No doubt, the signature film of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, the ‘written, produced and directed by’ team known as The Archers, remains THE RED SHOES/’48, their hit ballet backstager. Though with 15 features (1941 - ‘57), P&P fantasists may look to A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH/’46 as ‘best,’ while those who lean exotica choose BLACK NARCISSUS/’47. But all must agree the pair’s most perfect is this windblown enchantment. A romance (no rom-com, more in the vein of late Shakespeare, think THE TEMPEST), at first view lighter than some of their major achievements, but growing in heart and mind over time.* Their last WWII production, its distinctive stars, Wendy Hiller & Roger Livesey, meet cute (make that meet surrealistic, what a dream Hiller has!) on separate paths to an island in the Scottish Hebrides. Indeed, his island as Livesey is ‘Laird’ and using his eight-day military leave to visit. Hiller’s joining the wealthy, older industrialist who’s rented the entire island for their wedding. Problem #1: a gale is rising at sea, making passage too dangerous. Problem #2: Livesey & Hiller are falling in love. Complications, characters and traditional Scottish customs bridge the personal divide (purposefully awkward) until their protective lies are finally cleared in a storm at sea that pushes the relationship as well as the technical limits of 1945 special effects. (So much more convincing at the time in b&w than color.) All leading to what must be the most satisfying finish of any P&P movie.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The special handcrafted look & sound of so many Archers’ films on full display in this most British/Scottish of their films. How ironic that nearly all the major creatives, other than Powell, were German/Hungarian Jewish exiles from the Nazis: Pressburger, composer Allan Gray, cinematographer Erwin Hillier, and production designer Alfred Junge.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *That delayed capitulation would include Powell. In love with Deborah Kerr when he co-wrote the script with her in mind, it was decades before he realized he’d made a masterpiece with Hiller. Hiller’s specialty being wonderful in every role she touched.
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