Matters of Life and Death: The Cinema of Powell and Pressburger

Instructed by Imogen Sara Smith

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were the most original and blazingly talented filmmakers of the 1940s in Britain—and they had few peers anywhere in the world. Powell was an English-born director and Pressburger was a Hungarian screenwriter who came to the UK as a refugee from Nazi Germany, but they took the unusual step of sharing producing, directing, and writing credits for their films, styling themselves the Archers. The logo that they chose for their partnership—an arrow whanging into a target—advertised their ambitious belief it was better to aim high and miss than to hit an easy but mediocre target. They rarely missed.

With contrasting backgrounds, temperaments, and gifts, Powell and Pressburger shared a creative chemistry that flourished for more than a decade. They began collaborating on the cusp of the Second World War, and during that conflict they created extraordinarily intelligent, complex, and daring propaganda films that both celebrated and challenged British identity, and moved from relatively straightforward morale-builders to profound explorations of place, the passage of time, and the connection to history. World War II remained a defining event in their careers, a subject they would return to in later years. After the war, they embarked on a series of dazzlingly stylized color films marked by heightened artifice and operatic passion, rejecting the British trend towards “kitchen sink realism” and rebelling against the drabness of England’s Age of Austerity. Their films were matters of life and death, with much to say about art and love, materialism and mysticism, and obsession—a subject that would eventually torpedo Powell’s career when his first film after splitting amicably with Pressburger, Peeping Tom (1960), caused intense revulsion in the British press for its lurid tale of compulsive voyeurism and serial murder, and made him virtually unemployable.

This five-week class offers a deep dive into the cinematic world of Powell and Pressburger. Classes will be organized around themes and motifs, and will provide insights into the development and production of films as well as close readings of narratives, themes, and stylistic innovations. A major focus of the class is the relationship between words and images, spoken language and visual storytelling. Powell claimed that “images are everything” in his films and downplayed the importance of dialogue, yet also admitted that “the story and the script are the most important thing.” Voices are, in fact, as crucial to many of their greatest films as images. Pressburger, one of screenwriting’s true geniuses, made masterful use of narrative ellipses, and boldly employed both long uninterrupted speeches and choreographed scenes without words. For all their bravura and embrace of excess, both men understood that art’s power comes largely from what is left out. Each film, each scene, each shot they produced is so excitingly fresh and different, it is as if they are raising new islands up out of the sea.

Classes will meet for up to 90 minutes every Tuesday at 7:00 pm Eastern Time from May 13-June 10, 2025. Each session will begin with a 45-50-minute lecture followed by time for questions and group discussion of the week’s films and topics. Newcomers and fans alike are welcome!

I Know Where I’m Going, The Spy in Black, 49th Parallel, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Canterbury Tale, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, The Small Back Room, and Peeping Tom are all available on the Criterion Channel. The Edge of the World is available to stream on Amazon Prime and via Milestone Films, as well as on Blu-ray.

Some of the additional recommended films may be more difficult to source. The Phantom Light floats around on YouTube, has been released on DVD, and can be watched on the BFI’s streaming platform. One of Our Aircraft is Missing can be streamed on Amazon Prime, Fandango, and AppleTV.

• • Class #1: Islands
    • • Films discussed: The Edge of the World (1937), I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)
      • Also recommended: The Spy in Black (1939).
      • Extra kudos if you can track them down: The Phantom Light (1935), Ill Met by Moonlight (1957)
• • Class #2: War
    • • Films discussed: 49th Parallel (1941), The Small Back Room (1949)
      • Also recommended: One of Our Aircraft is Missing….(1942)
      • Extra kudos if you can track it down: Contraband (1940)
• • Class #3: Place and Time
    • Films discussed: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944)
    • Also recommended: Gone to Earth (1950)
• •  Class #4: Heaven and Earth
    • • Films discussed: A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947)
• • Class #5 Obsession
    • Films discussed: The Red Shoes (1948), Peeping Tom (1960)
    • Also recommended: Tales of Hoffman (1951)

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