[Back cover]
Red Ensign
Directed and written by Michael Powell
With Leslie Banks, Carol Goodner, John Laurie.
Great Britain 1934.
This was Michael Powell's twelfth film in four years as a director, and
his first in the robust campaigning style of his wartime classics such as
49th Parallel. David Barr, shipbuilder, fights to keep the yards
working during the depression of the 1930's. The story of his struggle for
a British shipbuilding industry can also be read as a plea for a strong
British film industry, reflecting Powell's own lifelong commitment.
"It was the first time that Michael Powell himself realised that there
was something special about a Powell film, something going on on the screen,
or behind the screen, which you couldn't put your finger on, something intriguing,
aloof, but in the long run memorable."
Michael Powell - A Life in Movies (1986)
[Inside sleeve - left]
The film starts with a montage of idle shipyards and a flurry of written
titles: "For over 200 years the British Mercantile Marine has carried the
Red Ensign to every port in the world. Today many of our ships lie idle
for want of cargoes. Shipyards are deserted. The distress flag is flying."
This is the story of David Barr, ship-builder, and his fight to bring back
prosperity to British ships'. The film thus announces a strategy in strong
contrast to that of John Grierson's celebrated documentary movement, which
was likewise concerned with social issues and with imperial trade (it was
initially sponsored by the Empire Marketing Board) but which distrusted
the use of the personal story to carry a propaganda message. In turn, Michael
Powell was never slow to express his dislike of documentary methods and
of the documentary hegemony in British film culture, and Red Ensign
bears this out in the purposeful way it uses a triangular love affair to
resolve its political story: David Barr fights the cautious businessman
Lord Dean both for the affections of heiress June MacKinnnon, and for the
use of her money to finance his construction programme.
Powell pointedly gives a minor character the name of Grierson and has him
pointed out as 'the best riveter in the yard' The film has some strong documentary
footage, put together in a style that evokes Soviet montage, but is not
afraid of embracing the theatrical in terms of sets and acting style. This
blend, and the strong crusading tone of the film, prefigure the distinctive
kind of patriotic work Powell would do in wartime in partnership with Emeric
Pressburger, in films like 49th Parallel (1941) and A Canterbury
Tale (1944). Red Ensign is of equal interest as an early Powell
film and as a document of 1934, one which now seems to be as much about
the British cinema as about British shipping. Barr campaigns to have the
Board of Trade impose a quota on the shipping industry: this will support
British ship-building by compelling British ship-owners to buy a minimum
proportion of their fleets from British yards. It is precisely the mechanism
which the Board had been applying to the film industry since the Films Act
of 1927 in the face of powerful opposition from many exhibitors and distributors.
When Barr speaks out against the short-sightedness of his board's policy
of 'internationalism', he is told that "we're here to discuss business,
not patriotism", and replies that "patriotism is good business, can't you
see that?" In the words of Geoff Brown (Monthly Film Bulletin, September
1981): "the temptation to equate Barr's struggle to make an all-British
ship with the emerging work of Powell (and indeed Michael Balcon, his executive
producer) is irresistible!"
Charles Barr
[Any relation to David Barr I wonder?]
[Inside sleeve - right]
Michael Powell (1905-1990) grew up in Kent and became fascinated by film-makers
like Gance and Griffith while still a schoolboy at Dulwich College. His
father moved to France and in 1925 found him a humble job with Rex Ingram's
MGM unit based near Nice, where he was able to sample many aspects of movie-making
before returning to England in 1928. Soon established as a prolific director
of mainly low-budget thrillers, he revealed his ambition with The Edge of
the World (1937), which led to a contract with Korda's London Films, a share
of directing duties on the spectacular Thief of Bagdad, and the start of
a twenty-year partnership with the writer Emeric Pressburger on The Spy
in Black (1939).
Together they created some of the most original film contributions to the
war effort, including 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel
Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), 1 Know Where I'm Going! (1945) and
A Matter of Life and Death (1946). The Archers, as Powell and Pressburger
now signed their joint films, continued to exploit Technicolor and a vein
of metaphysical melodrama in Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948),
before renewed crisis in the British film industry forced them into the
compromised co-productions of Gone to Earth and The Elusive Pimpernel (both
1950). The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) marked the artistic climax of their
'total cinema', but led to three years of failed projects. After Oh Rosalinda!!
(1955) and two nostalgic war films, The Battle of the River Plate and Ill
Met by Moonlight (both 1956), the partnership ended.
Powell found scant backing in Britain for his romantic vision, so he went
to Spain for Luna de Miel (1959), Germany for Bluebeard's Castle (1964)
and Australia for They're a Weird Mob (1966) and Age of Consent (1969).
His later career suffered from the scandal of Peeping Tom (1960), which
offended many, while also inspiring younger British and American film-makers-
including Martin Scorsese, who helped secure its re-release and became an
eloquent champion of Powell and Pressburger's work. Powell's last decade
saw impressive restorations of his major films by the National Film Archive,
tributes and retrospectives around the world, and the first volume of his
autobiography, A Life in Movies (1986).
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