It鈥檚 likely that most people have never heard of Michael Powell or Emeric Pressburger. The pair wrote, directed and produced 24 films between 1939 and 1972, including Black Narcissus, I Know Where I鈥檓 Going, A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes 鈥� all masterpieces, and none of them widely known now. But most film goers probably have heard of Martin Scorsese, a man who knows cinema intimately and broadly, and is fabulous at sharing his knowledge and his love for the movies of others, as well as their influence on his own filmmaking.
He says outright that his long shot in Raging Bull, which follows Robert De Niro as boxer Jake La Motta into the ring, comes directly from a duel with swords in Powell and Pressburger鈥檚 The Life and Death of Col. Blimp, a 1943 picture which charts the career of a young, feisty British officer in the early 1900s until he鈥檚 become a fat, bald general with a huge moustache in World War II.
Scorsese spends a lot of time on The Red Shoes, a 1948 movie about ballet, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of a girl whose special shoes won鈥檛 stop dancing 鈥� until they dance her to death. For Powell and Pressburger, the film is about how making art really is a matter of life and death. Late in the movie, Powell and Pressburger stage an exquisite and daring 14-minute ballet with no dialogue that is simply transfixing, and while Scorsese describes the sequence, the film cuts in brief shots from his own movies Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.
It鈥檚 fascinating to see these direct connections; they show how films of the past influence the present, and also how vibrant films of the past can be. But the greater genius of Made in England simply comes from Scorsese鈥檚 thrilling descriptions of the Powell/Pressburger movies, which make clear that the notion of so-called old movies is nonsense, that cinema is cinema regardless of the dates of manufacture.
Scorsese, of course, has a great filmmaker鈥檚 eye for film images, but he also grasps their emotional, intellectual and moral dimensions. He describes how the atmosphere of Powell and Pressburger鈥檚 1947 Black Narcissus agitates the senses. The story shows a small group of British nuns who move to the Himalayas in India to start a clinic, but the overwhelming sensory experience of India crushes the nuns鈥� discipline.
Scorsese knew Powell well 鈥� Powell even married Scorsese鈥檚 long-time film editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Scorsese joins his intimate knowledge of Powell and Pressburger鈥檚 work with his personal experience of the films. He relates how Powell, Pressburger and cinematographer Jack Cardiff collaborated to manipulate the vibrant Technicolor process in ways that had not been done before, and when he first saw a beautiful print.
"When the rhododendrons exploded onto the screen, it was almost a physical shock.," said Scorsese. "I鈥檓 not sure if I know another film where the color contributes so much to the story and the emotion of the picture."
The Powell/Pressburger films are stunning; in both action and emotional depth they take chances that most movies of any period avoid.
Maybe the best recommendation I can give them, or this documentary Made in England, comes from a young student watching one of the films for the first time. Before the next picture in a double bill, he called a friend and said, 鈥淕et your ass down here.鈥�
