Tribeca 2024 – “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger” (Seth Shire)

From left to right: Emeric Pressburger and William Powell

June 14, 2024. As I approached the press screening of “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger,” having not read anything about this documentary in advance, I wondered how many of the film’s segments would include Martin Scorsese.  I know Scorsese is a big admirer of the British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emiric Pressburger, whose films have made a significant impression on him since childhood and continue to influence him to this day.  Scorsese is also credited with plucking Powell’s and Pressburger’s films from obscurity and bringing them to a wider and newly appreciative audience.  I recalled hearing Scorsese’s excellent commentary track on the Criterion Collection’s “Tales of Hoffman” DVD.  So, it was a great surprise, for me, to find that Scorsese is the narrator throughout this excellent documentary. 

 Made in England… ” is more than just a documentary.  It is an important piece of film history.  While it is a compendium of the history of Powell and Pressburger and their work, what makes it extra special is Scorsese’s discussion and interpretation of their movies and what these films have meant to him on a spiritual, emotional and professional level. Scorsese’s insights, for me, breathed new depth and understanding into “Tales of Hoffman,” “The Red Shoes,” and “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” to cite only three examples.  He even talks about how the ballet sequence in “The Red Shoes” influenced how he shot the boxing sequences in “Raging Bull.”  Ballet and boxing?  But, from Scorsese’s point of view, it all makes sense in a fascinating way.

 Scorsese begins with a story he has told before, about being an asthmatic child who spent a lot of time at home, time he used to watch the “Million Dollar Movie” TV show, which would broadcast one film several times over the course of a day.  Scorsese points out that, in that era, American distributors would not sell movies to TV,  but British distributors did.  As a result, he discovered  Powell and Pressburger’s films.  Scorsese talks about seeing these films on his family’s 16 inch, black and white television screen, a far cry from how these Technicolor films, in which color is used  specifically and carefully, were meant to be seen.  What “Made in England… ” director David Hinton does, over Scorsese’s recollections, is show clips from Powell’s and Pressubrger’s films as they would have looked on a black and white, low resolution television screen, which perfectly illustrates what Scorsese is saying.  But even though he was only able to see these films in black and white, Scorsese points out that he could tell that there was something special happening.  He explains, “You knew you were in for fantasy, wonder, magic – real film magic.”

Scorsese talks about continuing to see Powell’s and Pressburger’s films as he ages.  He explains, “Certain films you run all the time and you live with them.  As you grow older they grow deeper.”  I say something similar to the college students I teach about sociology and cinema.  I tell them that as the years go by the movies don’t change.  I change.  I can see different things in films I have been watching all of my life as I grow older and gain more life experience.    

There is a  lot more to be said about this incredibly detailed documentary – Powell’s  and Pressburger’s disagreements with studios, how the end of World War II effected the types of films that they made, their fall into obscurity and eventual re-discovery and other facets of this filmmaking duo.  To this end, “Made in England… ” features generous amounts of visual and aural materials – beautifully remastered clips from the films, recordings of interviews (both video and aural) with Powell and Pressburger, home movies and stills, which, together with Scorsese’s guidance, paint a remarkable portrait of two innovative and influential filmmakers.

Tribeca Festival runs from June 5 – 16. For screening times and tickets visit http://www.tribecafilm.com