The Masters  
The Powell & Pressburger Pages

Dedicated to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and all the other people, both actors and technicians who helped them make those wonderful films.

A lot of the documents have been sent to me or have come from other web sites. The name of the web site is given where known. If I have unintentionally included an image or document that is copyrighted or that I shouldn't have done then please email me and I'll remove it.

I make no money from this site, it's purely for the love of the films.

[Any comments are by me (Steve Crook) and other members of the email list]

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Events & Excursions

If you want to join in (or present) any of these, or similar events or excursions, then please email Steve or contact the location mentioned. Similarly, if you would like to submit a report of an event or screening (even if it wasn't listed here) then that can be added to this web site.

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8 & 11 December 2004
Tom Ruben tells us:
They are showing Peeping Tom twice at the NFT next month: 8:45 on Wednesday 8th December; and 6:20 on Saturday 11th December, when it will be introduced by Matt Hills of the Cardiff School of Journalism.

29 & 30 November 2004
Terry Hanstock tells us:
AMOLAD in BC
Spotted in Georgia Straight (Vancouver) dated 25-Nov-2004

Restoration At The Ridge
By Ken Eisner

Lovers of classic cinema should hightail it up to the Ridge on Monday and Tuesday (November 29 and 30) for a special presentation, at 8 p.m. each night, of a rarely seen masterpiece. A Matter of Life and Death, which mixes dreamy colour and rich black-and-white, is one of the most enigmatic yet accessible films devised by the unique directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

The 1946 film, starring David Niven as a wartime fighter pilot on a final mission (and known in the U.S. as Stairway to Heaven), will be seen in a gloriously restored new print. It will also be introduced by Pressburger's daughter, Angela Pressburger, and Michael Anderson, a veteran director from about the same era (Logan's Run, Around the World in 80 Days). They both happen to live, luckily for us, on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast.

7 December 2004
Nicky Smith tells us:
They are showing Peeping Tom at the Curzon Soho as part of their season of films about optics and vision (in conjunction with the Hayward Gallery's Optical Illusions exhibition).
See Curzon Soho for details

Sunday 28 November 2004
The Red Shoes - in Cardiff, S. Wales
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road
Canton
Cardiff
CF5 1QE

The programme says:
Has any film ever used music more effectively and eloquently than this Powell-Pressburger classic? It's also a study of the pride, pain and passion involved in the processes of creating art, wonderfully designed and photographed, with an absolutely stunning central ballet sequence.

Sunday 31 October 2004
Sunday Repertory - Black Narcissus
This week's Sunday Repertory at the Curzon, Mayfair, includes a screening of Black Narcissus (1947) at 1.40 pm.

Of all the P&P films this is one of the ones that really deserves to be seen on a big screen so that those wonderful vistas and stunning colours completely fill your field of view.

For more details & booking, see the Curzon Cinema web site.

Saturday 16 October 2004
'Locating Powell' One day conference & exhibition
Nick Burton of Canterbury Christ Church University College tells us:

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of ACT, we are having a Powell exhibition in our new gallery - The Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury's High Street - from 9 October to 11 December this year. We are also organising a one week PnP film festival in conjunction with Cinema 3, as part of the Canterbury Festival. We are holding a one day conference in the Powell Building (Canterbury Christ Church University College) on Saturday 16 October.

See Conference leaflet
and reports from the festival

Sunday 10 October 2004
Paul Tritton tells us:

Just to let you know that I will be leading a location walk around Canterbury on Sunday Oct 10, setting off from Canterbury West Station at 11.15 am. We will visit places in the city where key scenes in A Canterbury Tale were filmed and of course the Cathedral. The itinerary will be much the same as the 2002 location walk [That's the one I had to miss because of a burst appendix - Steve] but I'll send you more details nearer the day.

This will be part of the Canterbury Festival/Powell exhibition (opens Oct 9) + films programme.

See also Festival web site
and reports from the festival

9 October 2004 - 16 October 2004
August 2004 marks the 60th anniversary of the world-premiere - in Canterbury - of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's classic film, A Canterbury Tale, whilst 2005 will be the centenary of Powell's birth.

To mark these occasions there are a number of special events and 16 Powell & Pressburger (or just Powell) films being screened.

Schedule:
Date Time Film (or Event)
Sat 9th Oct 18:20 A Canterbury Tale (1944)
UK version
To be introduced by Sheila Sim
21:20 Peeping Tom (1960)
Sun 10th Oct 11:00 ACT Location Walk
See above
17:20 Black Narcissus (1947)
To be introduced by Jack Cardiff
20:50 The Red Shoes (1948)
Mon 11th Oct 18:50 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
To be introduced by Billy Childish
Tue 12th Oct 18:50 Rynox (1932) +
His Lordship (1932)
Wed 13th Oct 18:50 Gone to Earth (1950)
Thu 14th Oct 18:50 Red Ensign (1934) +
The Phantom Light (1935)
Fri 15th Oct 18:20 I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
20:50 Smith (1939) + The Volunteer (1943) +
The Edge of the World (1937)
Sat 16th Oct 09:45 'Locating Powell' conference
See above
13:50 A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
18:20 Age of Consent (1969)
21:50 A Canterbury Tale (1949)
US version

All showing at the Gulbenkian Theatre, UKC
Special guests, speakers etc. TBC

For ticket prices/updates tel: 01227 769075 or www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian

See also Festival web site
and reports from the festival

30 September 2004
Terry Hanstock tells us:

Jack Cardiff re-visits his birthplace

Oscar winner festival coup
STEPHEN PULLINGER

Eastern Daily Press 12 August 2004 12:29

Oscar-winning director and cinematographer Jack Cardiff will be a star guest on the opening night of Yarmouth's first film festival.

The 90-year-old cinema legend - involved in such classics as The Red Shoes (1948) and The African Queen (1951) returns to the town where he was born to give a 30-minute master-class on cinematography at the Hollywood Cinema (http://www.hollywoodcinemas.net/greatyarmouth.php) on Thursday, September 30.

That will be a prelude to the showing of A Matter of Life and Death (1946), a celebrated Technicolor film on which he was solely in charge of the photography.

Festival organiser Feargus Mack said: "It is a real coup because Jack is renowned as Britain's finest exponent of colour photography in the post-war years."

He was born in Yarmouth in 1914 while his parents, both vaudeville performers, were appearing in a show.

The borough council tourism department hopes the four-day festival will attract thousands to the town. It plans to make it an annual event.

Films - many with local connections - will be shown at a variety of venues, including the Hollywood, the Hippodrome Circus, Britannia Pier and St George's Theatre.

Mr Mack said: "We were keen to involve the 19th century theatres to give a more atmospheric experience to cinema buffs."

The first showing, on the Thursday morning, will be the 1954 Doris Day film Calamity Jane. It will be screened at the former Regent Cinema - now Mecca bingo hall in Regent Road - and the entry price will be the same as when the cinema closed in 1982.

East Anglian Film Archive footage will include a compilation on The Broads Remembered and two films on the town's fishing industry.

Mr Mack's colleague, Kat Downes, said: "We will have the first UK showing of all three Lord of the Rings films back to back, as well as the three Matrix films in the same way."

A Dad's Army evening, on the Friday, focuses on episodes of the comedy classic shot in Yarmouth. Other highlights include an animation workshop for children.

Details from the borough tourism department on 01493 856100.

Barbara's report and pictures.

24 - 26 September 2004
Malcolm Pratt writes:

Special Announcement: The Magic and Humanity in Memphis

I am very pleased to finally be able to announce that a major Retrospective/Celebration honoring Powell and Pressburger will take place this Sept. 23-26 in Memphis.

I have established Cinema Memphis, Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to increasing the awareness, appreciation and understanding of the great works in the history of the cinema arts. On Sept. 23-26 we will be presenting the 2004 Cinema Memphis Retrospective - "The Magic and Humanity: A Celebration of the Amazing Films of Powell and Pressburger." The Retrospective will include the screening of six of the greatest films by Powell and Pressburger at the exquisite, 2100-seat Cannon Center for the Performing Arts located near the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. The films will all be 35mm archival prints shown on a huge screen, and the films to be screened are:
The Red Shoes (1948) Fri, Sept. 24
Black Narcissus (1947)
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)		 Sat, Sept. 25
The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)		 Sun, Sept. 26

Full details at www.cinemamemphis.org

We are pleased to be able to announce that Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell, the widow of Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese's Oscar winning editor will be at the retrospective and speak and answer questions after each movie on Sept. 25 and 26.

29 August 2004
Paul Tritton writes:
To all my "A Canterbury Tale" associates
A date for your diary

This year's guided walk to "A Canterbury Tale" locations will be at Fordwich, near Canterbury, on Sunday, August 29.

We will meet at the St Mary's parish church (the location for the 'Sunday morning service' scene) late morning, for an introductory talk;
have lunch at the the Fordwich Arms or the George & Dragon (where Michael Powell stayed in 1943 while making the film, and used as a background for one of the 'Hand of Glory' scenes);
and then visit Fordwich Town Hall (the inspiration for the sets Michael Powell created for the 'blackout' scenes) and nearby locations.

I will send you a programme in due course and you will also be able to find details here.

Meanwhile, if you intend to stay overnight in the Canterbury area before or after the event, please note that August 29 is the day before August Bank Holiday and local 'B&B' accommodation is likely to be fully booked well in advance that weekend.

The George & Dragon (tel. 01227 710661, fax 01227 711380) offers B&B from £39 a night.

I also hope to organise a location walk in Canterbury during the Canterbury Festival in October, visiting film locations in the city, Canterbury Cathedral, and the King's School (attended by the young Michael Powell).

Regards
Paul

See details of the location walk.

26 August 2004
Christoph Michel writes:

Oberstdorf (Germany) and Kleinwalsertal (Austria) are hosting FILMGEWITTER: a joint, border-straddling festival of mountaineering films starting to-day and ending Sunday.

It may be of particular interest to PnP members that The Challenge (1938) will be shown on the huge open-air Kurpark screen in Oberstdorf at 8.30 tomorrow night - strictly speaking, the film's German premiere.

Full programme

Hope this isn't stale news (a quick trawl of the archive didn't yield fitting results).

Anybody in the area?

Regards,
Christoph

22 August 2004
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Matter of Life and Death
Sunday Repertory at
Curzon Soho
99 Shaftesbury Avenue
London
W1D 5DY

22 August 2004
They're a Weird Mob - in Sydney, Australia
The Filmseen at
Hurstville Civic Cinema
MacMahon Street
Hurstville
NSW

See the film in the City in which it was made and set.

11 August 2004
Peeping Tom
Nicky Smith tells us:
Prince Charles Cinema's Art in the 60s programme http://www.princecharleserver1.com/. And while you are there, you could pop next door to the church with the Cocteau screens which was used in Miracle in Soho.

4 - 25 August 2004
James Oliver tells us:

Hi Steve,
Just to let you know that there's a short season of P+P films at the Cambridge Arts Picture House in August. There's two obvious titles and two slightly rarer films.

Wednesday 4th August - IKWIG!
Wednesday 11th August - Oh... Rosalinda!
Wednesday 18th August - AMOLAD
Wednesday 25th August - 49th Parallel

All of them screen at 14.00.

I'm not entirely sure which ones I'll be going to - hopefully as many as possible but it depends (as it so often does) on cash flow. But if you see a short tubby chap skulking around, that'll probably be me....

Arts Picture House
38-39 St Andrew's Street
Cambridge
CB2 3AR

Box Office Tel: 01223 50 44 44

14 - 15 June 2004
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Andrew Smaje tells us:
Anyone who's near West Yorkshire may want to head along to the National Museum of Film, Photography and Television on Monday or Tuesday next week - they have Blimp showing on both those nights. They're the opening films in a week-long season of films by european refugees of the 20th century. Followed by Sunset Boulevard, Zulu, Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (how often do you see that?), and The Four Feathers.

As it happens, I'm up in Bradford (and not in Bath) that whole week. Except the 2 days Blimp is on. Grrrrrrrrrrr

25 March - 12 June 2004
Gone To Earth - on stage.
A touring production of GTE by Shared Experience

20 May 2004
Graham Johnston reports:
Thought you might like to know that this film is being screened at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal on Thursday 20th May at 2pm.

Admission is only £2 (or £3 with tea & biscuits!).It's part of their regular Thursday afternoon 'Silver Screening' series of films so admittance may only be intended for OAP's - but you can always 'phone them on 01539 725133 to check if that is the case or not.

Note: I called them and they say all are welcome - Steve

6 June 2004
Richard Layne reports:
The Phoenix Picturehouse in Oxford are marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day with a showing of A Matter of Life and Death at 12:15 on Sunday 6th June

See http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/Oxford/whats-on.htm
(although the June programme is not on there yet).

28 March 2004
AMOLAD & BN at the Curzon, Soho
I got an email saying:
Hi,
I'm probably among many to email this- but I work for Curzon and got rather over-excited at the double bill of Black Narcissus and A Matter of Life and Death showing at the Curzon Soho on March 28th...
I hope you post this on the site...
Thanks
Helen

12:15pm - Black Narcissus (1947)
 2:10pm - A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

93-107 Shaftesbury Avenue
London
W1D 5DY

Tel: 020 7734 2255

25 February 2004
The Small Back Room at The Arts Club
John A. S. Abecasis-Phillips reports:
There will be a screening of The Small Back Room at 6.15 pm at
The Arts Club
40 Dover Street
(off Piccadilly)
W1S 4NP

They will be showing a 16mm print.

2 February 2004
The Tales of Hoffmann at the Cine Lumiere
There is a screening of The Tales of Hoffmann at
Cine Lumiere
Institute Français
17 Queensberry Place
London
SW7 2DT

Tel: 020 7073 1350

24 January 2004
Chelsea Spear reports:
Dear Steve:

I am a film programmer in Boston, Massachusetts, and I am happy to report that I will be showing Powell & Pressburger's Tales of Hoffmann in honor of ETA Hoffmann's two-hundred-and-somethingth birthday :)

Details:
SATURDAY, 24 JANUARY, 2pm
Honan-Allston Public Library
300 North Harvard Street, Allston, MA 02134
Directions: http://www.bpl.org/branches/allston.htm

The event is FREE and open to the public.

We will also have a speaker TBA present to talk about the role of dance in films of ETA Hoffmann.

20 January 2004
A Canterbury Tale in Cambridge

Tuesday, 20th January 2004 at 9:15
Arts Picture House
38-39 St Andrew's Street
Cambridge
CB2 3AR

18 January 2004
The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann in Cambridge
Tim Parker reports: I thought that some of you might like to know that the Picturehouse cinema in Cambridge is showing a double-bill of The Red Shoes and Tales of Hoffman this Sunday (18th) at noon. They are also showing A Canterbury Tale on Tuesday 20th at 9.15. It's a lovely cinema, with the added bonus of being right next door to a pub.

Sunday, 18th January 2004 at 12 noon
Arts Picture House
38-39 St Andrew's Street
Cambridge
CB2 3AR

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