Steve Crook

Remembering Michael Powell.
On this day in 1990 he was given blessed relief from the cancer.

Michael Latham Powell (1906-1990)
Maker of images, teller of tales



Thanks Micky

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

TimR

I am just finishing Million Dollar Movie. I had known Powell was an outstanding film-maker; I did not know that he was a man of outstanding character.

What I am referring to is this: for several decades, Powell remained essentially outside the film world, unable to achieve what he wanted. The second volume of his very well-written autobiography is filled with missed chances, lost opportunities and unfulfilled plans. Sometimes, as in the case of the film Sebastian, it was due to the unprofessional and unethical behavior of others. Sometimes, it was due to lack of financing. Sometimes, it was due to lack of agreement between many people. Often it was a combination all of these things.

The lost opportunity of seeing a Powell Tempest with a brilliant cast is painful to think about.

And yet! There is no self-pity. No whining and complaining. No drowning his miseries in a spiral of addiction. He was more than entitled to complaints. There are numerous expressions of clean, righteous anger. But no bitterness.

When he is describing his time in California, he mentions that he "returned to my bedsit". I thought: Really? A bedsit? There is a note in my edition from (I think) Thelma Schoonmaker that he was so "broke" at that point that he had no car (in California....!) and a room without a phone.

Well, you wouldn't know it in the book. He never portrays himself as an artist suffering for his craft. He just kept going, persevering, planning - and the late recognition of his and Pressburger's work was of course a great encouragement.

After watching A Canterbury Tale yet again, I have a better understanding of where the noble spirit that suffuses that movie came from. It was in the man.

Steve Crook

In many other ways, he was no saint. Far from it. But you're right, he never felt bitter about his lost chances. Thelma's currently editing a book based on his diaries, he kept them from when he was a child. She's given us a few previews and extracts at some of the events she's presented and his lack of ill feeling is something that she's commented on.

And he was poor as well. In the years before Scorsese found him and Emeric and Micky got various jobs like teaching at Dartmouth and working at Coppola's Zoetrope studio, he was very poor. Columba has told us that although he would go to meet people dressed very smartly, he often hadn't had a decent meal for a week. But he had the love of Pamela Brown to keep him warm

And a Powell version of The Tempest would have been something to behold. Of all of the Films not made, that's the one I would have most liked to have seen made.


I sent an email to Thelma and to his two sons to say that our thoughts are with them on this day. She replied this morning thanking us and saying that she's so glad that so many people are now interested in his work.

Steve

TimR

He did not lose hope. That is a great virtue, and it is exceptionally rare today. That is what I meant regarding character. His faults are clearly described in the book - both in and between the lines. But there is a generosity of spirit and bravery in Powell which are often associated with hope. For me, it is helpful regarding A Canterbury Tale.

Steve Crook

Although don't put everything in A Canterbury Tale down to Micky. He said that it was Emeric's film much more than his, despite his being brought up in the area. And he even felt that he hadn't fully succeeded in including all of Emeric's ideas on the screen. Jointly, they regarded it not exactly as a failure, but far from a success at their usual level. Maybe that's why it's taken 60+ years for it to become as popular as it has

Steve

alan gowdy

Powell's diaries could be a revelation. Interesting though the two volumes of his autobiography are, there is much about them that is fanciful. Diaries, for personal consumption, might be closer to the whole truth.

stevie boy

That is a great image of Powell

1stas

Him and Emeric - both sadly missed

1stas

stevie boy

they are probably having a drink with Roger Livesey,David Niven and all the rest of the fine actors/actresses and indeed everyone involved with their superb body of work.

Mark O

A fine and individualistic Film maker........

R.I.P. Michael.........and big thank you for your glorious films

Mark