Michael Powell lived intimately, and abundantly, with the movies - entering the business at the end of the silent era, growing up in the industry, becoming one of Britain's most respected and influential directors. This first volume of his autobiography captures the startling momentum of his mercurial early career: from apprenticeship with Hitchcock, to the fateful meeting with the man who became his principal collaborator Emeric Pressburger; to the glories of "A Matter of Life and Death", "Black Narcissus" and "The Red Shoes". Powell's writing has the same brilliant feel for time, place and story as his amazing films.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a good read written by and about the life of one of the truly great movie directors. Along with Emeric Pressberger, Michael Powell created The Archers, whose movie productions were and are breathtaking in their daring cinematography and scoring. If you're not familiar with Powell's movies, you're in for a treat. I urge you to design your own Michael Powell film festival: Be sure to include The Thief of Baghdad, Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death in Britain), The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and my personal favorite, I Know Where I'm Going. These are stunning works of art. Consider that they were filmed in cash-strapped postwar England, and you come away all the more amazed. Powell lost his career when he filmed Peeping Tom, a Hitchcockian thriller that upset critics with its psychosexual theme; his reputation was only rehabilitated by the intercession of such luminaries as Michael Scorsese during the 1980s. Powell lived a brash, full and vigorous life spiced with affairs with the likes of Deborah Kerr and the fascinating Pamela Brown. He dared the new, often endured hardship and even danger to catch what he wanted on film. He envisioned original and groundbreaking ideas, and then assembled teams that made them happen: A Himalayan garden in Kent for Black Narcissus, awesome outer space animation and the world's largest staircase for Stairway to Heaven, shooting I Know Where I'm Going without the leading man ever being on location. This book has been out of print for some time in hardcover. I've seen copies selling for hundreds of dollars. There is a reason! Now is your chance to enjoy the best words there are about Michael Powell--his own.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Simon Turner
Format:Paperback
No other biography i've read places the man himself before me, so evocative is it. In his films he chased and captured the wonder in all things, but his own writing does this more directly, a wonderful book. The life of the film maker from the 1920's onwards, and one who can fully express himself descriing the life, and equally great on his growing up towards film. The maker of wonders like A Canterbury Tale, Small Back Room, The Spy In Black and Peeping Tom achieved as much in this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A beautifully written account of a life dedicated to the making of films by a true Master of the medium. This book together with the other volume of his autobiography, Million Dollar Movie, gives the reader a wonderful insight into a very creative personality. Michael Powell recounts his life with charm, whimsy, wit and voluptuousness: a perfect picture of the man himself.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
A failure
This book was put together the day after I ordered, obviously a botched computer job. The font is minuscule, and it gets smaller at times. Read more
Published 19 days ago by mcslater
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, entertaining (but obviously his own POV)
For those interested in British cinema, Michael Powell needs no introduction as one-half of the filmmaking team of "The Archers", with the emigre Hungarian Emeric Pressburger as... Read more
Published 21 months ago by G.C.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well written autobiography of an esteemed British film director!
Meet Michael Powell! The great and iconoclastic film direcotr of such classics as 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp"; "The
49th Parallel"; "The Canterbury Tales:... Read more
49th Parallel"; "The Canterbury Tales:... Read more
Published on October 21, 2005 by C. M Mills
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powell Hits the Target
Michael Powell, partnered by Emeric Pressburger, made some of the finest films of the forties. Films like The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death and The Life and Death of... Read more
Published on June 4, 2001 by Mr Peter G George
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 43
books:
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40
books
cite this book:
See all 40 books citing this book
- The Edge of the World: The Making of a Film by Michael Powell on 6 pages
- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp by Michael Powell in Table of Contents, Back Matter, and Back Cover
- on page 465, and page 494
- The Moon and Sixpence (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) by W. Somerset Maugham on page 150, and Index
- The Small Back Room by Nigel Balchin on page 662, and Back Matter
See all 43 books this book cites
- The British At War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-1945 (Cinema & Society) by James Chapman on 5 pages
- J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry (Cinema and Society) by Macnab on 4 pages
- A Matter of Life and Death (BFI Film Classics) by Ian Christie on 4 pages
- Out Takes: Essays on Queer Theory and Film (Series Q) by Ellis Hanson on 4 pages
- The Unknown 1930s: An Alternative History of the British Cinema, 1929- 1939 (Cinema and Society) by Jeffrey Richards in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 40 books citing this book
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