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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Doc M with Mikhail Lermontov
in Moscow just a few years ago...
Marianne Gilchrist
Remove the nospam. from the email address

aka Doc M.
Glasgow, Scotland, UK

By way of introduction:
Doc M, also known as Marianne, historian and art historian, works in heritage/arts events co-ordination, lives in Glasgow, creative writing on the side.

Favourite Archers films:
AMOLAD, Blimp, TRS, and The Pimp.

I need to catch up with a few more that I haven't seen in years...

My recent re-acquaintance with TRS was truly mind-blowing (the years betwixt my viewings of it having included a doctorate on Russian art, many visits to Russian galleries, museums & c, translating poems by Mikhail Yu. Lermontov, and a passion for Mir Iskusstva, Dyagilev & the Ballets Russes family & c.). A film which takes Aestheticism seriously as a life-philosophy? Which has its most compelling (and for me, sympathetic) character express a passionate commitment to Art as a religion, exalt Romanticism above mere straight romance - and share my taste in crimson velvet shirts? My purple tea-glass nearly jumped out of its silver-plated holder! <vbg> I couldn't believe I'd survived without TRS for over 20 years: it felt like an unexpected reunion with a long-lost sibling! - I wanted to cheer, so I reviewed it for IMDb...

And of course, I'm an Anton fan in general (a superb but much-underrated actor: I cannot understand why he wasn't even Oscar-nominated for TRS!), and am trying to track down more of his films. He's utterly charming in Lola Montes, but I really must find a copy of La Ronde...

Blimp I had already re-encountered after seeing it commended in Richard Cohen's By the Sword, for its depiction of duelling etiquette. (I am also a swashbuckler fan, and host the Ruritanian Resistance pages on my website... Incidentally, there are some Ray Massey pics in the film section on the 1937 version of Prisoner of Zenda, with a biographical article in the scanned booklet :)

AMOLAD appeals to me, too, partly for Ray doing his patriotic duty as a loyal Canadian by sending up an 18C American Rebel. I've written extensively on several Scots servicemen killed by such folk in the American War, and in the wake of the abominable The Patriot, I was highly delighted to see a similar character poked with a stick by P&P...
love,
Doc M


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