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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Fascinating trivia (and any goofs) connected with the film


- The story was inspired by the true story of a U-boat hijacked by Dutch dockyard workers.

- Emeric Pressburger wrote the story this film is based upon but was unhappy with the way that Vernon Sewell changed it and removed references to the brutality of the Nazis so withdrew his name as a writer.

- Reported by Christoph Michel:
Check out the insignia in the scene of the first conversation between von Schiffer (Knight), Captain Müller (Burtwell) and Jaap van Leyden (Richardson), 3 to 4 minutes into the film. Look at von Schiffer's armband: the outer sides of the swastika are too short (as sometimes seen in clumsy graffiti by slow-witted skinheads); now look at Captain Müller's chest: that little swastika in the eagle's talons is even a mirror-image, making it a sun wheel. I found this odd, not only because of the scrupulously "correct" props and costumes we are used to in films bearing the Archers' logo, but also because the other Nazi uniforms are "correct" throughout this film. A strange slip-up, especially in 1943. There isn't anything I'd deduct from this observation; it's merely a surprising intrusion of amateur-show elements into an otherwise professional production.


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