A PERSONAL TRIP THOUGH POWELL AND PRESSBURGER
MADE IN ENGLAND’S CREATORS ON CRAFTING A UNIQUE HOMAGE TO TWO LEGENDS
DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT FILMMAKERS are often made by fans of their subject.
It’s rare, though, to get three people as deeply and personally invested as the makers of Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger. It is presented by Martin Scorsese, a long-avowed enthusiast of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; edited by Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese’s longtime collaborator and Powell’s widow; and directed by David Hinton, who has his own history with Powell.
“It was incredibly personal for all of us,” says Hinton. “In the ’80s, I made a film for
The South Bank Show about Michael. I was a friend of Michael’s at the end of his life. Thelma and I have stayed friends ever since.” When the prospect of a documentary emerged, Scorsese and Schoonmaker recommended that Hinton helm the project. The result is an ambitious love letter to the minds behind
The Red Shoes, A Matter Of Life And Death and
Black Narcissus, five years in the making, blending archival material, film clips, and Scorsese’s narration.
Hinton began by looking at “everything that Scorsese had ever said about Powell and Pressburger... which was a lot!” Adds Schoonmaker: “Scorsese is just always talking about them.” His words became the starting point for the script, inspiring the documentary’s meticulous structure.
The film explores how influential Powell and Pressburger’s films have been for the director of Killers Of The Flower Moon. “Think what a strange child Martin Scorsese must have been,” Hinton says with a smile, “that he was riveted by [surrealist experimental opera film] The Tales Of Hoffman, at the age of ten! That sort of film would have bored me out of my brain when I was ten. But he was fascinated by it. I hope one of the things we’re doing in the documentary is going into his film subconscious, where all those films are lurking.” Schoonmaker agrees: “They inspire him. It’s delightful to see how he transforms those influences into his own.”
Condensing two men’s remarkable lives into two hours was not easy. There were, Hinton and Schoonmaker admit, some “very painful” decisions in the cutting room. “It was hard,” sighs Schoonmaker. “But Scorsese was quite adamant with us that he wanted to tantalise people — have them go look at the movies themselves.” Get ready: your film subconscious is about to get deeper.
MADE IN ENGLAND: THE FILMS OF POWELL AND PRESSBURGER IS IN CINEMAS FROM 10 MAY