Scorsese and Schoonmaker Present Powell and Pressburger’s Cinematic Journey

NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Scorsese has spent a substantial part of his life sharing his passion for cinema. He’s created documentaries on Italian cinema, Hollywood studio films, and individual filmmakers like Elia Kazan and Val Lewton. However, when Scorsese speaks about the works of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, it touches on something fundamental for him.

In the new documentary “Made in England: The Films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger,” Scorsese recounts watching “The Red Shoes” as a child, describing it as a key moment that sparked his lifelong obsession with cinema.

“The Powell-Pressburger films have deeply influenced the sensibility I bring to all my work,” Scorsese says in the documentary. “I was captivated by them as a child, and they are a significant part of my films’ subconscious.”

“Made in England,” which debuts in theaters this month, serves as a poignant climax in Scorsese’s enduring admiration for Powell and Pressburger, known collectively as the Archers. Scorsese, who befriended Powell late in life, shares this passion with Thelma Schoonmaker, his longtime editor who married Powell and has worked tirelessly to preserve his legacy since his death in 1990.

Schoonmaker and Scorsese have restored eight of Powell and Pressburger’s films, including masterpieces like “The Red Shoes,” “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” “Black Narcissus,” and “A Matter of Life and Death.” They also restored the beloved black-and-white film “I Know Where I’m Going!” and the more recent “The Small Black Room.” After completing projects like “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Schoonmaker often turns her attention to preserving these classic films.

“I have the best job in the world and the best husband in the world. What more could you ask for?” Schoonmaker said. “Working for Marty is fantastic. Every film is a new challenge. And then we talk about Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.”

“Made in England” is a heartfelt expression of movie love, playing as part of a Powell-Pressburger retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. The retrospective will also visit Seattle, Chicago, and the Academy Museum in Los Angeles.

David Hinton, who directed “Made in England,” first met Powell during a 1980s British TV documentary. Approached by Schoonmaker to create this film, Hinton quickly recognized the zeal of his collaborators.

“Scorsese and Thelma wanted to include every good moment from every Powell and Pressburger film,” Hinton said. “Sequences went back and forth across the Atlantic. A lot of what you see in the finished film is their work.”

Powell, a British hop farmer’s son, and Pressburger, a Hungarian Jew who fled the Nazis, began their collaboration during WWII. They created 19 features together, many of which are considered some of the finest films ever made.

Schoonmaker felt a connection to Powell even before meeting him. She saw “The Red Shoes” at age 12 and later watched “Colonel Blimp.”

“It devastated me, but in a good sense,” Schoonmaker said. “I had no idea who made it, or that I would later meet and marry him.”

When she met Powell, his career had dwindled, worsened by the response to his 1960 film “Peeping Tom.” By 1974, when Scorsese received an award from the Edinburgh Film Festival, Powell was nearly destitute. Scorsese invited him to present the award, sparking a friendship that rejuvenated Powell.

During the making of “Raging Bull” (1980), Scorsese and Powell had become close. Powell later wrote that working with Scorsese made him feel alive again.

Scorsese also shared Powell’s films with others, including Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro, leading to a revival of their legacy and a flourishing filmmaking friendship.

“Michael supported Marty, too,” Schoonmaker recalled. When Scorsese faced pressure to trim drug scenes from “GoodFellas,” Powell encouraged him to proceed, calling it the best script he’d read in 20 years.

A wedding photo of Schoonmaker and Powell appears in “Made in England.” Schoonmaker spent ten happy years with Powell before his death.

“He was an optimist,” Schoonmaker said. “He had me write ‘Film director and optimist’ on his gravestone. Living with an optimist is extraordinary. He lived every second of every day.”

The partnerships of Pressburger and Powell, and Scorsese and Schoonmaker bear striking similarities. One of the most revealing parts of “Made in England” showcases side-by-side comparisons of scenes from Powell and Pressburger films that resonate in Scorsese’s works. The ballet in “The Red Shoes” influenced the boxing scenes in “Raging Bull.” The character Lermontov in “The Red Shoes” served as a model for Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.”

Beyond individual scenes, Powell’s integration of imagery and music had a profound impact on Scorsese. The 1951 opera “The Tales of Hoffman,” which Scorsese watched obsessively as a child, taught him about the relationship between camera and music. The famous “Layla” montage in “GoodFellas” was inspired by music-timed cuts in “Black Narcissus.”

Scorsese’s personal reflections in “Made in England” effectively convey the emotions that Powell and Pressburger films evoke in many viewers. “They’re romantics and idealists,” Hinton said. “When I met Michael, he still had that romantic sparkle in his eye.”

Schoonmaker continues this work, with possible restorations of films like “A Canterbury Tale” and “49th Parallel” on the horizon. She also works on Powell’s diaries, which she hopes to publish someday. She hasn’t read through them entirely yet, preferring to wait to discover what Powell wrote about her.

“I’m working chronologically,” Schoonmaker said. “I’m waiting to read what he wrote about me until I get there.”

Source: Associated Press