The Masters  
The Powell & Pressburger Pages

Dedicated to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and all the other people, both actors and technicians who helped them make those wonderful films.

A lot of the documents have been sent to me or have come from other web sites. The name of the web site is given where known. If I have unintentionally included an image or document that is copyrighted or that I shouldn't have done then please email me and I'll remove it.

I make no money from this site, it's purely for the love of the films.

[Any comments are by me (Steve Crook) and other members of the email list]

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Events & Excursions

If you want to join in (or present) any of these, or similar events or excursions, then please email Steve or contact the location mentioned. Similarly, if you would like to submit a report of an event or screening (even if it wasn't listed here) then that can be added to this web site.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

31 July - 2 August
Jeremy Arnold tells us:

This was in today's Los Angeles Times. Anyone who plans to go would be advised to get their tickets ASAP!

From the Los Angeles Times
Restored 'Red Shoes' to show at UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater
The Film & Television Archive spent more than two years on the 1948 film's restoration.
By Kenneth Turan

After a triumphant world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the North American debut of the newly restored version of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's beloved "The Red Shoes" will take place at UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater in the Hammer Museum in Westwood. Which is only fitting, because it was the UCLA Film & Television Archive that did the restoration.

Robert Gitt, UCLA's preservation officer, who spent 2 1/2 years supervising the restoration, will introduce the film at the first Billy Wilder screening at 7:30 p.m. July 31. The film will also screen at 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 1 and at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Aug. 2.

Starring Moira Shearer as a star-crossed ballerina and inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the deadly power of a pair of enchanted ballet slippers, "The Red Shoes" was a huge success when it was released in 1948, garnering five Oscar nominations. That triumph came both from its position as a film that passionately celebrated creativity as well as the gorgeous color photography of cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

The UCLA restoration does full justice to what has to be one of the most exquisite color films ever made.

Advance tickets are $10 at www.cinema.ucla.edu.

12 July

Black Narcissus is being shown at the Gulbenkian Cinema in the University of Kent at Canterbury.
Sunday 12th July at 14:50

Showing in tribute to the late, great Jack Cardiff, this is simply one of the most visually ravishing films ever made in colour. Shot entirely on sets in Pinewood, it reveals an isolated Himalayan convent where the nuns are driven mad by the sensuality of their surroundings.
New 35mm print.

Please note: the new, restored version of The Red Shoes will be released in December.

See their web site for details and tickets

28 June

A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes

Showing at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith
14:00 The Red Shoes
16:35 A Matter of Life and Death

See their web site for details and tickets

27 June
Richard Layne tells us:

The Hungarian Cultural Centre and the ICA present a special screening in honour of the Korda family. In this lavish 1940s fantasy adventure Prince Ahmad is the rightful King of Bagdad but he has been blinded and cast out as a beggar. Now a captive of the wicked Grand Vizier Jaffar he is cast into a dungeon where he meets Abu, the best thief in all Bagdad. Together they escape and set about a series of adventures that involve a Djinni in a bottle, a mechanical flying horse, an all-seeing magic jewel, a flying carpet and a beautiful princess.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with David Korda, patron of Check the Gate Hungarian Film showcase in London and son of Zoltán Korda (co-director of The Thief of Bagdad, and director of Jungle Book (1942)). Mr Korda will be in conversation with Charles Drazin, author of the definitive biography of Zoltán's brother, Sir Alexander Korda.

Dir Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, UK 1940

See their web site for details and tickets

26-27 June
Patrick Curren tells us:

This is an email I received from the New Beverly Cinema:

We'll be screening a Powell/Pressburger double bill of A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes on June 26-27 in tribute to cinematographer/director Jack Cardiff.

Friday, June 26; AMOLAD - 7:30 PM, TRS - 9:35 PM
Saturday, June 27; AMOLAD - 2:50 PM & 7:30 PM, TRS - 4:55 & 9:35 PM

I may book some additional films of theirs later in the summer. I know Black Narcissus will be playing locally in July. The problem with some of the other less famous titles is that they don't always have U.S. distributors as far as I'm aware, just British ones.

Thanks!

Michael Torgan, Manager
New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
newbeverlycinema@mac.com

24 June

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

The Central Theatre, Chatham, Kent
Wednesday 24th June 19:30

They're also showing In Which We Serve, Carve Her Name With Pride and Battle of Britain as a British Armed Forces Veterans' Film Festival. Quite appropriate for a town that held an old Naval dockyard and has a fine military tradition.

Full details are in their summer programme (PDF)

22 - 23 June

Black Narcissus (1947)

The Showroom in Sheffield
Monday 22nd June 18:30
Tuesday 23rd June 18:30

See their web site for details and tickets

19 June
Barbara Siek tells us:

Scorsese on 19th June, TCM-US month of directors. In addition to his films: "Scorsese on Scorsese", 10:00 pm est. Director Martin Scorsese discusses his career and film clips in an interview.

19 June

Edinburgh International Film Festival
Special Screenings: Painting With Light
19 June, 12:00 at Cameo 1

In honour of the late Jack Cardiff (1914 - 2009) EIFF is proud to present a free screening of Craig McCall's documentary Painting With Light, which reveals the influences behind Jack's stunning, Oscar winning cinematography on the classic British film Black Narcissus. Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker Powell and actress Kathleen Byron (Sister Ruth) among others, explain the unique power and timeless allure of this masterpiece which brought him world-wide acclaim and propelled him to the top of his profession, making his name synonymous with Technicolor photography and widely recognised as the greatest cinematographer of all time.

The screening will be followed by a brief Q&A with Craig McCall.

See their web site for details and tickets

18 June

Edinburgh International Film Festival
Special Screenings: The Red Shoes and Digital Restoration: Panel Discussion
18 June, 16:00 at Filmhouse 1

Before and after: the magic behind making old films look like new.
Followed by The Red Shoes Screening.

Please note your ticket covers both the panel and the screening afterwards.
The panel is 90 minutes long and the film is 133 minutes long.

See their web site for details and tickets

10 June

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
The Historic Elsinore Theatre in Salem, Oregon
June 10th at 7pm

See their web site for details and tickets

9 June
Barbara Siek tells us:

TCM-US devotes the 9th of June to Michael Powell as part of its June tribute to directors.

Starting at 6am EST with IKWIG and in the following sequence until the last, Blimp, at 5:15pm when Fred Zimmerman takes over the screen.

06:00 I Know Where I'm Going!
07:45 The Edge of the World
09:00 A Canterbury Tale
11:15 Night Ambush (aka Ill Met by Moonlight)
13:00 A Matter of Life and Death
15:00 The Tales of Hoffmann
17:15 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

8 & 9 June

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Showroom in Sheffield
Monday 8th June 17:55
Tuesday 9th June 20:35

See their web site for details and tickets

29 & 31 May

Black Narcissus (1947)

ICA: Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
Friday 29 May at 1:30pm & Sunday 31 May at 4:30pm

See their web site for details & tickets

26 May

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Assembly Rooms, Ludlow, Shropshire
Tuesday 26 May
A matinee at 2pm and a main showing at 7:30

See their web site for details and tickets

24 & 30 May

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

ICA: Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
Sunday 24 May at 1pm & Saturday 30 May at 4pm

See their web site for details & tickets

23 & 30 May

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

ICA: Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
Saturday 23 May at 1pm & Saturday 30 May at 8pm

See their web site for details & tickets

17 May
Sibylle Nabel-Foster tells us:

Thanks to Bergen Festival I will be presenting Bluebeard's Castle at the Studentimpulser 2009 on Thursday evening May 7th 2009. I will show my own copy.

Introduction to the film Bluebeard's castle by Sibylle Nabel-Foster.
19.45 Bluebeard's castle (German movie, 1963)

See their web site for details and tickets

17 May
Andrew Smaje tells us:

Just to let you know that the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath will be screening The Red Shoes on Sunday 17 May. Time TBC, check their website nearer to the date.

See their web site for details and tickets

The screening is part of my Little/Ustinov series, where I select and introduce a film to complement the theatre programme at the Ustinov Theatre, part of Theatre Royal Bath.

The Red Shoes partners performances of Michael Morpugo's The Mozart Question on 23 & 24 May in the Ustinov. There's a half-price offer on theatre tickets for people who see The Red Shoes!!

Other films in the series include Mean Streets (23 June) and Midnight Cowboy (14 July).

15 May

The Red Shoes
Restored film to be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival

10 May
Mark Fuller tells us:

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Plus discussion

Further to the talk of the Neuroscience and AMOLAD, there's a screening and talk/panel featuring Ian Christie in Bristol on this subject in May.

Bristol Festival of Ideas
One of the undoubted jewels of British cinema, this extravagant and extraordinary film stars David Niven as a downed pilot who must justify his continuing existence to a heavenly panel of judges having made the mistake of falling in love with an American girl (Kim Hunter) when he really should have been dead. Is his predicament the symptom of a damaged brain or cinematic fantasy? A Matter of Life and Death weaves these propositions together brilliantly and is currently attracting new admiration from neuroscientists; renowned author and neurologist Oliver Sacks has cited it as his favourite film. Professor Ian Christie, film writer, and Powell and Pressburger expert, will discuss these new perspectives.

See their web site for details and tickets

7 May

Black Narcissus

At the Electric Picture House
Market Street, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 7AE
01453 844601

See their web site for details and tickets

4 May
Lou Volpe tells us:

Looking for something to do this Bank Holiday monday? Then how about the 3rd Dumfries Film Festival which is screening I Know Where I'm Going!

Be careful though as they warn it "Contains mild peril"......

See their web site for details and tickets.

28 April

Black Narcissus

At the Electric Picture House
Market Street, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 7AE
01453 844601

See their web site for details and tickets

27 - 28 April
Nick Waller tells us:

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

A bit of advance info - Colonel Blimp will be on in Wells (Somerset) 27 and 28 April 2009. It's being shown by the Wells Film Society, a private club you have to be a member of - there's an annual membership fee. Future programme and other details here.

The society's films are shown on a monthly timetable at a commercial venue, the Wells Film Centre, a small three-screen cinema run as a family concern by a chap who's had decades in the cinema business and his six (count'em, six) daughters.

Although it is only little (it's in a former village-hall-cum-Scout-hut) it has one of the 238 screens - along with various Vues, Cineworlds, Odeons and UGCs and the likes of the Barbican, Glasgow Film Theatre, Tyneside Cinema etc - in the Film Council's Digital Screen Network programme, which put expensive digital projectors all over the place a year or two ago. Full list here.

Wells is where Edgar "Shaun of the Dead" Wright comes from and where he shot Hot Fuzz, so they had a little premiere at the Film Centre. Wright was at one time a projectionist there but was sacked, I see from this bit of history.

Nick

23 - 24 April
Tipu tells us:

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp on a double bill with the original Gaslight at Stanford Theater.

See their web site for details and tickets

18 - 20 April
Tipu tells us:

A Matter of Life and Death on a double bill with A Canterbury Tale at Stanford Theater.

See their web site for details and tickets

16 April
Caroline tells us:

I was checking out the Brattle Theater's schedule, lo an behold, spotted this.

The Red Shoes will be playing on Thursday April 16 2009 as part of the series Dance on film

See their web site for details and tickets.

4 April
Lou Volpe tells us:

Just found what looks to be an interesting night out at the Barbican which includes "Prelude to The 49th Parallel".

See their web site for details and tickets.

26 March
Natacha Thiéry tells us:

Black Narcissus will be shown at the Forum des images (in Paris) the 26th March, in a cycle named 'Desire'.

See their web site for details and tickets

23 - 31 March

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Black Narcissus
The Red Shoes

Towards the end of March, the Berlin Arsenal is showing 3 P&P films as a part of their Magical History Tour:
Date Time Film
23 March 19:00 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
26 March 19:00 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
27 March 19:30 Black Narcissus
28 March 19:00 The Red Shoes
30 March 19:00 The Red Shoes
31 March 19:00 Black Narcissus

See their web site for details and tickets

23 March
narabdela at BritMovie tells us:

Age of Consent

Showing at Bradford International Film Festival on Mon. 23 March at 13:30.

See their web site for details and tickets

22 March

Black Narcissus

Showing at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith
Time: 18:00

See their web site for details and tickets

20 March
Jo Comino tells us:

Borderlines Film Festival is showing A Matter of Life and Death
Fri 20 March 8.00pm

It's a Ledbury Film Club screening at Ledbury Market Theatre, Herefordshire

See our website for details and tickets

19 March

Peeping Tom

Showing at the Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley
Time: 11:00
See their web site for details and tickets

19 March

A Matter of Life and Death

Showing at the Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold.
Time: 20:00
See their web site for details and tickets.

15 & 18 March

The Red Shoes

Showing at The Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford
15 March 14:00
18 March 11:30 & 18:00
See their web site for details and tickets

14 March
David Collard tells us:

Peeping Tom

At the National Gallery on Saturday 14 March at 2.30pm

See their web site for details and tickets

11 March
Barbara Siek tells us:

A Matter of Life and Death
(aka STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN)
1946, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, UK, 104 min.

Forthcoming for US members, AMOLAD at the Gene Siskel Film Center, the 11th of March, as part of The First Transition: World Cinema in the 1940s. The banner heading for the page has a shot from AMOLAD, chosen over the other four movies in the sequence. A nice nod to the film.

With David Niven, Kim Hunter.
An RAF pilot (Niven) in the midst of a crash landing bonds with an American radio operator (Hunter); he is supposed to die, but divine mismanagement gives him a chance to plead his case before a celestial court.

Powell & Pressburger rank among cinema.s greatest colorists, and Alfred Junge. s heavenly set design is unsurpassed in its detail and imagination, so we are especially pleased to present this classic fantasy in an archival 35mm print, courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment. (MR)

See their web site for details and tickets.

9 March

A Matter of Life and Death

On Monday, March 9th, the Louth Film Club will be showing A Matter of Life and Death at the Playhouse Cinema, Cannon Street, Louth, Lincolnshire. It starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are £3 for members and normal cinema prices, £5 or £4, for non-members.

See their web site for details and tickets. Although they don't have the details of their current programme loaded yet!

5 March

I Know Where I'm Going!

On Thursday, March 5 at 18:30, IKWIG will be screened as the Movie of the Month at Norwalk Community College, Norwalk, CT

All FREE Screenings are on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the East Campus Forum Theater! The films begin with a brief lecture. There will also be an open discussion following each film.

See their web site for details

5 March

Peeping Tom
Rear Window
A pair of films about voyeurism

Showing at the Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold.
Time: 20:00

See their web site for details and tickets.

3 March

Age of Consent

Showing at the Christopher Smith Rafael Film Center, SF as a part of their Mostly British Film Series
Time: 19:30

See their web site for details and tickets

1 March

A Matter of Life and Death

Showing at The Everyman Cinema, Winchester as a part of their World Cinema Season and Sunday Classics.
Time: TBC

See their web site for details and tickets.

1 March

I Know Where I'm Going!

Showing at the Vogue Theatre, SF as a part of their Mostly British Film Series
Time: 16:00

See their web site for details and tickets

18 February

The Red Shoes

We could all use a little escapism these days, so it's quite convenient that not only is the Wednesday Evening Film Series grinding back into gear tonight, but also that the classic film component comes with the theme "Over the Rainbow: Enchantment, Fables, and Cautionary Tales."

The series is presented by Chemeketa Community College along with the Historic Elsinore Theatre, and includes six classic films and four silent films on Wednesdays through March 18.

Feb. 18: The Red Shoes 1948, Great Britain, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Each Wednesday Evening film will begin at 7 p.m.; tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the Historic Elsinore Theater, 170 High St. SE. For more information, call (503) 375-3574.

See their web site for details and tickets

14 February

I Know Where I'm Going!

What better way to spend Valentine's Day with your beloved than to see IKWIG?

It's showing at the Filmhouse Cinema, Edinburgh on Saturday 14th February at 18:00

See their web site for details and tickets

14 February

A Matter of Life and Death

The Poly in Falmouth, Cornwall is showing AMOLAD on St Valentine's Day at 17:45

See their web site for details and tickets

14 - 15 February
Rich Belbin tells us:

A couple of showings coming up at the Sheffield Showroom in the next couple of weeks.

The Red Shoes is on on February 14 & 15 at 1.30.

See their web site for details and tickets.

11 - 12 February
Sibylle Nabel-Foster tells us:

The Seattle Opera presents Bartoks Opera together with Schönberg's 'Erwartung' in February-March 2009 and will show the Powell/Foster production Bluebeard's Castle at the Seattle SIFF on February 11th and 12th 2009!

See their web site for details and tickets

Most filmographies of legendary director Michael Powell conclude with Peeping Tom as his last great work, but a recent rediscovery brings us the revelation of Powell's 1964 rendering of Bela Bartok's only opera, Bluebeard's Castle, based on a libretto by Bela Balazs.

Made for German TV, Bluebeard, like other opulent Powell masterpieces (The Red Shoes, The Tales Of Hoffmann), features expressionistic sets by surrealist Hein Heckroth, and wildly effective cinematography that creates a hellish phantasmagoria - the backdrop for Bluebeard's grisly admissions to his wife about the fate of his previous seven wives.

The Seattle Opera Education staff will introduce the program and lead a sure-to-be fascinating post-screening discussion on this enigmatic look at the delight, the terror, and the impossibility of intimacy. In accordance with Powell's wishes, the English subtitles briefly describe and clarify the action, but don't translate the text.

2 - 3 February
Rich Belbin tells us:

A couple of showings coming up at the Sheffield Showroom in the next couple of weeks.

I Know Where I'm Going! is on this Monday (6.15) and Tuesday (8.30), as part of the 'Ever Fallen in Love...' season.

See their web site for details and tickets.

1 February

The Ritzy, Brixton is screening A Matter of Life and Death on Sunday morning at 11.

See their web site for details and tickets

23 January
Michael Eyers tells us:

A Matter of Life and Death
Friday, January 23 - 14:00
Hull Screen
University of Lincoln
George Street
Hull
HU1 3BW

See their web site for details and tickets.

22 January
Iain McGlashan tells us:

The Edge of the World

I am the Chairman of Woking's New Cinema Club and we screening The Edge of the World next Thursday 22nd January (it's the BFI DVD version).

It forms the second half of a Scottish double bill - it's our nearest screening night to Burns's birthday so we thought that it would an appropriate double bill!

Woking is in Surrey and is 30 minutes from Waterloo station and has a direct train service or it is some 15 minutes from the M25. We are in a large Village Hall with a fixed full sized screen and full dolby surround sound system (however we do not have cinema quality seats!). Admission costs £4 and it may be best to reserve a seat by contacting our Membership Secretary - Stephen Lock on (01483) 475745.

For more information on our Club, please visit our website

The first film next Thursday will begin at 8pm is Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle. This was released in 2007 and is the first Gaelic film to be released nationally - we hope that it will be an appropriate partner for The Edge of the World.

The screening of The Edge of The World should begin at around 9.30pm and will end at 11pm.

January - June

A Michael Powell film every week for 6 months!
A film every week, first showing on Friday at 20:30 with other shceenings through the week and afterwards.
Showing on Classic Cinécinéma on French television
Michael Powell, inclassable "créateur de rêves"

These are all shown in English (the original sountracks) with French subtitles and without any advertising breaks.

16/01/09The Fire Raisers
23/01/09Red Ensign
30/01/09The Phantom Light
06/02/09A l'angle du monde (The Edge of the World)
13/02/09L'Espion noir (The Spy in Black)
20/02/09Le Lion a des ailes (The Lion Has Wings)
27/02/09Le Voleur de Bagdad (The Thief of Bagdad)
06/03/09Le 49ème parallèl (49th Parallel)
13/03/09Le Colonel Blimp (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp)
20/03/09A Canterbury Tale
27/03/09Je sais où je vais (I Know Where I'm Going!)
03/04/09Une question de vie et de mort (A Matter of Life and Death)
10/04/09Le narcisse noir (Black Narcissus)
17/04/09Les chaussons rouges (The Red Shoes)
24/04/09The Small Back Room
01/05/09Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

More to follow...

Check the Classic Cinécinéma site for details and screening times. They've already moved a few from when they initially said they would be shown

7 January

The Red Shoes

Dance enchantment
Remember that scene in Mean Streets after the tough guys have ripped off a couple of punks and they go to the movies? It's possible that they went to see a ballerina flick. The Red Shoes is a favorite of Martin Scorsese, and that's not really as surprising as it sounds: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1948 classic is a stunning technical achievement, an affecting story, and a triumph of ballet on film. Moira Shearer stars as a dancer struggling to balance work and love against the background of a work inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's tale of magical slippers. The film screens at 7 p.m. at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. Tickets are $9.50; $6.75 for seniors; students free. Call 610-527-4008.

The Red Shoes
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7 January at 7pm

See their web site for details and tickets.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009