Director: David Hinton

As well as a faithful follower and advocate of the British/Hungarian filmmaking duo, director and film scholar Martin Scorsese also has a personal stake in Powell’s life. As a young director, Scorsese sought Powell, who was then a virtual recluse after his career fell off following his ground-breaking but misunderstood and poorly received psychological thriller ‘Peeping Tom’ (1960). Scorsese’s fellow movie brat Francis Ford Coppola brought Powell out to LA and appointed him as senior director-in-residence at his Zoetrope studios. Later Powell married Scorsese’s editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Scorsese brings some of his insider knowledge to this straightforwardly chronological but rapturous overview of Powell and Pressburger’s work. Jobbing director Powell and Jewish-Hungarian emigree scriptwriter Pressburger, who had fled Nazi Germany, were brought together by British-Hungarian producer Alexander Korda in the late 30s. After solid efforts like thriller ‘The Spy in Black’ and war picture ‘49th Parallel’ they went on to form their own production company The Archers. So began their imperial phase as the duo set about refining the contours of what constitutes British cinema with such technicolour cinematic swoons as ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ and ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’, the latter of which Churchill tried to prevent from being completed. Scorsese’s narration is knowledgeable and enthused, but measured and critical too, despite his personal relationship with Powell, and his his observations on ‘Blimp’ & ‘Canterbury Tales’ are as moving as they are illuminating. Director Hinton’s clip curation is perfect, while archive interview footage of the duo exhibits their sense of mischievousness and mutual affection. An absolute essential.

David Willoughby

Follow David on Twitter @DWill_Crackfilm