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An Airman's Letter to His Mother


IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE
Shortfilm

Inspired by a letter from a pilot published posthumously in The Times, this short film was made spontaneously by Powell, and shows the imagined mother receiving the letter in her cottage, surrounded by reminders of her son's youth.

Even while they were mounting this extraordinary challenge to simple realist propaganda [The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp], Powell and Pressburger were responsive to the immediate needs of the war effort: Powell had personally produced and largely photographed a short film in 1941, An Airman's Letter to His Mother, based on an actual letter to The Times. No doubt they were also intrigued by the invitation to help boost recruitment for the Fleet Air Arm, which lacked the glamour of the RAF.
Ian Christie (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger: Arrows of Desire)

 

 


YEAR
  1941
PRODUCTION
  Michael Powell
DIRECTOR
  Michael Powell
SCREENPLAY
  Michael Powell
PHOTOGRAPHY
  Michael Powell, Bernard Browne
CAST
  Narratzailea/Narrated by/Narrador: John Gielgud
RUNNING TIME
  5 m.

 
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