BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Contraband

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s second collaboration neatly captures the darkness and disorientation (both literal and metaphorical) of London during the early stages of the war, while also...

October 23, 2023 | CINEMA UNBOUND
THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL + PRESSBURGER

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

Made quickly and relatively cheaply (for £700,000) at the height of the war, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing was one of Powell and Pressburger’s early successes both critically and financially. Alth...

October 22, 2023 | CINEMA UNBOUND
THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL + PRESSBURGER

49th Parallel

For their third collaboration, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were engaged by the Ministry of Information to make a propaganda film. 49th Parallel (1941; The Invaders in the US), was a conce...

October 22, 2023 | CINEMA UNBOUND
THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL + PRESSBURGER

A Touch of Eastern Promise
+ Q&A with Tara Prem

A young Indian boy who dreams of film stars sees his favourite actress come to Birmingham. Written by Tara Prem, this was one of the first British TV productions to feature an entirely Asian cast. ...

October 21, 2023 | TARA PREM
REPRESENTING THE UNSEEN

The Spy in Black

For his first project at Alexander Korda’s London Films, Michael Powell was introduced to young Hungarian screenwriter Emeric Pressburger for this World War I drama. The pairing was a propitious on...

October 21, 2023 | CINEMA UNBOUND
THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL + PRESSBURGER

Margaret

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. During one of the blistering wars of words that are Margaret’s lifeblood, a character issues the sour reprimand: ‘Don’t handle me.’ ...

October 21, 2023 | JOANNA HOGG - INFLUENCES

Black Christmas +
intro by Tara Prem

A bittersweet drama on a familiar theme – the frictions forced to the surface during a Christmas family get-together – Michael Abbensetts’ Black Christmas is an understated and affecting study of r...

October 21, 2023 | TARA PREM
REPRESENTING THE UNSEEN

The Andromeda Strain

‘This is a thrilling plague film from 1971 – an imagining of future events. I’ve loved it since I first saw it.’ Pamela Davies, BFI Member A satellite crashes in a small New Mexico town. Before lo...

October 21, 2023 | MEMBER EXCLUSIVES

The Thief of Bagdad

Producer Alexander Korda originally assigned this Arabian Nights-style adventure – which had been a hit in its 1924 Hollywood version starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr – to the German director Ludwig B...

October 20, 2023 | CINEMA UNBOUND
THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL + PRESSBURGER

Mean Streets

Ask someone to pick their favourite moment from a film by Martin Scorsese, something defining. Many would cite Robert De Niro’s memorable ‘you talkin’ to me?’ challenge to his own leering, gun-toti...

October 20, 2023 | RE-RELEASES

The Edge of the World

Having made two dozen low budget pot-boilers over the preceding five years, Michael Powell finally got the chance to make his first really personal film with the ambitious drama The Edge of the Wor...

October 20, 2023 | CINEMA UNBOUND
THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL + PRESSBURGER

Distant Voices Still Lives

Contemporary reviews Terence Davies makes films in instalments. The 100-minute Trilogy – Children, Madonna and Child, Death and Transfiguration – which was begun in 1976 took eight years to complet...

October 20, 2023 | EVENTS

Casablanca

It’s still the same old story. [Over] 75 years after it was released, Casablanca remains one of the world’s best-loved films. Not just the best-loved, but best-remembered. Many cinephiles can quote...

October 20, 2023 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

I Know Where I'm Going!

‘I Know Where I’m Going!’ is a film of extraordinary beauty and emotional power. It means so much to many people – to those members of Powell and Pressburger’s company The Archers who participated ...

October 19, 2023 | RE-RELEASES

The Exiles

Kent Mackenzie first conceived of The Exiles during the making of his short student film Bunker Hill while a student at the University of Southern California. In March 1956 he read an article by Do...

October 19, 2023 | JOANNA HOGG - INFLUENCES

Exhibition

From its outset – a flatly declarative title card leading straight into a shot of D (Viv Albertine, formerly of the punk group The Slits) lying prone, pressed up against a full-length window – Exhi...

October 19, 2023 | INTERNAL REFLECTIONS
THE FILMS OF JOANNA HOGG

Archipelago

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. This may not seem like headline news, exactly: the English upper middle class suffers from emotional repression and may harbour seet...

October 19, 2023 | INTERNAL REFLECTIONS
THE FILMS OF JOANNA HOGG

An American in Paris

When producer Jesse L. Lasky opened the envelope that revealed the name of the 1951 Best Picture Academy Award, he could not hide his disappointment. ‘Oh dear’ he declared, ‘the winner is An Americ...

October 19, 2023 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Time (series 2)

+ Q&A with writers Jimmy McGovern and Helen Black, actors Jodie Whittaker, Bella Ramsey and director Andrea Harkin Told through the lens of three very different inmates, Time is a moving and h...

October 18, 2023 | TV PREVIEW

Phantom Thread

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Control freaks abound in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson: takes one to know one, as the saying goes. Phantom Thread’s high-end fas...

October 18, 2023 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS