Film Nitrate

"You laugh at my big belly but you don't know how I got it! You laugh at my mustache but you don't know why I grew it!" The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp   was the first true classic that came out of the fruitful partnership of Michael Powell, who took up directing responsibilities, and Emeric Pressburger who wrote and produced the film. After cutting their teeth on war-films such as   The Spy in Black   (1939) and  46th Parallel   (1941) by 1943 they were keen to take on something more substantial than a typical World War II British propaganda film. Here they managed to fit in two world wars, the Boer War, and along the way called into question the generals whose dated tactics had caused Britain to become embroiled in so much devastation, as well as demonstrate just how outdated and ultimately futile the English gentlemen's code of conduct was. Unsurprisingly, Winston Churchill was furious at the film's barely-concealed message, but looking back on it n...

There can't be many films that have had such a negative reaction that they have more or less destroyed a popular filmmaker's reputation overnight. Peeping Tom is one such film, and famed British director Michael Powell became so vilified in the press after its release that he was never again able to make a film in his native country. Even more unusual is that Peeping Tom has grown in popularity over the years and is now at the point where it is rightly considered a masterpiece, so why was the film so widely condemned on its initial release? By 1960 Michael Powell was rightfully standing as one of the greatest living British filmmakers, possibly second only to Alfred Hitchcock himself. Though he had been making films since the early 30s, and had even assisted Hitchcock on some of his early films, it was in 1937 that he had his breakthrough with The Edge of the World . By the time World War II flared up, Powell was working with Emeric Pressburger, and the two forged one of t...

"Be careful, I'll get you yet." Alfred Hitchcock made nine silent films from 1925 to 1929 (ten if you count Blackmail , which was made simultaneously in both sound and silent), and fortunately all of these except one ( The Mountain Eagle , his second film) still survive today. The vast majority of British silent films have been lost, but because of Hitchcock's rising fame in the 30s and 40s, it was thought prudent to ensure that these early silents were preserved. Without that later fame, it is almost certain that most, if not all, of these films would have suffered the same tragic fate of countless others. The great thing about having access now to 54 of the 55 films Hitchcock produced is we can look at how his techniques developed over 50 years, and also look at themes that he was to later revisit. After serving his filmmaking apprenticeship in Germany, as well as time spent on the set of such legendary films as F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh , and making tw...