Category: Directed by Emeric Pressburger
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A Matter of Life and Death suffers the unusual condition of being too good for its own good. Writing, directing, and producing team Powell and Pressburger (The Archers), along with their crew and much of their cast, do singular work on Matter. Jack Cardiff’s Technicolor is so breathtaking a character can get away with commenting…
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp runs two and three-quarters hours and takes place over forty years. The former’s passage is sublime, the latter’s is subtle. Directors Powell and Pressburger bookend the film in the present, then flashback. The lead at the start of the film is James McKechnie. He’s a lieutenant who gets…
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Absolutely gorgeous, tedious mix of ballet and film–the twenty minute ballet sequence is twenty of the most beautiful minutes ever on film–but it’s a dramatic wreck. The script has a version of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale playing out in a ballet company as it stages the same fairy tale. Moira Shearer’s dancing is…
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Absolutely gorgeous staging of Jules Barbier opera is completely lacking, dramatically speaking. Powell and Pressburger do color German expressionism, which–again–looks great. They also haven’t got any interest in making a film out of the opera. Might be more of a success if you’re in the mood to watch an opera and not, you know, a…
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One of a kind picture from Archers Powell and Pressburger–in terms of story and visuals–about Deborah Kerr’s group of nuns establishing a convent in the Himalayas. They soon find themselves in conflict with nature and each other, as the pristine environment invokes various feelings–jealousy, pride, lust, love–all while constrained by their vocation and location. Great…
The Stop Button 