Arrows of Desire: The Films of Powell & Pressburger

November 19–December 30, 2016

The witty, daring, and lavish films of writer-director-producer duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, including the influential Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, and A Matter of Life and Death.

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The Tales of Hoffman
The Spy in Black
The Red Shoes
Black Narcissus
Gone to Earth

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Selected
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Films
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Past Films

Black Narcissus
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1947
Imported Print
Saturday, November 19 8 PM
This tale of nuns in a remote Himalayan convent reaches delirious heights of psychosexual melodrama, thanks in large part to Jack Cardiff’s Oscar-winning cinematography.
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I Know Where I’m Going!
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1945
Recommended for ages 12 & up
Sunday, November 20 4:45 PM
Powell and Pressburger’s most romantic, lyrical film sets a love affair against the vast beauty of Scotland’s Hebrides islands. “One of the finest of all screen romances” (Village Voice).
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A Matter of Life and Death
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1946
Archival Print
Friday, November 25 3 PM
World War II fighter pilot David Niven is caught between a black-and-white heaven and a glorious Technicolor earth in this odd and compelling hybrid of romantic fantasy and wartime propaganda.
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The Red Shoes
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom, 1948
Digital Restoration
Recommended for ages 10 & up
Saturday, November 26 3 PM
Ballerina Moira Shearer must choose between love and art in this ravishing melodrama. “No flatscreen TV will ever do it justice—see it in the theater” (New York).
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The Spy in Black
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1939
Imported Print
Sunday, November 27 2:30 PM
Conrad Veidt plays a Nazi submariner hiding out in the Scottish isles as he plots to sink the British fleet in this “Hitchcockian blending of humor and thrills” (William K. Everson).
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Contraband
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom, 1940
Imported Print
Friday, December 2 6:30 PM
A Danish sailor (Conrad Veidt) is on the trail of illegal contraband (and Valerie Hobson) in this wartime thriller, tinged with both the whimsical and the nightmarish. “Playful and provocative” (Ian Christie).
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I Know Where I’m Going!
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1945
Recommended for ages 12 & up
Saturday, December 3 3:30
Powell and Pressburger’s most romantic, lyrical film sets a love affair against the vast beauty of Scotland’s Hebrides islands. “One of the finest of all screen romances” (Village Voice).
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49th Parallel
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom, 1941
Imported Print
Sunday, December 4 6:30 PM
A band of stranded Nazi sailors make their way across Canada in this wartime propaganda feature, which earned Pressburger an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard star.
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A Canterbury Tale
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1944
Imported Print
Wednesday, December 7 7 PM
Three modern pilgrims almost accidentally retrace the ancient pilgrim’s path to Canterbury in an idyllic wartime ramble, one of Powell and Pressburger’s most personal films. “One of the richest and strangest treasures in British cinema” (David Thompson).
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A Matter of Life and Death
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1946
Archival Print
Saturday, December 10 3:30 PM
World War II fighter pilot David Niven is caught between a black-and-white heaven and a glorious Technicolor earth in this odd and compelling hybrid of romantic fantasy and wartime propaganda.
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1943
Sunday, December 11 3 PM
A career officer and lifetime bumbler recounts his adventures in this mocking send-up of the military upper crust. “The greatest English film ever made” (New Yorker). “Disgraceful” (Winston Churchill).
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Gone to Earth
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1950
Restored Print
Thursday, December 15 7 PM
Jennifer Jones stars as a beautiful and free mountain lass caught between a kindly parson and a leering squire in a masterpiece of Technicolor splendor, based on a Victorian-era potboiler. “Visually spellbinding” (Time Out).
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Black Narcissus
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1947
Imported Print
Saturday, December 17 3:30 PM
This tale of nuns in a remote Himalayan convent reaches delirious heights of psychosexual melodrama, thanks in large part to Jack Cardiff’s Oscar-winning cinematography.
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The Small Back Room
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1948
Imported Print
Sunday, December 18 4:30 PM
An embittered World War II bomb-disposal expert is tapped to conquer a sinister new German booby trap in a claustrophobic, expressionist film noir that includes “Powell’s most erotically eloquent lovers” (David Thomson).
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The Tales of Hoffmann
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom, 1951
Digital Restoration
Friday, December 23 7 PM
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The Red Shoes
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom, 1948
Digital Restoration
Recommended for ages 10 & up
Wednesday, December 28 1 PM
Ballerina Moira Shearer must choose between love and art in this ravishing melodrama. “No flatscreen TV will ever do it justice—see it in the theater” (New York).
View Details
The Tales of Hoffmann
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom, 1951
Digital Restoration
Thursday, December 29 1 PM
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Oh . . . . Rosalinda!!
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
United Kingdom, 1955
Imported Print
Friday, December 30 1 PM
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Arrows of Desire: The Films of Powell & Pressburger

November 19–December 30, 2016

Powell and Pressburger drew on Surrealism, German Expressionism, mysticism, and the worlds of dance and opera in productions that are brimming with remarkable wit, daring storytelling, lavish stagecraft, and flamboyant costumes. Their Technicolor films, several shot by the extraordinary cinematographer Jack Cardiff (A Matter of Life and...

A major creative force in the history of British filmmaking, the writer-director-producer duo Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988) created a cinema of potent visual beauty and narrative invention. Pressburger, a Hungarian Jew who arrived in Britain in 1935, and the Englishman Powell made twenty-four features together between 1939 and 1972, while each had a longer filmography beyond that. By the early 1940s, their films were branded with the name of their production company, The Archers, and the distinctive opening credit of an arrow striking the center of a target.
Powell and Pressburger drew on Surrealism, German Expressionism, mysticism, and the worlds of dance and opera in productions that are brimming with remarkable wit, daring storytelling, lavish stagecraft, and flamboyant costumes. Their Technicolor films, several shot by the extraordinary cinematographer Jack Cardiff (A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes), have influenced filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and the late Derek Jarman. Indeed, these directors were instrumental in the rediscovery of Powell and Pressburger’s films, which suffered from a long period of neglect. Various film archives and foundations have been involved in the restoration of the films to their original length (several had been cut for the US market at the time of release). Powell and Pressburger’s films, often filled with fantasy and wonder, today hold their rightful place in film history, and we are pleased to showcase them at BAMPFA this holiday season.
Susan Oxtoby, Senior Film Curator

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BAMPFA thanks Thelma Schoonmaker and Mark McElhatten for their assistance with print research. We are indebted to the British Film Institute, the Academy Film Archive, and Park Circus for their help with this retrospective. The series title is taken from a 2002 publication by British film scholar Ian Christie.