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Powell + Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger produced a body of work at once daringly subversive, breathtakingly inventive and passionately romantic.

Hailed as quintessentially British, Powell and Pressburger’s often-controversial films in fact emerged from the creative energy sparked when ‘Man of Kent’ Michael Powell combined his dynamic direction with the elegant, incisive writing of Emeric Pressburger, a Jewish Hungarian emigré. And that cross-border collaboration flowed throughout their productions. The Archers was made up of creatives from across Europe – their collective talents taking flight on Powell and Pressburger’s productions. This major BFI season marks the most extensive celebration of their work ever undertaken. It includes new BFI restorations, remasters of Powell’s early films, titles Pressburger wrote for others and a major exhibition drawn from the collections of the BFI National Archive. The programme is presented across the UK with the BFI Film Audience Network and on BFI Player.

- James Bell, Senior Curator of Fiction, BFI National Archive

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Film: Black Narcissus

Currently unavailable

Black Narcissus Black Narcissus

Drama 1947 101 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Tensions grow when a group of nuns open a convent in the Himalayas in Powell and Pressburger’s remarkable melodrama, starring Deborah Kerr.

Film: "I Know Where I'm Going!"

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I Know Where I'm Going! I Know Where I'm Going!

Drama 1945 90 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger’s heady romantic masterpiece has never looked or sounded finer than in this revelatory restoration from the BFI National Archive.

Film: A Canterbury Tale

Rent for £2.50

A Canterbury Tale A Canterbury Tale

War 1944 125 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger's most personal film combines a Chaucer-inspired pilgrimage with a war-time celebration of English landscape and values to create a gem of British cinema.

Rent for £3.50

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

War 1943 164 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger’s masterpiece follows the rise and fall of a career soldier, from dashing and brave young officer in the Boer War to a pompous and old-fashioned Colonel by the time of World War Two.

Film: The Spy in Black

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The Spy in Black The Spy in Black

War 1939 79 mins Director: Michael Powell

A masterful thriller with true flair, The Spy In Black has a much larger importance: it threw Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger together for the first time.

Film: The Small Back Room

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The Small Back Room The Small Back Room

Thriller 1949 103 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

An embittered bomb disposal expert is driven to drink in Powell and Pressburger’s compelling insight into the mental anguish of the alcoholic.

Film: The Tales of Hoffmann

Film: Oh... Rosalinda!!

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Oh... Rosalinda!! Oh... Rosalinda!!

Musical 1956 99 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Like the gloriously camp, all-singing, all-dancing cousin of The Third Man, the Archers’ take on Strauss’s operetta of infidelity is as frothy as the champagne it celebrates.

Film: They're a Weird Mob

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They're a Weird Mob They're a Weird Mob

Comedy 1966 107 mins Director: Michael Powell

Powell and Pressburger head to Australia to adapt local author John O’Grady’s popular novel about a newly arrived Italian labourer’s culture clash with the Aussie way of life.

Film: Miracle in Soho

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Miracle in Soho Miracle in Soho

Drama 1957 88 mins Director: Julian Amyes

The arrival of road menders stirs up tensions in a vibrant cosmopolitan London street, in Emeric Pressburger’s first post-Archers script.

Film: The End of the River

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The End of the River The End of the River

Drama 1947 80 mins Director: Derek Twist

A native Brazilian whose fate led him from his jungle village to a murder trial makes a plea for clemency.

Film: The Silver Fleet

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The Silver Fleet The Silver Fleet

War 1943 85 mins Director: Gordon Wellesley and Vernon Sewell

A Dutch shipbuilder fakes collaboration with the Germans to hide his patriotic activities, in this Powell and Pressburger-produced followup to ...One of our Aircraft is Missing.

Film: 49th Parallel

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49th Parallel 49th Parallel

Thriller 1941 122 mins Director: Michael Powell

A stranded U-boat crew navigate a hostile Canada in this propaganda odyssey starring Laurence Olivier.

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