Berlin International Film Festival, David Hinton, documentaries, Emeric Pressburger, Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, Martin Scorsese, Michael Powell, movies, reviews, Tribeca Festival, Tribeca Film Festival
July 13, 2024
by Carla Hay
“Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger”
Culture Representation: The documentary film “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” features Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese narrating a retrospective of movies made by filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who were nicknamed The Archers and who made movies together from 1939 to 1972.
Culture Clash: Powell and Pressburger received both praise and criticism for making movies during World War II that were considered propaganda for Allied Forces.
Culture Audience: “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Powell and Pressburger; narrator Martin Scorsese; and British films from the 1940s and 1950s.
“Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” is essential viewing for cinephiles. This informative documentary is not only a richly rewarding journey exploring the movies of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, it’s also a tribute to cinema history. Martin Scorsese’s narration makes this retrospective film feel academic yet personal. It has the tone of someone who is teaching a class on Powell and Pressburger, but with the perspective of someone who is an Oscar-winning admirer who turns the lessons in the class into an absorbing cinematic experience.
Directed by David Hinton, “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” features Scorsese narrating the film on camera and in voiceover. There are no “talking head” interviews, which would actually be unnecessary and counterproductive to the intimate style of Scorsese’s narration. The documentary consists primarily of footage that is edited together to demonstrate what Scorsese is saying. “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” had its world premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival and its New York premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.
Scorsese (who was born in New York City in 1942) begins the documentary by telling a personal story of how Powell and Pressburger influential to him in his childhood. Scorsese’s childhood asthma prevented him from playing outside a lot or engaging in sports like many of his peers. Instead, when he was at home, he often stayed inside and watched a lot of TV. It was through television that Scorsese says he discovered the films of Powell and Pressburger.
“Some of the very first moving images I remember seeing are from ‘The Thief of Baghdad.’ I didn’t know it then, but Michael Powell was one of the directors on that film,” Scorsese says near the beginning of the documentary. “And, for a kid, there can be no better initiation into the Michael Powell mysteries. This was a picture made by a great showman. And every image filled me with great wonder. The power a movie can hold—it absolutely enthralled me.”
Scorsese says that he experienced these movies for the first time on a black-and-white TV screen instead in Technicolor in cinemas. “And yet, it still had the power to grip me and stay with me forever in my mind.” Scorsese then explains that British films had a major impact on him because at the time, British film distributors would license their films to American television, but American distributors typically would not.
Powell (who was born in 1905 and died in 1990) and Pressburger (who was born in 1902 and died in 1988) were nicknamed The Archers, which was also the name of their production company. Powell was born in England, while Pressburger was a Hungarian native who immigrated to England in 1935, to escape from Nazi invasions. They collaborated on 24 films between 1939 and 1972—mostly lushly filmed dramas, whimsical comedies or intense action-adventures, sometimes with hints of scandals or controversies, and many that were anti-Nazi World War II films.
Their first movie together was 1939’s “The Spy in Black.” Some of the duo’s most notable films include 1941’s Oscar-winning “49th Parallel”; 1943’s “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” which Scorsese says is the first masterpiece” from Powell and Pressburger; 1944’s “A Canterbury Tale”; 1946’s “A Matter of Life and Death”; 1947’s “Black Narcissus”; 1948’s “The Red Shoes”; 1957’s “The Tales of Hoffmann.” All of these movies are featured in this documentary.
As for how they worked together, they would co-write their screenplays. Pressburger (the more introverted partner) would usually outline the movie’s scenes, while they both worked on the dialogue together. Powell (the more extroverted partner) usually directed the movies they did together, although they shared director credits for almost all of their movies. Powell and Pressburger also shared producer credits for their movies. Pressburger was more involved in their movies’ film editing than Powell was.
In the 1970s, after Scorsese became a successful filmmaker, he got to know Powell even more, especially after Powell relocated to the United States and was hired out of semi-retirement to work as a creative director for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope production company. Scorsese also talks about another personal connection to Powell: His longtime film editor Thelma Schoonmaker (another Oscar winner) was married to Powell from 1984 until his death in 1990.
Because of Scorsese’s more personal connection to Powell, this documentary tends to focus more on Powell than on Pressburger, in terms of what happened to Powell and Pressburger after they amicably ended their creative partnership as filmmakers. The documentary includes some archival footage of Powell and Pressburger doing interviews separately and together. There’s also some behind-the-scenes footage of Scorsese and Powell together on the set of Scorsese’s 1983 film “The King of Comedy,” starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lee Lewis.
The documentary’s visual tour of Powell and Pressburger’s filmography is told by Scorsese with an appreciation that makes it evident that he is still in awe of their talent but doesn’t shy away from talking about the low points in the duo’s collaborations. There are also some behind-the-scenes stories of how Powell and Pressburger films were made and how they influenced Scorsese’s own moves. For example, In Scorsese’s analysis of “The Red Shoes,” he talks about how the 15-minute uncut ballet sequence influenced how he filmed the boxing sequences in Scorsese’s 1980 film “Raging Bull.”
Scorsese has a storytelling style in his narration that is thoroughly engaging. Adrian Johnston’s beautiful musical score is another perfect part of this documentary. While watching this documentary, if you don’t feel transported to the time when these films were made, then you must not be paying any attention. “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” is shaped largely by Scorsese’s unabashed fan testimonials to this often-underrated duo but the documentary serves as a definitive story of an impactful collaboration that can never again be recaptured.
Cohen Media Group released “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” in select U.S. cinemas on July 12, 2024.