THE FILMS OF POWELL & PRESSBURGER
Join us for special screenings celebrating the influential work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the legendary filmmaking duo profiled in the new documentary MADE IN ENGLAND. Tickets are at regular Ross prices – available online and at the Ross Box Office.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger enjoyed a partnership unique in the history of cinema. For nearly twenty years, from 1939-1957, they worked together on equal terms through the most challenging war that Britain had faced and the frustration of the years that followed, devising some of the most daring and original films that have ever emerged from British studios. Presented and narrated by Martin Scorsese, the documentary MADE IN ENGLAND: THE FILMS OF POWELL & PRESSBURGER (showing at The Ross August 9-22) explores the work and influence of these legendary filmmakers and the personal impact their work had on Scorsese’s life.Â
MONDAY, AUGUST 19 – 7:10 p.m.
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943)
Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a stirring masterpiece like no other. Roger Livesey dynamically embodies outmoded English militarism as the indelible General Clive Candy, who barely survives four decades of tumultuous British history, 1902 to 1942, only to see the world change irrevocably before his eyes. Anton Walbrook and Deborah Kerr provide unforgettable support, he as a German enemy turned lifelong friend of Candy’s and she as young women of three consecutive generations—a socially committed governess, a sweet-souled war nurse, and a modern-thinking army driver—who inspire him. Colonel Blimp is both moving and slyly satirical, an incomparable film about war, love, aging, and obsolescence, shot in gorgeous Technicolor. -Criterion (Run time: 2 hours, 43 minutes / Not Rated)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 20 – 7:10 p.m.
BLACK NARCISSUS (1947)
This explosive work about the conflict between the spirit and the flesh is the epitome of the sensuous style of Powell and Pressburger. A group of nuns—played by some of Britain’s finest actresses, including Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, and Flora Robson—struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad. A darkly grand film that won Oscars for Alfred Junge’s art direction and Jack Cardiff’s cinematography, Black Narcissus is one of the greatest achievements by two of cinema’s true visionaries. -Criterion (Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes / Not Rated)Â
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 – 7:10 p.m.
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946)
After miraculously surviving a jump from his burning plane, RAF pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) encounters the American radio operator (Kim Hunter) to whom he has just delivered his dying wishes, and, face-to-face on a tranquil English beach, the pair fall in love. When a messenger from the hereafter arrives to correct the bureaucratic error that spared his life, Peter must mount a fierce defense for his right to stay on earth—painted by production designer Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff as a rich Technicolor Eden—climbing a wide staircase to stand trial in a starkly beautiful, black-and-white modernist afterlife. Intended to smooth tensions between the wartime allies Britain and America, Powell and Pressburger’s richly humanistic A Matter of Life and Death traverses time and space to make a case for the transcendent value of love. -Criterion (Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes / Rated PG )
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – 7:10 p.m.
THE RED SHOES (1948)
The singular fantasia The Red Shoes is cinema’s quintessential backstage drama, as well as one of the most glorious Technicolor feasts ever concocted for the screen. Moira Shearer is a rising star ballerina torn between an idealistic composer and a ruthless impresario intent on perfection. Featuring outstanding performances, blazingly beautiful cinematography by Jack Cardiff, Oscar-winning sets and music, and an unforgettable, hallucinatory central dance sequence, this beloved classic stands as an enthralling tribute to the life of the artist. -Criterion (Run time: 2 hours, 15 minutes / Not Rated)