The Sorcerer's Apprentice

BFI NFTVA-TIK DATORREN KOPIA/COPY FROM BFI NFTVA/COPIA PROCEDENTE DE BFI NFTVA
Shortfilm

A ballet created in Stuttgart, where Heckroth now worked, based on the story used as the basis of Paul Dukas's scherzo, which accompanies Disney's version in Fantasia, although Powell's film owes nothing to either. Why did The Archers decide to end their formal partnership in 1956, after sixteen years together? The fact that both Powell and Pressburger had recently made films without the other suggests that their strategies were beginning to diverge. Indeed, Pressburger's only venture in solo direction, Twice Upon a Time (1953), adapted from a novel by his old friend Erich Kästner, was set partly in the ballet world; while Powell's 1955 dance short in Cinemascope, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, resulted from an invitation by Heckroth, now designer at the Frankfurt Opera. We know also that a version of Ondine, with Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer, was planned immediately before Oh... Rosalinda!! That this did not materialize probably indicates the real reason behind The Archers' decision to separate. Ian Christie (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger: Arrows of Desire)

YEAR   1955 PRODUCTION   20th Century-Fox/Norddeustcher Rundfunk DIRECTOR   Michael Powell SCREENPLAY   Dennis Arundell PHOTOGRAPHY   Christopher Challis EDITION   Reginald Mills CAST   Sonia Arova RUNNING TIME   13 m.

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