Note:
This DVD Review will be in three parts (there
are nine movies after all):
Part
I will feature reviews of three
of P & P's more well known Technicolor classics, A
Matter Of Life and Death, The
Red Shoes and The
Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp.
Part
II, the disparate but beguiling
trilogy of a Scottish love story I
Know Where I'm Going, a comedy about
Australia (!), They're
A Weird Mob and their revered study
of blessings in disguise, A
Canterbury Tale.
Part
III will deal with the Black and
White War Movies, 49th
Parallel, Battle
Of The River Plate and Ill
Met by Moonlight.
| "I'm
glad you said that. It's my favourite too." |
Director Michael Powell to the author when
Powell asked what was his favourite P&P movie. |
Michael
Powell and Emeric Pressburger; eleven syllables (including
that very important 'and'), syllables which these fine
men (in the sense of 'fine art') reduced to their company
name, 'The Archers'. With no allusions to Radio 4's Norfolk
farmers (despite the fact I live on one), the Archers
collectively, was a powerhouse of British cinema greatness
in the 40s and 50s. Powell was all Brit whilst Pressburger
(also known as Preßburger in some circles) hailed
from Hungary but was a serious anglophile. But it was
their singular vision, (singular in both senses of the
word) often times literally fantastic, that was to subtly
change the way I regarded cinema even though I was born
a mere five years after their last credited picture together.
Here were movies about subjects I had little time for,
but so breathtaking in their execution, ambition and scope,
so sure of themselves as pieces of crafted entertainment,
that I was seduced from the first ten minutes of the first
P & P I saw. It cannot be a surprise to any one who
knows their work that the hook that reeled me in like
a grateful fish was the extraordinary opening of A
Matter of Life and Death. How can anyone resist
a movie that pre-dates Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's
Guide by more than 30 years with the line "This
is the universe. Big, isn't it?" A great place to
start for this was my (and Michael Powell's) favourite…
 |
| Camus
meets a cinematic hero – a long time ago... |
Note:
for the circumstances that led to my being fortunate enough
to meet the man, please see my obituary for Jerry
Goldsmith.
| Part 1: The Colour Classics |
|
A Matter of Life and Death
The
Red Shoes
The
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
| Part 2: there was a Scotsman, an Englishman and an Australian |
|
I Know Where I'm Going
A
Canterbury Tale
They're
A Weird Mob
| Part 3: The Archers Go to War |
|
49th Parallel
Battle
Of The River Plate
Ill
Met by Moonlight
|
