Review: Michael Powell – Early Works
Blu-ray: Michael Powell: Early Works (1931-44)
Throughout the 1930s, director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death, Peeping Tom) honed his craft on a succession of modestly budgeted feature films produced under the United Kingdom’s screen ‘quota’ system. Many of these titles remain lost but, those which survive, reveal a burgeoning talent that readily established Powell as one of British cinema’s leading lights. This new 2-disc collection brings together five of those early films directed by Powell, newly remastered by the BFI National Archive, including murder mysteries, sensational thrillers and a comedy caper, all available on Blu-ray for the first time.
The Films:
Rynox (1931, 47 mins): Michael Powell’s earliest film that isn’t lost is the twisting tale of a company (Rynox) that is on the brink of collapse. To save the company, extreme events have to unfold.
Includes a deliciously over the top performance by Stewart Rome.
Hotel Splendide (1932, 53 mins): Jerry Mason inherits the Hotel Splendide at Speymouth, unaware that it is not in the best state of repair and is losing money.
Throw into the mix a jewel thief who has recently been released from prison and goes to look for his buried treasure, only to find a hotel now there, and you have a recipe for some crazy characters and silly humour.
The Night of the Party (1934, 63 mins): An unlikeable newspaper publisher mysteriously dies while at a party. With a long list of people who don’t like him, who is responsible?
Her Last Affaire (1936, 68 mins): John Laurie and Google Withers steal every scene they appear in.
The rest is quite a dry story of trying to prove innocence.
Behind the Mask (abridged reissue version of The Man Behind the Mask) (1944, 56 mins): The missing footage makes for some jumps in the narrative, and the scenes which could easily have fitted into an episode of Flash Gordon really didn’t seem to fit the tone of the rest of the movie. My weakest of the collection.
A very interesting and enjoyable collection of Michael Powell’s early works which look fantastic on this blu-ray release.
The special features complete a set that is worthy to sit in anyone’s collection.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Five newly recorded audio commentaries by Marc David Jacobs (Rynox, Behind the Mask), Lawrence Napper and Dom Delargy (Hotel Splendide), Dr Josephine Botting and Vic Pratt (The Night of the Party), and Ian Christie (Her Last Affaire)
- Riviera Revels – Travelaughs No.1 and No.10 (1927, 26 mins total): Powell himself appears in these rare short comedy curiosities from the silent era, with optional audio commentary by Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI
- Inside the Archive: Riviera Revels (2024, 12 mins): Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of Riviera Revels and Michael Powell’s work on them
- Inside the Archive: The Early films of Michael Powell (2024, 42 mins): a new documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell
- Visions, Dreams and Magic: The Unmade Films of Michael Powell (2023, 41 mins): new documentary exploring some of Michael Powell’s unrealised films
- Interview with Erwin Hillier (1988, 26 mins, audio): in these extracts from an interview recorded by the British Entertainment History Project, cinematographer Erwin Hillier recalls working with Michael Powell
- The Archers in Argentina (1954, 21 mins): Michael Powell and an international film-star entourage are captured on camera at an Argentinian film festival in this home movie footage shot by Emeric Pressburger, with optional audio commentary by Marc David Jacobs
- Illustrated booklet featuring contributions from James Bell, Marc David Jacobs, Lawrence Napper, Pamela Hutchinson, Ian Christie, Bryony Dixon, Dr Josephine Botting and Kieron Webb
Review by Dave from discs kindly supplied by the BFI.
