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.

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Missing, Believed Lost - The Brown Wallet


From Missing, Believed Lost, BFI Publishing, 1992

This is one of his early works that Michael Powell remained enthusiastic about in his old age: 'It was a very ingenious little thriller - too ingenious ... It's funny, when a thriller's too ingenious it becomes a little picture; when it's simple it's got a chance of being big. This was a beautifully worked-out little thriller with a young actor who was coming on fast and then went to Hollywood, Patric Knowles.

Knowles played a young publisher in severe financial difficulties who keeps a wallet full of banknotes that he finds in a taxi, only to be accused of having murdered his aunt and stolen the money from her safe.

Screenwriter Ian Dalrymple's talent was recognised and he was quickly engaged on major pictures, including Storm in a Teacup (1937), South Riding, Pygmalion and The Citadel (all 1938). He later became a leading British producer of such films as The Wooden Horse (1950).

This film is "Missing, Believed Lost", please check all achives and attics.


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