Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger is a colourful celebration of the rich cinematic legacy of the British filmmaking duo, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. With a vibrant filmography, that includes films like The Red Shoes (1948), A Canterbury Tale (1944), Black Narcissus (1947), and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), the duo, who shared credits as writers, directors, and producers, left an indelible mark in cinematic history. While Made in England documents their contributions to cinema with passion and exuberance, its existence by itself is a nodal point that connects the life and journey of film royalty, like director Martin Scorsese and his longtime collaborator, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who also happens to be the wife of the late Michael Powell.
Schoonmaker serves as an executive producer in the documentary while Scorsese narrates it, flavoured with personal notes about how Powell and Pressburger’s films influenced some of his own celebrated works, like The Raging Bull (1980) and The Age of Innocence (1993). While Martin Scorsese might have introduced Michael Powell to Thelma Schoonmaker, the initiative to document Powell and Pressburger’s legacy, flowed from Schoonmaker to Scorsese. She recounts, “It was actually the idea of one of the producers Nick Varley, who had distributed Powell and Pressburger films for many years.
I then took it to Marty.” Schoonmaker reveals that they thought David Hinton would be the perfect director t.
