Michael Powell

Michael Powell

Born: September 30, 1905
Died: February 19, 1990
in Bekesbourne, Kent, England
Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. They worked together under the name of "The Archers" and produced a series of classic British films, notably The Thief of Bagdad (1940), 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948). His controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, however, was so vilified that his career was seriously damaged.

Movies for Michael Powell...

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
Title: Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 10, 2024
Type: Movie
Martin Scorsese presents this very personal and insightful new feature-length documentary about British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
bee
Inside Rupert Pupkin
Title: Inside Rupert Pupkin
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 14, 2014
Type: Movie
Thelma Schoonmaker on Martin Scorsese and 'The King of Comedy'
bee
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Title: Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Character: Self (voice) (archive sound)
Released: May 5, 2010
Type: Movie
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The African Queen and King Vidor's War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years.
bee
Chaplin Today: 'A Woman of Paris'
Title: Chaplin Today: 'A Woman of Paris'
Character: Self (archive sound)
Released: July 17, 2003
Type: Movie
"A Woman of Paris" (1923) was the first film Chaplin made for United Artists Film Corporation, which he founded with his friends Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith. Chaplin had long considered making a dramatic feature. For the first time, he decided to direct. Actress and filmmaker Liv Ullmann analyses the film. She talks about the acting, the originality of the characterizations, as well as the "feminine" viewpoint Chaplin adopted for the first time in his films.
bee
A Very British Psycho
Title: A Very British Psycho
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1997
Type: Movie
A documentary film examining Michael Powell's 1960 film "Peeping Tom," the controversy surrounding its release, and the life of its screenwriter, Leo Marks.
bee
The Scorsese Machine
Title: The Scorsese Machine
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
Amazing documentary shows rarely seen side of a master director. 1990 was a very good year for Martin Scorsese. After making a diverse group of films in the 80s, he reunited with Robert DeNiro for "Goodfellas" and later that year shot a segment for "New York Stories", an anthology film of three shorts by Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Francis Ford Coppola. During the editing, the French documentary series "Cinéma, de notre temps" filmed a documentary on the director, and it's a fascinating glimpse into his life, personality, and working habits as he edits his short with long-time collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker.
bee
The South Bank Show: Michael Powell
Title: The South Bank Show: Michael Powell
Character: Self
Released: October 16, 1986
Type: Movie
Documentary about British film director Michael Powell
bee
Fear
Title: Fear
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
People who have experienced fear - those involved in the peace movement, a child, a politian and a film director - discuss the psychological and physical aspects of this emotion.
bee
Laughter
Title: Laughter
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
Examines laughter, its representation in film and its day to day function. Well known people from various backgrounds discuss the issue and what it means to them.
bee
Tears
Title: Tears
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
Why do we cry? Can men cry too? When are tears acceptable and when are they not?
bee
The Golden Gong: The Story of Rank Films - British Cinema's Legendary Studio
Title: The Golden Gong: The Story of Rank Films - British Cinema's Legendary Studio
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
Documentary - After starting his career producing religious film shorts, J. Arthur Rank went on to become Britain's first and only movie mogul with his establishment of the legendary Pinewood Studios. Narrated by Michael Caine, THE GOLDEN GONG chronicles Pinewood's rise to success. - Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde, Betty E. Box
bee
A Pretty British Affair
Title: A Pretty British Affair
Character: Interviewee
Released: August 14, 1981
Type: Movie
Detailed interview with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger looking back at their long career as influential British film-makers and their unusual partnership. Includes clips from many of their films.
bee
Picture Business: Michael Powell at Dartmouth
Title: Picture Business: Michael Powell at Dartmouth
Released: January 1, 1980
Type: Movie
In June 1980, Michael Powell came to Dartmouth as an artist in residence, developing and producing a fifteen-minute pilot film with the students based on Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy.
bee
Peeping Tom
Title: Peeping Tom
Character: Mark's Father - A.N. Lewis (uncredited)
Released: May 16, 1960
Type: Movie
Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.
bee
Honeymoon
Title: Honeymoon
Character: Guide Describing the Lovers of Teruel (voice) (uncredited)
Released: March 29, 1959
Type: Movie
Australian famer Kit Kelly and his new bride Anna are driving through Europe when they help a stranded motorist. They discover he is Antonio, a famous dancer. Upon learning that Anna was a ballerina before she married, Antonio attempts to persuade her to join his company.
bee
The Volunteer
Title: The Volunteer
Character: Himself
Released: January 10, 1944
Type: Movie
World War II propaganda film.
bee
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
Title: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
Character: Despatching Officer
Released: April 24, 1942
Type: Movie
During the Allied Bombing offensive of World War II the public was often informed that "A raid took place last night over ..., One (or often more) of Our Aircraft Is Missing". Behind these sombre words hid tales of death, destruction and derring-do. This is the story of one such bomber crew who were shot down and the brave Dutch patriots who helped them home.
bee
The Edge of the World
Title: The Edge of the World
Character: Mr. Graham - the Yachtsman (uncredited)
Released: September 10, 1937
Type: Movie
A way of life is dying on a remote Scottish island, but some of the inhabitants resist evacuating to the mainland.
bee
The Compulsory Husband
Title: The Compulsory Husband
Character: Man
Released: November 13, 1929
Type: Movie
A recently engaged girl invites her parents to meet her fiance. They learn that he also loves another woman.
bee
The Garden of Allah
Title: The Garden of Allah
Character: A Tourist
Released: September 2, 1927
Type: Movie
Father Adrien had taken the vows of eternal silence, prayer and, of course, celibacy, when he entered the Trappist Monastry of Notre Dame d'Afrique in Algeria. One day, he chopped down a tree that blocked a part of the Monastery wall, but as it fell it knocked a young girl senseless. As Father Adrien bathes her face she regains consciousness and in a mischievous mood embraces him. The embrace was seen by another monk but the Monastic discipline imposed is as nothing compared to the torturing penances of mind and body which the contrite Father Adrien has imposed upon himself. In the end it is all too much for poor Father Adrien and he abandons his vows and escapes into the desert, resuming his secular name Androvsky. On the way to the oasis of Beni-Mora he encounters Domini Enfilden who has been brought up as a Catholic. Androvsky rescues Domini from a rioting crowd and she finds herself deeply attracted to him.
bee
Riviera Revels - Travelaugh No. 1
Title: Riviera Revels - Travelaugh No. 1
Character: Cicero Baedeker Symp
Released: January 1, 1927
Type: Movie
Comedy short
bee
The Magician
Title: The Magician
Character: Man with Balloon at Snake Charming (uncredited)
Released: October 24, 1926
Type: Movie
A young woman, Margaret Dauncey, is caught between the forces of a charlatan magician, Oliver Haddo, whom she is unable to resist, and the love of a handsome surgeon, Arthur Burdon, who has saved her from being a helpless cripple by performing a delicate operation on her spine.