Michael Powell
Michael Powell
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8. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Because production was held up on "A Matter of Life and Death," British directing duo Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger needed something else to work on in the meantime. That something was 1945's "I Know Where I'm Going!" Centering on a woman who attempts to cross land and sea to chase after a rich industrialist, the film takes themes of anti-materialism present in "A Canterbury Tale" and presents them in a more accessible romantic comedy format.
7. One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942)
Considered one of the most iconic British films of all time, Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger's "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" is a propaganda film that acts as an inverse to their previous film "49th Parallel." While "49th Parallel" dealt with the enemy Nazis trying to survive in Allied territory, "One of Our Aircrafts is Missing" finds a group of Allied trapped in Nazi-occupied territory. Released in 1942 at the heat of the war, the film was one of many in-war propaganda films that dealt with this ever-present subject matter in a way that inspired its citizens to collective for the nation and their safety.
6. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
After the rousing success of new technicolor films in the US in the late 1930s, the UK tried their hand at making a technicolor epic, 1940's "The Thief of Bagdad." The film is essentially a remake of the 1924 silent Hollywood version and is loosely based on "Arabian Nights," or as contemporary Americans would be familiar with: the story of "Aladdin." The film required multiple directors in order to compose the extensity of its visual landscape. Its technicolor visuals, epic and grand scale set pieces, and use of visual effects (including the first ever use of the "manual bluescreen"), were all the film's primary achievement in visual language and cinematic technology.
5. A Canterbury Tale (1944)
The first box office failure of the filmmaking team Michael Powell & Eric Pressburger was 1944's "A Canterbury Tale." Although it was snubbed by audiences at the time, it has gone on to retrospective praise. The film, like many other Powell & Pressburger films at this time, takes place in England during the ongoing global war. The film thematically poses the notion that the past always haunts the present and centers on a group of young people stationed in Canterbury as they attempt to figure out their place in this crisis. Although it was not shot in technicolor like many of the other films by this team, cinematographer Erwin Hillier managed to provide some expressionism to the typical realism of Powell & Pressburger.
4. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Although Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger had used technicolor for the 1943 masterpiece "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," their string of technicolor hits starting in 1946 with "A Matter of Life and Death" would come to define their career. "A Matter of Life and Death" centers on a British airman who cheats death after surviving a plane crash and must stand up against a grand jury in the afterlife to argue his continued time on Earth. The film was a visual marvel and even thematically contemplated England's place in the new post-war global landscape. The films to after this would be the monoliths of their career, but "A Matter of Life and Death" represented a new starting point for the post-war career of Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger.
3. 49th Parallel (1941)
At the introduction of the second World War, Michael Powell was approached by the British Ministry of Information to make an anti-Nazi propaganda film. Powell agreed and hoped to also sway the then-neutral United States into joining the war efforts. The resulting film was "49th Parallel" and centers on a group of Nazis stranded in Canada. As the Nazis traverse Canada trying to escape (and being murderous while they're at it), they face ideological and political differences with the liberal democratic individuals they find. Although the film didn't release in the United States until after they entered the war, it was still incredibly successful and is now considered one of the finest anti-Nazi films that came out during the war.
2. Black Narcissus (1947)
At the time of the release of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's "Black Narcissus" in 1947, the United Kingdom had begun the process of decolonization in India. Although Powell and Pressburger's film doesn't specifically pertain to this retreat in the elements of plot, its overarching themes seem to touch upon England's lack of connectivity to these regions they've colonized. On top of this, "Black Narcissus" dives into thematic elements of eroticism and our sensual and natural desires that are in direct contrast to the systems of order created to contain them. The film's technicolor visual imagery also made a historical impact on the film medium, as audiences literally gasped at the breathtaking visual imagery by Powell and Pressburger.
1. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Often considered on the greatest British films ever made, "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" details the complex history of England in the 20th century and its tricky relationship to its rival Germany. One would think that a film released at the height of World War II would be more black and white, but Powell and Pressburger's towering film is far more complex and self-examining. It is a film that centers on the fictional character of Colonel Candy (not Colonel Blimp) and follows his journey through the colonial power of England, its war with the Boers, and its two subsequent World Wars. Unlike the typical propaganda films at the time, "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" is far less interested in portraying the relationship of England and Germany as entirely one-sided. Rather, it details a complex history that poses questions about England's hand in Germany's contention with them. It is a film that ponders what it means to be British and provides a complex construction of the nature of a country and its people.
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