Features rare archival material from the personal collections of Powell, Pressburger and Scorsese.Features rare archival material from the personal collections of Powell, Pressburger and Scorsese.Features rare archival material from the personal collections of Powell, Pressburger and Scorsese.
- Awards
- 5 nominations
Michael Powell
- Self
- (archive footage)
Emeric Pressburger
- Self
- (archive footage)
Brigitte Bardot
- Self - Actress
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Neva Carr-Glynn
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
David Frost
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Deborah Kerr
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Jerry Lewis
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
James Mason
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Arthur Miller
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Helen Mirren
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Marilyn Monroe
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Queen Elizabeth II
- Self - Her Royal Highness
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- ConnectionsFeatures The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Featured review
What makes the World Cinema documentaries of Martin Scorsese - American Movies, Val Lewton, Elia Kazan, and Voyage to Italy - so special is how he doesn't pretend that he can cover everything (though he certainly hits all the major beats that he can). He can't pretend to, so it all comes back to what his world was as a child; kid with asthma, couldn't play or do much in extracurricular physical activities, so there were two things he could manage: going to the movies, and watching movies on TV.
It's through this prism as well as the incalcubale influence that these works had on him that he shows us and talks about, with an enthusiasm and passion that makes you feel like you got a seat in a film class that lasts only as long as a feature (though the American and Italian docs run 4 hours - short time when you think on it), and this film, about the "Archers" Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is another in that pantheon.
Made in England is a film that is more than just a documentary about movies or the making of them (though it is that). You feel like he was changed by what the bravery and virtuosity of art - and as is detailed here the love and bond between the two creators (Powell mostly was on set and directed, Pressburger did more or the writing, and they both produced equally), which is itself an inspiration for creators. And as a difference from the other documentaries/history lessons, this time there's a friendship that Powell also had with the man and that love for his mind and heart as well as his work comes through completely.
Above all else is the sense that not only do you not necessarily have to have seen most or even all of the films by these filmmakers to appreciate what Scorsese is detailiny here - though I imagine having familiarity at least with The Red Shoes or Black Narcissus would help, and they are not hard to find these days - the documentary makes the case for what, we are told, was Michael Powell's mantra: one art in all (if I'm paraphrasing that forgive me before you throw me in movie critic jail). That is to say film in its peak potential can and should have all the arts working in unison: theater, painting, dance, choreography, literature, poetry, mysticism and spirituality all mingling in films like Canterbury Tale or, of course, Tales of Hoffmann.
The examples of experimentation and surrealism, how ambitiously the filmmakers kept pushing what could be done in the medium while not only keeping in the spirit and practice of the hallmarks of Silent-era film (telling as much as possible visually, over dialog, which isn't to say there isn't great dialog in there films because I Know Where I'm Going, enough said), are stellar and really point to how there was real joy in the fantasies and realities that Powell and Pressburger ventured into. And it's just a superb chronicle of how careers evolve and how one film will lead to another or then the next a sharp 180 turn has to be made (ie Red Shoes to Small Black Room, you almost can't believe they're by the same directors but the heart is the constant between the two films).
You understand completely how art and experimentation can thrive best when Those With the Power at the studios (and sometimes surely producers, ie Rank and Selznick) can make or break a career depending on how open or closed off they are to an approach to art; sometimes that's due to the circumstances of a time period (so the contexts of England in WW2 vs Post War and then into the 1960s - the forgotten part and the rediscovery in the later decades - is deftly explored so it becomes also a story about how, to quote of all things something I read once in a book about MTV, art is what you get away with).
What I mean to say is Scorsese, in his analysis that is down to showing the nuts and bolts of filmmaking - how color is used so daringly and vibrantly (I got goosebumps showing my personal favorite P&P, Matter of Life and Death); the choices of pre recorded music on set for sequences; planning so meticulous even eye movements are choreographed to the nines - he expresses what Cinema as a whole can express life, loves, rivalries, war, betrayal, capital O Obsession, the human need for control (and the lack of it), and materialism and how spirituality is in so many parts of life, as the ultimate art-form.
In other words, Scorsese uses specific examples; down to how the decisions in showing (sometimes uncomfortable) points of view; choices of actors (with Deborah Kerr sometimes multiple parts in one film); points that challenge our empathy with a character (49th Parallel), are one level that can't be separated from the pure joy that the Archers displayed in film after film (until, sadly, that dissipated).
It's through this prism as well as the incalcubale influence that these works had on him that he shows us and talks about, with an enthusiasm and passion that makes you feel like you got a seat in a film class that lasts only as long as a feature (though the American and Italian docs run 4 hours - short time when you think on it), and this film, about the "Archers" Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is another in that pantheon.
Made in England is a film that is more than just a documentary about movies or the making of them (though it is that). You feel like he was changed by what the bravery and virtuosity of art - and as is detailed here the love and bond between the two creators (Powell mostly was on set and directed, Pressburger did more or the writing, and they both produced equally), which is itself an inspiration for creators. And as a difference from the other documentaries/history lessons, this time there's a friendship that Powell also had with the man and that love for his mind and heart as well as his work comes through completely.
Above all else is the sense that not only do you not necessarily have to have seen most or even all of the films by these filmmakers to appreciate what Scorsese is detailiny here - though I imagine having familiarity at least with The Red Shoes or Black Narcissus would help, and they are not hard to find these days - the documentary makes the case for what, we are told, was Michael Powell's mantra: one art in all (if I'm paraphrasing that forgive me before you throw me in movie critic jail). That is to say film in its peak potential can and should have all the arts working in unison: theater, painting, dance, choreography, literature, poetry, mysticism and spirituality all mingling in films like Canterbury Tale or, of course, Tales of Hoffmann.
The examples of experimentation and surrealism, how ambitiously the filmmakers kept pushing what could be done in the medium while not only keeping in the spirit and practice of the hallmarks of Silent-era film (telling as much as possible visually, over dialog, which isn't to say there isn't great dialog in there films because I Know Where I'm Going, enough said), are stellar and really point to how there was real joy in the fantasies and realities that Powell and Pressburger ventured into. And it's just a superb chronicle of how careers evolve and how one film will lead to another or then the next a sharp 180 turn has to be made (ie Red Shoes to Small Black Room, you almost can't believe they're by the same directors but the heart is the constant between the two films).
You understand completely how art and experimentation can thrive best when Those With the Power at the studios (and sometimes surely producers, ie Rank and Selznick) can make or break a career depending on how open or closed off they are to an approach to art; sometimes that's due to the circumstances of a time period (so the contexts of England in WW2 vs Post War and then into the 1960s - the forgotten part and the rediscovery in the later decades - is deftly explored so it becomes also a story about how, to quote of all things something I read once in a book about MTV, art is what you get away with).
What I mean to say is Scorsese, in his analysis that is down to showing the nuts and bolts of filmmaking - how color is used so daringly and vibrantly (I got goosebumps showing my personal favorite P&P, Matter of Life and Death); the choices of pre recorded music on set for sequences; planning so meticulous even eye movements are choreographed to the nines - he expresses what Cinema as a whole can express life, loves, rivalries, war, betrayal, capital O Obsession, the human need for control (and the lack of it), and materialism and how spirituality is in so many parts of life, as the ultimate art-form.
In other words, Scorsese uses specific examples; down to how the decisions in showing (sometimes uncomfortable) points of view; choices of actors (with Deborah Kerr sometimes multiple parts in one film); points that challenge our empathy with a character (49th Parallel), are one level that can't be separated from the pure joy that the Archers displayed in film after film (until, sadly, that dissipated).
- Quinoa1984
- Jul 24, 2024
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Meydin İngiltere: Powell ve Pressburger Filmleri
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,083
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,083
- Jul 14, 2024
- Gross worldwide
- $71,043
- Runtime2 hours 11 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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What is the Brazilian Portuguese language plot outline for Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)?
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