Powell and Pressburger: The Matter of Britain

World War Two set British filmmakers a challenge: to be relevant and entertaining and to inspire without patronising. Did Powell and Pressburger succeed?
A lecture by Ian Christie, Visiting Professor of Film and Media History
11 November 2019 6PM GMT
www.gresham.ac...
World War Two set British filmmakers a challenge: to be relevant and entertaining and to inspire without patronising. Powell and Pressburger brought wit and imagination to their task, questioning what Britain stood for, warts and all. Notoriously, Churchill hated The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. But many ordinary cinema-goers were grateful for The Archers’ poetic patriotism, in this as well as in A Matter of Life and Death. Britishness redefined in the stress of war is the theme of this lecture.

[@loge10]

Wonderful lecture. My experience with P & P started some years ago with the 49th Parallel. They have in the last 10 years helped me through some very difficult times-and still do. I don't think I got Blimp initially but it is now at the top of my P&P favorites list- yet all of them are so rich to be always rewarding to view. I'm 68 (American) and being a film buff since high school I'm surprised it took me this long to discover and appreciate them - but better late than never.

[@ericmalone3213]

David Lean, who edited One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing, told Powell & Pressburger that the scene with GodfreyTearle reproaching the younger airmen about youth and age, was a great scene unto itself, but didn't work in the film as a whole. Lean said that an entire film could be made from this scene, which was cut. This gave Pressburger the idea for Blimp.

[@greenbristol]

A great analysis of a great film by a great teacher. Look forward to seeing it in its newly restored version.

[@richbryce5006]

My very favourite film of all time. I recollect seeing the 90 mins version on television without. Only when catching the first restored version for the first time did I discover just how brilliant it is.

[@Charlie4pants]

Mine too. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it, and each viewing is rewarded with something previously unnoticed. A marvel.

[@bonnie43uk]

this film captivated me when i first saw it on BBC 2 on a cold Saturday afternoon in November about 15 years ago, such great performances from the three main actors, Livesey, Walbrook and Kerr.

[@crieff1sand2s]

Livesey and Walbrook's performance is superb in this brilliant film......👍

[@loge10]

Don't forget Kerr - she was amazing (and very beautiful) in her three roles.

[@volt7cooltangs701]

The letter! Amazing. How Britain has changed. Fantastic lecture. Thank you for posting. Great insight into Blimp & Powell and Pressburger. What a great body of work they have and how far ahead of their time they were.

[@Poeme340]

Excellent lecture about a truly great film!👍

[@mikegodfrey2221]

These are my favorite films bar none , great review of these treasures

[@jaywatanabe4706]

As a younger Canadian (cusping on 40) of American, Jewish and Scotch-Welsh descent I have had a complicated relationship with the idea of “British-ness”. In one breath I cherish Bowie, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Beatles and the Who, while at the same time l am tormented by the legacy of the colonial treatment of Indigenous people in North America. However, this film and lecture left me with a profound respect and admiration for what Britains endured throughout the war and the complexities they themselves worked though in that time. Imperfect a Union as it may have been, the UK was indeed a bastion of hope in a truly bleak period for free people like Pressberger and many Europeans fleeing repression on the continent. In the current context of the Ukraine-Russia conflict I now especially appreciate Britain’s steadfastness to the Ukrainian cause, having a memory of the brutality of the blitz and so much more that we In the Shires of the Americas have long forgotten. My sincere thanks to Prof. Christie for his well researched and thoughtful remarks. I am truly grateful for it. 🇨🇦🇬🇧

[@bonnie43uk]

excellent comment Jay. I'm English, though my father was from the town of Lviv in Ukraine, his entire family was ethnically cleansed by the Russians in 1940, .. history is repeating itself .. it's terrible what is happening over there.

[@elrjames7799]

'The Matter of Britain'. Interesting label in view of the almost contemporary P & P movie title to the 'Blimp' movie: 'A Matter of Life and Death'. Other enigmatic 'Archers' titles were 'I know where I'm going (with Wendy Hiller) and 'A Canterbury Tale'.

[@Elitist20]

5:25 - Saw the tapestry at the Museum of the Moving Image in 1989. It's now closed! Sad that 'no-one seems to know where it is today.'

[@Tararu3500]

Blimp........ perhaps my favourite Archers' film.

[@antoniod]

BLIMP makes an interesting comparison with Germany's MUNCHHAUSEN(1943), also with a flashback structure.

[@stabiljka]

I wish they show the movie

[@mikethebloodthirsty]

Its on eBay...

[@amraceway]

@@mikethebloodthirsty Just watched it on You Tube.

[@stabiljka]

@@amraceway Thanks.