An Airman's Letter to His Mother

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE
Shortfilm

Inspired by a letter from a pilot published posthumously in The Times, this short film was made spontaneously by Powell, and shows the imagined mother receiving the letter in her cottage, surrounded by reminders of her son's youth. Even while they were mounting this extraordinary challenge to simple realist propaganda [The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp], Powell and Pressburger were responsive to the immediate needs of the war effort: Powell had personally produced and largely photographed a short film in 1941, An Airman's Letter to His Mother, based on an actual letter to The Times. No doubt they were also intrigued by the invitation to help boost recruitment for the Fleet Air Arm, which lacked the glamour of the RAF. Ian Christie (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger: Arrows of Desire)

YEAR   1941 PRODUCTION   Michael Powell DIRECTOR   Michael Powell SCREENPLAY   Michael Powell PHOTOGRAPHY   Michael Powell, Bernard Browne CAST   Narratzailea/Narrated by/Narrador: John Gielgud RUNNING TIME   5 m.

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