. is deeply in love with his girl friend Rasi. But he also wants to become a successful music composer. Esmond Knight played the music composer Johann Strauss Jr. in Waltzes from Vienna (1934). Esmond Knight played the music conductor Livy in The Red Shoes. Bill Shine who played Carl in Waltzes from Vienna (1934) also played a role in this film. Some of the dialogue in this film also have some similarities with the dialogue in Waltzes from Vienna (1934).

Here is one example - Close to the end of this film, Julian says to Lermontov - ""Because you are jealous of her." Lermontov replies - "Yes, I am. But in a way that you will never understand." In Waltzes from Vienna, Rasi says to Countess Helga - "From the very beginning, you made up your mind to take him away from me." Countess Helga replies - "Yes, I would like take him away from you. But not in a way you mean."

[MissGoddess]

My favorites are A Canterbury Tale and Black Narcissus, followed by Gone to Earth and I Know Where I'm Going!

I was a ballet dancer for ten years and have never warmed to The Red Shoes! Though it is visually stunning, no denying that.

[Konway]

So I am not the only one who isn't interested in The Red Shoes. I haven't seen "I know Where I'm Going." But I will check it out soon.

[ChiO]

I was a ballet dancer for ten years and have never warmed to The Red Shoes!

And I was married to one for 7 years. Coincidence? (No...I don't think she even knew who John Ford was. But she thought my taste in films was weird, except for our shared enjoyment during those years of Giancarlo Giannini.)

This is the same case with me about Citizen Kane. I can't understand why it is known as the greatest film of all time.

Didn't anyone give him the "Welcome Back" package? No re-orientation at all? Hold me back...hold me back.... (and I don't want to read any of that VERTIGO pish-posh)

[Konway]

I see what you mean. Vertigo is considered today as greatest film of all time. I like Vertigo a lot.

Anyway back to Powell & Pressburger films. Does anyone have a favorite scene from the films of Powell and Pressburger?

In Canterbury Tale, I like the scene where Eric Portman and Sheila Sim talk in the field.

[moira finnie]

In Canterbury Tale, I like the scene where Eric Portman and Sheila Sim talk in the field.

That's one of the best. Eric Portman was a great actor, but that scene is magical making the centuries melt away for an instant.

I also like this speech by the Mennonite played by Anton Walbrook in The 49th Parallel. Anton begins around 2:50, after Portman's Nazi tirade:
[youtube][/youtube]

In Black Narcissus, the scene when Flora Robson struggles to explain why she planted flowers instead of vegetables always gets me. She couldn't help herself, she explains as she leans on her hoe.

In The Spy in Black, when Valerie Hobson greets the spy (Conrad Veidt) at night at her isolated house, he asks questions curtly and then stops, stunned at the sight of something before him. Is it a gun? A glaring breach of security? Suddenly, he strides forward, grasps an object on the table, and inhales the smell, sighing in German "Buh-ter!"

[Konway]

Interesting, moira finnie. My favorite scenes in Black Narcissus have to do with Sister Ruth.

Here is an interesting trivia.

I want to point out that Michael Powell casted Esmond Knight in his 11 films. Thats a lot. Esmond Knight also worked with Hitchcock in Waltzes from Vienna (1934).

[MissGoddess]

Oooh, I want to see The Spy in Black! I never even heard of it but now I know Veidt was in it, I am curious. It's the good people here and TCM who really made me a Veidt fan.

How I wish P&P could have made a film with Vivien Leigh.

[charliechaplinfan]

Konway, I think you'll like I Know Where I'm Going, a film that I always think of in the same vein though not by Powell and Pressburger is Whisky Galore, I don't know if you've ever watched it but I think you'll like it.

Cary Grant is also my favourite British actor, even though he made his movies in America, another one high up on my list is James Mason, favourite directors David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock and Chaplin who I should also include in the actors list. Actresses, Wendy Hiller, Deborah Kerr, Vivien Leigh, Phyliss Calvert and Margaret Rutherford.

I love Peeping Tom although I think it got panned by the critics. There hasn't been a Powell and Pressburger movie I haven't liked.