Arrows of Desire: Films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

by Ian Christie

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger formed one of the greatest creative partnerships in the history of British cinema - The Archers. Their films were often controversial - Churchill tried to suppress the release of "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp". Later, "The Red Shoes" and "The Tales of Hoffman" startled and enchanted cinema audiences with their use of colour, form amd music. However, in the last ten years the magic, poetry and passion of their work has been acknowledged around the world and they are firmly in the pantheon of film masters. This book is a comprehensive analysis of their films and is a useful guide to their work.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published November 11, 1985

About the author

Ian Christie is Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally finished this excellent study of the work of Powell and Pressburger today having started it last year and put it down. I love what work of Powell and Pressburger I've seen and this book does a grand job of looking at their whole careers so that I now realise I have only touched the surface of the work they did.

Christie does a fine job of contextualising their work, looking at their themes and their influence on modern film-makers - Martin Scorsese provides an introduction to the book. Indeed, I wasn't aware of how influential they were on the 70s American film-makers. Not just Scorsese, but Coppolla and others. There were some initial efforts for Powell to make a film version of Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy through Coppolla's Zeotrope company but Coppolla's financial problems put an end to that idea.

An excellent and interesting read.

[Campbell Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential overview of The Archers’ work and place in the British film industry… but only its original edition, with its expansive layout and liberal selections of stills.

[Scott Leffler · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars