Book Review: ‘The Cinema Of Powell And Pressburger’
by Rachel Bellwoar
For those who weren’t in the UK last fall to experience BFI Southbank’s celebration of all things Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger is now at the MOMA in New York. Starting June 21st and running until July 31st, Powell and Pressburger (who made 24 films together – 19 of them feature length and many under the auspices of their production company, The Archers) will be remembered with special restored and 35 mm screenings of their films. These include the classics (like A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes) but also some of their lesser screened fare (like Oh… Rosalinda!! and Bluebeard’s Castle), as well as “…all 13 of Powell’s quota quickies known to exist…”
For those who won’t be able to attend these festivities either, though, there’s another option: The Cinema of Powell and Pressburger, a book created for the UK exhibition and edited by curators, Nathalie Morris and Claire Smith.
What’s Inside:
Starting with Morris and Smith’s introduction (which provides an overview of the other essays in this book and gets the ball rolling by familiarizing readers with some of Powell and Pressburger’s key collaborators), the book includes six essays and six notes from creatives currently working in the field who’ve been impacted or inspired by Powell and Pressburger. Note writers include costume designer, Sandy Powell (who’s worked on Todd Haynes projects like Carol and Far From Heaven, where the influence of director, Douglas Sirk, can also be seen) and artist, Michelle Williams Gamaker (who’s Dissolution trilogy asked questions like what if the casting process for Kanchi – played in Black Narcissus by Jean Simmons – had been different).
The format is essay-note-essay-note but, like all museum books, there are a ton of photos. Some of these are production stills, all properly credited with the photographers who took them. Others are props and film posters. A majority are production design drawings by Ivor Beddoes, Hein Heckroth, and other multi-hyphenate talents.
Caitlin McDonald’s essay,“Exiles,” looks at how cast and crew members on 49th Parallel (including Hungarian-born Pressburger) were affected by their “enemy alien” status, with Pressburger prevented from traveling to Canada for the shoot other than for some initial location scouting.
Mahesh Rao’s essay on Black Narcissus is another standout for focusing on Sabu and not shying away from the film’s uncomfortable aspects – namely its representation of people from India.
Then there are the films that never were. Powell’s widow (and esteemed editor in her own right) Thelma Schoonmaker Powell shares some of Powell’s diary entries for a project that’s initially referred to as Descent of the Sun, then The Dream and finally, The Lotus of the Moon, while Ian Christie’s essay, “Metaphors of Vision” closes by talking about Powell’s vision for adapting Shakespeare’s The Tempest. These aren’t just vague ideas these artists had and threw out in an interview like, “I always thought it would be cool to adapt such and such.” There are ideas they spent time developing, but which didn’t pan out, depriving the world of more Powell and Pressburger artistry. Those films may have never been made but that only makes one appreciate the films that were even more.
The Cinema of Powell and Pressburger is on sale now from BFI.
