FILM
LOVE LANGUAGE Martin Scorsese goes on a personal voyage in ‘Made in England’ BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
L
oving cinema is a one-way street. Oh, I love movies. Hell, I love certain movies more than some of the people in my life. But I realize that adoration isn’t reciprocated. I Know Where I’m Going! doesn’t give a damn about One of cinema’s greatest collaborations, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were writers, producers and directors known collectively as the Archers. me. A Matter of Life and Courtesy: Film Limited / British Broadcasting Corporation Death doesn’t even know I exist. Black Narcissus won’t return my calls. But I love man likes music. The man likes mov- flag with more than a few nods to the time. That’s true in Made in England, them anyway. And I’ll go on loving with Scorsese taking viewers through duo in Barbie. ies. And specifically, the man likes them until death do us part. the Archers’ films chronologically. But it’s Scorsese and his long-time the movies of Michael Powell and Which makes me wonder what it Then there’s the knowledge collaborator, Oscar-winning editor Emeric Pressburger. must be like to be Martin Scorsese. Scorsese brings from outside of the and Powell’s widow, Thelma Directed by David Hinton and feaAs a young boy growing up in Little frame. The behind-the-scenes stills, Schoonmaker, who work tirelessly to turing Scorsese as guide, Made in Italy, Manhattan, Scorsese fell under restore the Archers’ films via the Film the correspondences, the interviews England: The Films of Michael the spell of The Red Shoes, The with Powell and Pressburger shot in Foundation and make sure the cinePowell and Emeric Pressburger is at Tales of Hoffmann and The Life and the ’80s — Hinton breezes through it ma of Powell and Pressburger has a once a retrospective of cinema’s Death of Colonel Blimp. Broadcast all without losing the significance. permanent place in the cinematic greatest collaboration and a love leton local TV, these movies transfixed But at the center is Scorsese and curriculum. ter from one filmmaker to another. the young cinephile. He loved them his love for these movies and these For Scorsese, it’s personal. He Under the banner of The Archers, so deeply that he internalized them, men. Fitting for two romantics who met and developed a friendship with Powell and Pressburger wrote, proand when the time came for the loved and respected each other as Powell in the ’70s and ’80s, helping duced and directed an unequaled watcher to become a maker, those much as Powell and Pressburger him and his movies get recognition string of bonafide classics. That works of unparalleled creativity didn’t did. Few filmmakers wore their emo— he even introduced Powell to made the British duo popular in the just influence him. They fueled his tions on their sleeves as proudly as 1940s, but they fell out of favor in the Schoonmaker. Powell returned the very imagination. the Archers. It’s only proper that favor by helping Scorsese through ’50s and ’60s and almost vanished The pageantry of the duel in Made in England follow suit. some difficult years as an artist and into obscurity. Then came the emerColonel Blimp became Jake gence of the New Hollywood with the as a person. You sense the adoraLaMotta’s title fight in Raging Bull. tion immediately in Made in England, likes of Brian De Palma, Francis Robert Helpmann’s shifting eyes in but it isn’t until the end of the doc Ford Coppola and Scorsese, who Hoffmann possessed the uneasy ON SCREEN: Made in that you realize how deep the love counted the Archers among their gaze of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver England: The Films of is, how personal the connection. favorite filmmakers. (Coppola even and Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas. Michael Powell and Emeric Movies about the movies are often employed Powell at his studio, The musical core of The Red Shoes Pressburger opens in limita lot of fun because you get whole American Zoetrope.) These days, became … well, just about everyed release Aug. 2. careers condensed into a single runGreta Gerwig is waving the Archers thing Scorsese has touched. The 18
AUGUST 1, 2024
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