A Life in Movies

No other biography i've read places the man himself before me, so evocative is it. In his films he chased and captured the wonder in all things, but his own writing does this more directly, a wonderful book. The life of the film maker from the 1920's onwards, and one who can fully express himself descriing the life, and equally great on his growing up towards film. The maker of wonders like A Canterbury Tale, Small Back Room, The Spy In Black and Peeping Tom achieved as much in this book.

Michael Powell, partnered by Emeric Pressburger, made some of the finest films of the forties. Films like The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, are startlingly original. These two men, known as the Archers, formed one of the great creative teams. His description of this partnership forms the heart of Powell's autobiography A Life in Movies. Powell's book is long and takes a while to get going. He spends rather too long on his childhood in Kent. It is an interesting description of a long lost world and provides some insight into the development of Powell's character, but eventually one becomes rather impatient for him to get onto his film career. This he does with a brilliant description of his start in silent movies. Powell's story from this point onwards becomes gripping. He is a good writer, clear and readable. This book is full of interesting anecdotes and, on the whole, is very candid. There are times when he is circumspect and he sometimes withholds a name, but normally he is very open and honest. This is especially so in perhaps the most heartbreaking story of the whole book, his affair with Deborah Kerr. Powell's description of this is warm and loving and full of feeling. It is quite clear, even after more than forty years, that he never got over it. Thus Powell comes to resemble Roger Livesey's character in Colonel Blimp, and the film somehow seems all the more poignant. In any long story there are dull bits. Powell's account of his struggles in the early thirties making obscure films which have been all but forgotten is not especially interesting, although it does contain some fine material regarding his interaction with the young Alfred Hitchcock. Furthermore, he dwells at times overly much on the politics of the British film industry. However, when he discusses his great films starting with The Edge of the World and finishing with The Red Shoes, this book is as good a description of making films as I have read. Fans of the Archers cannot fail to learn something new about their favourite films from this book.

A beautifully written account of a life dedicated to the making of films by a true Master of the medium. This book together with the other volume of his autobiography, Million Dollar Movie, gives the reader a wonderful insight into a very creative personality. Michael Powell recounts his life with charm, whimsy, wit and voluptuousness: a perfect picture of the man himself.

This is a good read written by and about the life of one of the truly great movie directors. Along with Emeric Pressberger, Michael Powell created The Archers, whose movie productions were and are breathtaking in their daring cinematography and scoring. If you're not familiar with Powell's movies, you're in for a treat. I urge you to design your own Michael Powell film festival: Be sure to include The Thief of Baghdad, Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death in Britain), The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and my personal favorite, I Know Where I'm Going. These are stunning works of art. Consider that they were filmed in cash-strapped postwar England, and you come away all the more amazed. Powell lost his career when he filmed Peeping Tom, a Hitchcockian thriller that upset critics with its psychosexual theme; his reputation was only rehabilitated by the intercession of such luminaries as Michael Scorsese during the 1980s. Powell lived a brash, full and vigorous life spiced with affairs with the likes of Deborah Kerr and the fascinating Pamela Brown. He dared the new, often endured hardship and even danger to catch what he wanted on film. He envisioned original and groundbreaking ideas, and then assembled teams that made them happen: A Himalayan garden in Kent for Black Narcissus, awesome outer space animation and the world's largest staircase for Stairway to Heaven, shooting I Know Where I'm Going without the leading man ever being on location. This book has been out of print for some time in hardcover. I've seen copies selling for hundreds of dollars. There is a reason! Now is your chance to enjoy the best words there are about Michael Powell--his own.