Tonight's Movie: Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The excellent documentary MADE IN ENGLAND: THE FILMS OF POWELL AND PRESSBURGER (2024) was released on Blu-ray last month by Kino Lorber and Cohen Media Group. The documentary is part of the "Contemporary Classics" line.

The film presents the history of the celebrated collaboration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who wrote, directed, and produced numerous classics, including personal favorites of mine, A CANTERBURY TALE (1944), I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! (1945), and THE RED SHOES (1948).

The entire film is narrated by Martin Scorsese, who knew Michael Powell and was one of the documentary's executive producers. Scorsese appears on camera and blends the story of Powell and Pressburger's lives and collaborations with his own responses to each film and their impact on his life and filmmaking.

The documentary grabs viewer attention from the opening credits, which feature evocatively edited "otherworldly" moments from Powell and Pressburger's films.

One of the documentary's strengths is showcasing how imaginatively the team used film, telling unusual stories in unique ways, including the use of sound effects, dance, and alternating color with black and white within the same film. 

They also notably used non-actors in some films, such as U.S. Army Sergeant John Sweet in A CANTERBURY TALE (his only film) and ballerina Moira Shearer in THE RED SHOES and THE TALES OF HOFFMAN (1951).

Scorsese delves into each film at length and shares many rich, interesting insights. Indeed, my only criticism is that, at two hours and 11 minutes, this film might have been more effective as a miniseries, giving the viewer time to reflect on a handful of films at a time.

An ambitious viewer might even want to alternate watching sections of the film with the actual movies; I think so much would be learned that it would be the equivalent of a film school course! I recommend the documentary for both those who already appreciate this creative team and those who are new to their movies.

MADE IN ENGLAND was directed by David Hinton and filmed by Ronan Killeen.

Disc print and sound quality are excellent. The disc includes a trailer.

This documentary is also available on DVD.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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