British Formalism
Extravaganza in colours and sound: Films of
Michael Powel, Emeric Pressburger,
Ken Russell, and Nicholas Roeg
Table of Contents
1) Formalist films of Michael Powell and
Emeric Pressburger
2) Formalist films of Ken Russell
3) Formalist films of Nicholas Roeg
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Michael Powell (19051990)
• Started his directorial
career with Flahartyinspired documentary,
The Edge of the World
in 1937.
• Artistic documentary of
the life in a remote
Scottish island.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Emeric Pressburger
(1902-1988)
• Hungarian emmigré,
journalist, translator and
short story writer who
provided scripts for
Robert Siodomak and
Max Ophüls before he
immigrated to England
from Weimar Republic.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Their working relation
began when Pressburger
was asked by Alexander
Korda to revise the
script of Powell’s film,
The Spy in Black (1939).
• Their first masterpiece The Life and Death of
Colonel Blimp (1943)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Creation of a
production company,
The Archers, under the
Rank Corporation.
• ‘Written, Produced and
Directed by Michael
Powell and Emeric
Pressburger’ Logo
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• A Matter of Life and Death
(1946)
• When a young airman
miraculously survives
bailing out of his aeroplane
without a parachute, he falls
in love with an American
radio operator. But the
officials in the other world
realise their mistake, and
despatch an angel to collect
him.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
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Colour extravaganza
Techinicolor
Photography by Jack Cardiff
Mixture of black and white, and colour
e.g. Wizard of Oz
• Reverse the logic of that film
the earthbound scenes in Technicolor and
the heavenly scenes in black and white
(monochrome)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Black Narcissus (1947)
• A group of AngloCatholic nuns open a
school and a hospital in
a remote Himalayan
community. As they face
a series of obstacles
from the villagers and a
hostile environment,
tensions begin to grow.
• Impressive and
exptressive colours.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• The set of a Himalayan convent constructed in
Pinewood Studio, designed by Alfred Junge.
• Photographed in Technicalor by Jack Cardiff
• Extensive use of matte landscape paintings to suggest mountainous environment of the Himalayas.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Music by Brian Easdale (music was
composed first and played while filming)
• Music is part of a set, lending acting an
emotional edge
• A breakthrough to the musical conception
of the media
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Red Shoes (1948)
• A young ballet dancer torn
between love and career.
• Extravagant colour and
performance to music
• The Tale of Hoffman
(1951)
• Three stories based on
Jacques Offenbach’s
operetta about T.A.E.
Hoffman
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
• Peeping Tom (1960)
• Mark Lewis is a focus
puller in a studio.
Traumatized by the
abuse by his father, he is
obsessed with
voyeurism, which leads
to murder.
• The Boy Turned Yellow
(1971)
Ken Russell
• Ken Russell (1927 - )
he started his filmmaking
career at BBC making
documentaries for arts
programme, Monitor.
• Dramatized documentaries
• Mainly on musicians and
artists: Elgar (1962) , Bartok (1964), The
Debussy Film (1965), Songs of Summer (about a
British composer, Frederick Delius, 1968)
Ken Russell
• The Music Lover (1970) biographical film on Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky and a free
interpretation of his life based
on the script of Melvyn Bragg.
• Colour extravaganza and
elaborate set and costume
designs.
• Fast-paced editing
• Visualization of sound
• The Music Lover 1; 2
Ken Russell
• Tommy (1975) - a
musical film, based on
The Who’s rock album.
• Formalist visualization
of music and plot.
• Décore, costume, set
design, and make ups
• Multi-camera shooting
and frenetic cutting
Nicholas Roeg
• Nicholas Roeg (1928 - )
• Cinematographer
(Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451,
Corman’s Masque of Red
Death) turned director
• Roeg stretched the film’s
expressive potentials
through innovative
montage and colour
symbolism
Nicholas Roeg
• Performance (1970)
• On the run from his former
boss, hard-nosed gangster
Chas hides out in the home of
reclusive rock star Turner, and
the two men‘s lives begin to
irrevocably intertwine.
• The Man Who Fell to the
Earth (1976)
• The mysterious stranger,
Thomas Jerome Newton,
appears from nowhere to
achieve fame and fortune
thanks to his scientific
brilliance.
Nicholas Roeg
• Don’t Look Now (1973)
• After the shockingly
unexpected death of
their daughter, John and
Laura Baxter go to
Venice to recuperate, but
find themselves
confronted by strange
premonitory visions.
Nicholas Roeg
• Venice in off-season grandure dominated the
colours of muted greys and icy blues. Red worn
by a dwarf stands out.
• Rhythmical, artful, and rapid cutting
• Pino Donaggio‘s (later a collaborator of Brian de
Pama) lush score enhances the film’s myterious
and scary tone.