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Michael Powell
When asked who is the greatest British film director of all time, those of a more prosaic bent will come up with the obvious replies of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean but Powell is truly the master. A man who lived, ate, drank and breathed film, thirty years before cinephiles like Martin Scorsese.
His films made under the Archers banner with writer and producer Emeric Pressburger are some of the most striking and dynamic films ever. The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp has been called the British 'Citizen Kane' it is a far superior film in many ways more subtle, optimistic and moving.
A Matter Of Life And Death renamed Staircase To Heaven in the US is one of the most life affirming films ever made and during the dark days of the war. The Black Narcissus is pure cinema in that Powell manages to create a convincing recreation of the Himalayas in the home counties. The Red Shoes is perhaps his best film, being the best expression of the kind of 'composed' cinema he wished to make, music, painting, dance, colour and light in an expressive symphony of emotions, as Powell said 'Not great art but great entertainment.'
One of Powells last films Peeping Tom made without Pressburger and written by Louis Marks is one of the most profound and disturbing films about the human psyche ever made.
If you have even a slight interest in cinema seek out all his films. Also read his two excellent volumes of auto-biography.
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Filmography
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Michael Powell - what members say
Michael Powell - filmography
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Age Of Consent
(1968)
Starring: James Mason, Helen Mirren, Jack MacGowran
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate: 
Disillusioned with life, celebrated artist Bradley Morahan (James Mason) retreats to the solitude of a tropical island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The island, however, turns out to be far from uninhabited. Bradley soon stumbles upon Cora, played by Helen Mirren (The Queen), a beautiful, ..read more »
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54%
from 15 members
Not currently released
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They're A Weird Mob
on DVD
(1966)
Starring: Walter Chiari, Clare Dunne, Chips Rafferty
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate: 
Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant coming to Australia to work with his cousin for a magazine. But finding that both the magazine and is cousin are long gone, he takes a job for a construction firm. But falling for the bosses daughter presents a problem for the new arrival.
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56%
from 51 members
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Peeping Tom
on DVD
(1959)
Starring: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate: 
Mark Lewis, assistant cameraman at a London film studio, aspiring movie director, part-time taker of pornographic pictures, and amateur documentary film-maker, has begun murdering women. He kills them, literally, with his camera and films the attacks and the murders. He also surrepititiously films ..read more »
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64%
from 3,328 members
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Gone To Earth
on DVD
(1950)
Starring: Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Certificate: 
In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's GONE TO EARTH, Hazel (Jennifer Jones), a beautiful young gypsy girl, falls for a local hunter (David Farrar) who wants to kill her pet fox. This simple yet breathtaking film was later re-edited as THE WILD HEART.
Rate this:
61%
from 494 members
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The Red Shoes
on DVD
(1948)
Starring: Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Certificate: 
This seminal dance film, created Powell and Pressburger, in which an impresario takes a ballerina under his wing, deftly combines interpretive dance with drama. This acclaimed adaption of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale results in a marked triumph of artistic collaboration and modernity. More ..read more »
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69%
from 3,522 members
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Contraband
(1940)
Starring: Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Hay Petrie
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate:
This is the tale of life in a British port in the first year of World War II. Spies and smugglers abound in the blackout and unreal shore life of the "phoney war" (before the shooting started).
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62%
from 23 members
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The Thief of Bagdad
on DVD
(1940)
Starring: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez
Director: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell
Certificate:
Prince Ahmad is the rightful King of Bagdad but he has been blinded and cast out as a beggar. Now a captive of the wicked Grand Vizier Jaffar he is cast into a dungeon where he meets Abu, the best thief in all Bagdad. Together they escape and set about a series of adventures that involve a Djinni ..read more »
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71%
from 295 members
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The Spy in Black
(1939)
Starring: Conrad Veidt
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate:
A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet. But the Captain gets more than he bargained for in his contact, the local school mistress.
Rate this:
63%
from 44 members
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The Edge Of The World
on DVD
(1937)
Starring: Niall MacGinnis, John Laurie, Belle Chrystall
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate:
Watch now: Subscribe and watch this as part of an unlimited package.
On a remote Scottish island, poor harvests and bad weather are bringing an end to the traditional ways of life. The islanders must decide whether to abandon their homes and seek employment on the mainland. Director Powell's breakthrough film, shot on the island of Foula, was a particularly ..read more »
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68%
from 691 members
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Espionage
Starring: Roger Livesey, Anthony Quayle
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate:
Unseen for over 40 years, Espionage is one of the rarest and most sought-after ITC series. Produced by George Justin (Twelve Angry Men) and Herbert Hirschman (The Zoo Gang), this anthology series of 24 plays covered everything from the then-current Cold War to 19th century China, from Johnson's ..read more »
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40%
from 1 member
Not available for rental
Michael Powell - watch online
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The Edge of the World
to Watch Now
(1937)
Starring: John Laurie, Belle Chrystall, Eric Berry
Director: Michael Powell
Certificate: 
Watch now: Subscribe and watch this as part of an unlimited package.
Run time: 74 minutes
Shot over four arduous months in the wild, windswept Shetland Islands, Michael Powell's first independent production establishes the daring techniques and experimentation that would later become familiar hallmarks of his career. The Edge of the World tells the moving story of a remote island and ..read more »
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60%
from 6 members
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Michael Powell facts
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Life in wartime was a pilgrimage 18 July 2004
...ot of a bird in 14th century England transforming into a warplane in the 1940s, Michael Powell's camera brings out a landscape full of the past - despite being affected both ...
A cinematic wet dream 5 July 2004
