British Directors: Powell and Pressburger - Made in England
The title above should read: Powell and Pressburger and Scorsese and Schoonmaker. In the early 1970s the young upstart American indie director Martin Scorsese arrived in England to receive an award. When asked who should present it, he immediately replied “Michael Powell”, but the shocking reply was “Who?” How quickly they had forgotten! Martin then discovered Michael living in penury in a small cottage and rescued him
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This film studies course is a matter of life and death. It’s about the Powell and Pressburger relationship as one of the most fascinating dualities in movies. Both were credited as writer/producer/director: “But who called ‘Cut’?” Scorsese wondered. The answer seems to have been Powell, although the input of Pressburger was there at a more conceptual level, and such a fiercely opinionated man as Powell would never have consented to co-billing without being convinced it was right. Powell & Pressburger emerge from Made in England as, sui generis, inventors of their own kind of film, gentlemen amateurs of cinema in some ways – although Powell had served a rigorous apprenticeship working for the Irish silent movie director Rex Ingram before Alexander Korda introduced him to Hungarian emigre Emeric Pressburger. Powell/Pressburger movies were a kind of manuscript for a different culture in cinema. They did what they wanted, as if their work would only to be circulated among like-minded souls who ‘got it’.
What will we cover?
Martin Scorsese’s Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024 David Hinton) moves film by film through their work—just as we will throughout the day, adding in a variety of extracts for added context and enjoyment. Scorsese finds ways to connect these magical works to his own films, so even if you’re less familiar with the Powell and Pressburger movies, you can still see their influence on the perhaps more familiar Scorsese works. Scorsese spends the most time on their masterpiece, The Red Shoes (1948), a movie about ballet, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of a girl whose shoes won’t stop dancing – until they dance her to death. The tutor’s dedicated re-mix/mash-up will prove the genius of their images. We will closely study the ballet - the film is really about how making art is a matter of life and death, summarised by an exquisite, daring and transfixing 14-minute ballet with no dialogue, and while Scorsese describes the sequence, the film cuts in brief shots from his own movies Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980). This course is a box of delights.
What will I achieve? By the end of this course you should be able to...
Identify key works from the different phases of Powell & Pressburger.
Describe the danse macabre detailed in tutor’s Red Shoes Re-Mix.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is for students interested in the subject. Previous film study is not necessary.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
Introductory lecture, large and small group discussions. No tests or outside class work necessary except reading the handouts provided.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
Tutor will provide and screen extracts of films so students do not have to obtain them.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.
John Wischmeyer (MA in Film Theory) set up, ran and programmed his own cinema in West London and has since taught film studies at the former Gainsborough studio, the BFI and City Lit since 1999, Hitchcock’s centenary year. John has covered a wide range film topics under the banner ‘Cinema Investigates America’ and has a particular interest in and considerable knowledge of Hitchcock, Hollywood studios, American independent cinema and film noir, film technique and style.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
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https://www.citylit.ac.uk/british-directors-powell-and-pressburger-made-in-england2629683British Directors: Powell and Pressburger - Made in Englandhttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/art-history-cinema-HF347-1024.jpg6969GBPInStock/Courses/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/Introductory & general/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies22851177154815801228511771580<p>The title above should read: Powell and Pressburger and Scorsese and Schoonmaker. In the early 1970s the young upstart American indie director Martin Scorsese arrived in England to receive an award. When asked who should present it, he immediately replied “Michael Powell”, but the shocking reply was “Who?” How quickly they had forgotten! Martin then discovered Michael living in penury in a small cottage and rescued him from obscurity, installing him at Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio where his editor Thelma Schoonmaker met him and fell in love with him and… Reader, I Married Him!” I cannot now see the Powell/Pressburger films except through the medium of Scorsese’s glorious evangelism. Their movies and his have virtually become intertextual events. You will see all their films in one glorious day!</p>002629464British Directors: Powell and Pressburger - Made in England6969https://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/art-history-cinema-HF347-1024.jpgInStockDaytimeSatKeeley StreetAvailable coursesOne-off onlyWeekend2026-05-09T00:00:00+00:00May 2026Culture, history & humanitiesHF3706969British Directors: Powell and Pressburger - Made in England554569John Wischmeyerbritish-directors-powell-and-pressburger-made-in-england/hf370-2526<p>The title above should read: Powell and Pressburger and Scorsese and Schoonmaker. In the early 1970s the young upstart American indie director Martin Scorsese arrived in England to receive an award. When asked who should present it, he immediately replied “Michael Powell”, but the shocking reply was “Who?” How quickly they had forgotten! Martin then discovered Michael living in penury in a small cottage and rescued him from obscurity, installing him at Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio where his editor Thelma Schoonmaker met him and fell in love with him and… Reader, I Married Him!” I cannot now see the Powell/Pressburger films except through the medium of Scorsese’s glorious evangelism. Their movies and his have virtually become intertextual events. You will see all their films in one glorious day!</p>0000-Available|2026-05-09 00:00:00<p>This film studies course is a matter of life and death. It’s about the Powell and Pressburger relationship as one of the most fascinating dualities in movies. Both were credited as writer/producer/director: “But who called ‘Cut’?” Scorsese wondered. The answer seems to have been Powell, although the input of Pressburger was there at a more conceptual level, and such a fiercely opinionated man as Powell would never have consented to co-billing without being convinced it was right. Powell & Pressburger emerge from <em>Made in England</em> as, <em>sui generis</em>, inventors of their own kind of film, gentlemen amateurs of cinema in some ways – although Powell had served a rigorous apprenticeship working for the Irish silent movie director Rex Ingram before Alexander Korda introduced him to Hungarian emigre Emeric Pressburger. Powell/Pressburger movies were a kind of manuscript for a different culture in cinema. They did what they wanted, as if their work would only to be circulated among like-minded souls who ‘got it’.</p><p>The title above should read: Powell and Pressburger and Scorsese and Schoonmaker. In the early 1970s the young upstart American indie director Martin Scorsese arrived in England to receive an award. When asked who should present it, he immediately replied “Michael Powell”, but the shocking reply was “Who?” How quickly they had forgotten! Martin then discovered Michael living in penury in a small cottage and rescued him from obscurity, installing him at Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio where his editor Thelma Schoonmaker met him and fell in love with him and… Reader, I Married Him!” I cannot now see the Powell/Pressburger films except through the medium of Scorsese’s glorious evangelism. Their movies and his have virtually become intertextual events. You will see all their films in one glorious day!</p><p>Martin Scorsese’s <em>Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger</em> (2024 David Hinton) moves film by film through their work—just as we will throughout the day, adding in a variety of extracts for added context and enjoyment. Scorsese finds ways to connect these magical works to his own films, so even if you’re less familiar with the Powell and Pressburger movies, you can still see their influence on the perhaps more familiar Scorsese works. Scorsese spends the most time on their masterpiece, <em>The Red Shoes</em> (1948), a movie about ballet, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of a girl whose shoes won’t stop dancing – until they dance her to death. The tutor’s dedicated re-mix/mash-up will prove the genius of their images. We will closely study the ballet - the film is really about how making art is a matter of life and death, summarised by an exquisite, daring and transfixing 14-minute ballet with no dialogue, and while Scorsese describes the sequence, the film cuts in brief shots from his own movies <em>Mean Streets </em>(1973), <em>Taxi Driver</em> (1976) and <em>Raging Bull</em> (1980). This course is a box of delights.</p><ul><li start;="">Identify key works from the different phases of Powell & Pressburger.</li><li>Describe the danse macabre detailed in tutor’s Red Shoes Re-Mix.</li></ul><p>This course is for students interested in the subject. Previous film study is not necessary.</p><p text-align:start="">Introductory lecture, large and small group discussions. No tests or outside class work necessary except reading the handouts provided.</p><p>Tutor will provide and screen extracts of films so students do not have to obtain them.</p><p>Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.</p>Film studiesIntroductory & generalvirtual556945HF370NONESat09/05/2610:30 - 16:3010:3016:301 session1One-off onlyDaytimeWeekendKSKeeley StreetJohn WischmeyerAvailable courses2026-05-09T00:00:00+00:00May 2026Culture, history & humanities6969British Directors: Powell and Pressburger - Made in Englandbritish-directors-powell-and-pressburger-made-in-england/hf370-2526<p>The title above should read: Powell and Pressburger and Scorsese and Schoonmaker. In the early 1970s the young upstart American indie director Martin Scorsese arrived in England to receive an award. When asked who should present it, he immediately replied “Michael Powell”, but the shocking reply was “Who?” How quickly they had forgotten! Martin then discovered Michael living in penury in a small cottage and rescued him from obscurity, installing him at Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio where his editor Thelma Schoonmaker met him and fell in love with him and… Reader, I Married Him!” I cannot now see the Powell/Pressburger films except through the medium of Scorsese’s glorious evangelism. Their movies and his have virtually become intertextual events. You will see all their films in one glorious day!</p>0000-Available|2026-05-09 00:00:00<p>This film studies course is a matter of life and death. It’s about the Powell and Pressburger relationship as one of the most fascinating dualities in movies. Both were credited as writer/producer/director: “But who called ‘Cut’?” Scorsese wondered. The answer seems to have been Powell, although the input of Pressburger was there at a more conceptual level, and such a fiercely opinionated man as Powell would never have consented to co-billing without being convinced it was right. Powell &amp; Pressburger emerge from <em>Made in England</em> as, <em>sui generis</em>, inventors of their own kind of film, gentlemen amateurs of cinema in some ways – although Powell had served a rigorous apprenticeship working for the Irish silent movie director Rex Ingram before Alexander Korda introduced him to Hungarian emigre Emeric Pressburger. Powell/Pressburger movies were a kind of manuscript for a different culture in cinema. They did what they wanted, as if their work would only to be circulated among like-minded souls who ‘got it’.</p><p>The title above should read: Powell and Pressburger and Scorsese and Schoonmaker. In the early 1970s the young upstart American indie director Martin Scorsese arrived in England to receive an award. When asked who should present it, he immediately replied “Michael Powell”, but the shocking reply was “Who?” How quickly they had forgotten! Martin then discovered Michael living in penury in a small cottage and rescued him from obscurity, installing him at Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio where his editor Thelma Schoonmaker met him and fell in love with him and… Reader, I Married Him!” I cannot now see the Powell/Pressburger films except through the medium of Scorsese’s glorious evangelism. Their movies and his have virtually become intertextual events. You will see all their films in one glorious day!</p><p>Martin Scorsese’s <em>Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger</em> (2024 David Hinton) moves film by film through their work—just as we will throughout the day, adding in a variety of extracts for added context and enjoyment. Scorsese finds ways to connect these magical works to his own films, so even if you’re less familiar with the Powell and Pressburger movies, you can still see their influence on the perhaps more familiar Scorsese works. Scorsese spends the most time on their masterpiece, <em>The Red Shoes</em> (1948), a movie about ballet, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of a girl whose shoes won’t stop dancing – until they dance her to death. The tutor’s dedicated re-mix/mash-up will prove the genius of their images. We will closely study the ballet - the film is really about how making art is a matter of life and death, summarised by an exquisite, daring and transfixing 14-minute ballet with no dialogue, and while Scorsese describes the sequence, the film cuts in brief shots from his own movies <em>Mean Streets </em>(1973), <em>Taxi Driver</em> (1976) and <em>Raging Bull</em> (1980). This course is a box of delights.</p><ul><li start;="">Identify key works from the different phases of Powell &amp; Pressburger.</li><li>Describe the danse macabre detailed in tutor’s Red Shoes Re-Mix.</li></ul><p>This course is for students interested in the subject. Previous film study is not necessary.</p><p text-align:start="">Introductory lecture, large and small group discussions. No tests or outside class work necessary except reading the handouts provided.</p><p>Tutor will provide and screen extracts of films so students do not have to obtain them.</p><p>Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.</p>Film studiesIntroductory & generalconfigurable
15481580Introductory & generalhttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/film-studies/introductory-general1/2/285/1177/1580/15481/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/Introductory & general
