Cinema Of Powell & Pressburger – Collection One (Blu-ray) ***Preorder*** 8/27

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger forged a filmmaking partnership that has forever influenced the silver screen, crafting a catalogue of twenty-four films that are among the most renowned works cinema has to offer.

This first selection features six entries from the first eight years of their collaboration: 

• The Spy In Black (1939)
• 49th Parallel (1941)
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
• A Canterbury Tale (1944) – Worldwide Blu-ray debut!
• A Matter Of Life and Death (1946)
• Black Narcissus (1947)

Limited Edition 7-Disc Hardbox. 1500 copies only.

The Spy In Black 

Powell and Pressburger’s very first film came to be thanks to the great Alexander Korda, who introduced the pair for this adaptation of the novel by Joseph Storer Clouston. 

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

This suspenseful World War I thriller is packed with twists, sabotage, and skilful performances from Conrad Veidt (Casablanca), Valerie Hobson (Great Expectations), and Sebastian Shaw (Return of the Jedi).

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a restored high-definition transfer
• NEW Audio Commentary by film critic Kim Newman and Jo Botting from the BFI National Archive
• NEW Interview with Powell and Pressburger film scholar Ian Christie
• NEW Interview with author Charles Barr on The Spy In Black
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
• Optional English HOH Subtitles

49th Parallel 

With an original story and screenplay by Pressburger and direction from Michael Powell, this riveting drama hurls the viewer inside the early days of WWII with “the mightiest manhunt that ever swept the screen!”

A German U-boat is sunk in Canada’s Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral.

Starring Leslie Howard (Gone With The Wind) and Laurence Olivier.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a restored high-definition transfer
• NEW Audio Commentary with Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons
• NEW Interview with Powell and Pressburger film scholar Ian Christie
• NEW Interview with Jeremy Arnold, author of Turner Classic Movies: The Essentials
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Audio: English 2.0 Mono
• Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
• Optional English HOH Subtitles

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 

Special 2-Disc set!

Written and directed by Powell and Pressburger, this wartime Technicolor comedy is among the most loved films of all time.

General Candy, who’s overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn’t have the respect of the men he’s training and is considered out-of-touch with what’s needed to win the war. But it wasn’t always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

Disc One:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration by The Film Foundation and Janus Films, in association with the BFI National Archive, ITV Studios Global Entertainment Ltd., the Museum of Modern Art, and Romulus Films.
• NEW Audio Commentary by film historian/filmmaker Daniel Kremer
• Theatrical Trailer
• Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
• Optional English HOH Subtitles

Disc Two:

• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp – 115 minute 1945 US version (standard definition)
• NEW Interview with Powell and Pressburger film scholar Ian Christie
• NEW Interview with Charles Drazin author of The Finest Years: British Cinema of the 40’s
• Restoration Featurette with Martin Scorsese
• A Profile of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp – featurette
• Photo Gallery

A Canterbury Tale 

Worldwide first on Blu-ray!

Powell and Pressburger delve into the mystery genre in this take on Chaucer’s classic 14th century works, a tale of connection and redemption. 

There is a bizarre crime taking place in a small town near Canterbury. An unknown assailant known as ‘the glue man’ is pouring glue on women’s heads at nighttime, and three modern day pilgrims are determined to investigate.

A haunting dream that defies expectation, A Canterbury Tale is a must-see journey for fans of classic cinema.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a restored high-definition transfer
• NEW Audio Commentary by script supervisor Paddy Arnold, assistant editor Jim Pople & Paul Tritton, author of A Canterbury Tale: Memories of a Classic Wartime Movie
• NEW Interview with Powell and Pressburger film scholar Ian Christie
• NEW Interview with Kim Newman on A Canterbury Tale
• NEW Interview with author Charles Barr on A Canterbury Tale 
• Two excerpts from the American version, with Kim Hunter
• Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
• Optional English HOH Subtitles

A Matter Of Life and Death 

A defining film from the 40s and of all cinema, Powell and Pressburger’s meditation on life after death is an essential, unmissable, beautiful story.

When a young RAF pilot miraculously survives bailing out of his aeroplane without a parachute, he falls in love with an American radio operator. But the officials in the other world realise their mistake and dispatch an angel to collect him.

Starring David Niven, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey, Kim Hunter and Marius Goring.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a restored high-definition transfer
• NEW Audio Commentary by cinema historian & author Stuart Galbraith IV
• NEW Interview with Powell and Pressburger film scholar Ian Christie
• NEW Interview with Charles Drazin author of The Finest Years: British Cinema of the 40’s
• The Colour Merchant – 1998 short film featuring cinematographer Jack Cardiff
• Theatrical Trailer
• Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Aspect Ratio 1.37:1

Black Narcissus 

An acclaimed psychological drama written and directed by Powell and Pressburger, based on the novel by Rumer Godden, starring Deborah Kerr, David Farrar, Sabu Dastagir, and Flora Robson.

A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.

This masterful Technicolor picture explores the danger and allure of fantasy, an “artistic accomplishment of no small proportions” (New York Times). 

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a restored high-definition transfer
• NEW Audio Commentary by author and critic Kat Ellinger
• Audio Commentary with co-director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
• NEW Interview with film critic & writer Hannah McGill
• NEW The Women of Powell & Pressburger – Video Essay by critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson
• NEW Interview with Powell and Pressburger film scholar Ian Christie
• Profile of Black Narcissus – documentary
• Painting with Light – documentary about cinematographer Jack Cardiff
• Neil Labute on Black Narcissus
• Photo Galleries
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
• Optional English HOH Subtitles