The Representation of Reality and Fantasy in the Films of Powell and Pressburger: 1939-1946

The Representation of Reality and Fantasy In the Films of Powell and Pressburger 1939-1946 Valerie Wilson University College London PhD May 2001 ProQuest Number: U642581 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U642581 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 The Representation of Reality and Fantasy In the Films of Powell and Pressburger: 1939-1946 This thesis will examine the films planned or made by Powell and Pressburger in this period, with these aims: to demonstrate the way the contemporary realities of wartime Britain (political, social, cultural, economic) are represented in these films, and how the realities of British history (together with information supplied by the Ministry of Information and other government ministries) form the basis of much of their propaganda. to chart the changes in the stylistic combination of realism, naturalism, expressionism and surrealism, to show that all of these films are neither purely realist nor seamless products of artifice but carefully constructed narratives which use fantasy genres (spy stories, rural myths, futuristic utopias, dreams and hallucinations) to convey their message. Also, that the use of stereotypes as a basis for character was an attempt to achieve universality while retaining topicality and credibility and that these films seek to reconcile the perceived opposites of life and death, youth and age, the industrial and the rural, tradition and innovation, past and present. to show that the authenticity of location, costume, manners and modes of address sustains a more ambitious and imaginative representation of reality which explores inner truth as well as outer verisimilitude and that the films play with and investigate the function and nature of perception by formal experiment with the conventions of film (sound, vision, time). It will do this in eight sections: 1. Preface. 2. Prologue, The Spy in Black and Contraband 3. 49th Parallel and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing. 4. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. 5. A Canterbury Tale and I Know Where Tm Going! 6. A Matter of Ufe and Death. 7. Post War. 8. Conclusion. Contents Acknowledgements 4 Abbreviations 5 Preface 8 From A Spy In Black to a Blackout Prologue 16 The Spy in Black 19 A Thief and a Lion 28 Contraband 34 Two Escapes 49th Parallel 44 One of Our Aircraft is Missing 67 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Colonel Blimp and the Men from the Ministry 87 Stereotype to Character 93 Patterns 108 Propaganda 117 Postscript 124 Material Considerations A Canterbury Tale 133 I Know Where I'm Going 157 A Matter of Life and Death 177 Post War 207 Conclusion 220 Bibliography 231 Acknowledgements I wish to thank all those who have contributed, either with time, attention, guidance or material to the production of this thesis. In the English Department of University College London thanks are due to Dr Peter Swaab, for reading and commenting on the early stages; Doctor Henry Woudhuysen, for making me aware of George Sturt’s The Wheelwright’s Shop and the unique way the church bells in this country ring the changes; and to Dr Philip Home, whose criticisms were always gentle and justified and whose suggestions were always pertinent and rewarding. My thanks go also to the staff of the British Library, the British Newspaper Library, the Imperial War Museum Departments of Film and of Printed Books, the Goethe Institute, the University of Westminster Harrow 1RS Centre, the University of London Library, the D M S Science Library, University College London Library, the Public Record Office, the National Film Archive and the British Film Institute Library, with particular thanks to Janet Moat in the Special Collections Department. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Kevin Macdonald for the gift of a copy of Emeric Pressburger’s pencil draft of ‘A Matter of Life and Death' and a video of the interview he conducted with Wendy Hiller on the making ofI Know Where I’m Going. Abbreviations These abbreviations are used for the following works and institutions: Aldgate, Anthony and Jeffrey Richards, eds. Britain Can Take it, 1993. Brit. Can Aidred, Nanette. “A Canterbury Tale: Powell and Pressburger’s Film Fantasies of Britain ” ‘C T Sadder, David “Powell and Pressburger: the War Years”,Sight and Sound, 1978-79. Sadder Barr, Charles, ed. AH Our Yesterdays, 1986. AOY Calder, Angus. ThePeopie’s War.Britain 1939-1945,^969. Calder Christie, Ian. “Alienation Effects,”Monthiy Film Bulletin, 51 (609), 1984. Alienation . Arrows of Desire. 1985. Arrows . “Introduction: Returning to the Edge of the World”,Edge . ‘Intro’, Edge . A Matter of Life and Death, 2000. Christie AMOLAD , ed. Powell and Pressburger and Others, 1978. Poweli/Press. Cocteau, Jean.The infernal Machine, Orpheus, Oedipus Rex, 1962. Cocteau Curran, James and Vincent Porter, eds.British Cinema History, 1983. BritCin. Hist. Gough-Yates, Kevin. Michael Poweii: in Collaboration with Emeric Pressburger, 1971.’ G-Y, 1971 , Michael Poweii, 1973. G-Y, 1973 Hall, Femau. Modern English Ballet an interpretation. MOB Haskell, Arnold, et. al. Since 1939: Ballet, Films, Music, Painting. Since 1939 Home, Philip. ‘Life and Death in A Matter of Life and Death,’ February 1998. Horne Imperial War Museum Department of Film. IWMDF Kulik, Karol. Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Work Miracles, 1990. Kulik Landy, Marcia. British Genres: Cinema and Society 1930-1960,1991. Landy Lejeune, C. A. Chestnuts in Her Lap: 1936-1946, 1947. Chestnuts Macdonald, Kevin. Emeric Pressburger. The Life and Death of a Screenwriter, 1994. Emeric Manvell, Roger. Films and the Second World War, 1 974. Manvell , ed. The Penguin Film Review {1946, 1947, 1948, 1949). PFR Mellor. David, ed. A Paradise Lost. The Neo-Romantic Imagination in Britain. Paradise , “Editor’s Preface,”Paradise. Ed’s P’, Paradise , “A British Chronicle,”Paradise. ‘Chron’, Paradise , “John Piper: Mapping Out British Culture,” Paradise. ‘J P’, Paradise , “Leslie Hurry: Towards the Nuclear Future,"Paradise. ‘L H’, Paradise Powell, Michael. The Edge of the World, 1990. Edge . A Ufe in Movies, 1987. Life . Million-Dollar Movie, 1992. $ Movie Pressburger, Emeric. Diaries from 1940 to 1942. ‘1940 Diary’ ‘1941 Diary’ ‘1942 Diary’ . Unpublished Screenplays: The Spy in Black’,1939. ‘1939 Screenplay’ ‘49th Parallel’, November 1940. ‘1940 Screenplay’ 'A Canterbury I ale’, 1943. ‘1943 Screenplay’ A Matter of Life and Death’, Summer 1945. ‘1945 Screenplay’ Richards, Jeffrey and Anthony Aldgate, eds. The Best of British, 1983. Best of Brit. Robertson, James. The British Board of Film Censors: 1896-1950,1985. BBFC Robson, E.W. and M.M. The World is My Cinema, 1947. My Cinema . The Shame and Disgrace of Colonel Blimp, 1944. Shame Rôzsa, Mikiôs. Double Ufe,1982. Rôzsa Short, K.R.M., ed. Film and Radio Propaganda in World War Two, 1983 Film/Radio Prop. Stapleton, Rex . ‘A Matter of Powell and Pressburger’, Appendix 1, Appendix T M A thesis. Polytechnic of Central London, 1984. Sureiwic, Catherine. Accent on Design, 1992. Sureiwic Taylor, John Russell. “Michael Powell: Myths and Supermen,” Myths’ Sight and Sound, 47 (4), 1978 Taylor, Philip M., ed. Britain and the Cinema in the Second World War, 1 988. BritCin. W.W.2 This pamphlet, based on the interviews Gough-Yates conducted with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in 1970, has no page numbers. For ease of reference I have assigned page numbers, beginning with ‘Interview with Michael Powell’. Since a large number of citations are taken from Ian Christie’s edition of Powell and Pressburger’sThe Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I have assigned abbreviations for some of the contents of this publication as well as the publication itself. Powell, Michael and Emeric Pressburger,The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 1994. C.B. "Introduction: A Very British Epic’, by Ian Christie. ‘Intro’ The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: First Outline’, by EmericPressburger. ‘Outline’ Letter from Powell to Wendy Hiller’ ‘Hiller’ ‘Letter from Laurence Olivier to Poweii’. ‘Olivier’ ‘Ministry of Information, The Life and Death of Sugar Candy: Report’. ‘Report’ ‘Memorandum from The Archers’. ‘Memo’ ‘PJG Grigg, note on the Blimp film to the Prime Minister’. ‘Note’ ‘Screenplay: The Life and Death of Sugar Candy’.** ‘S.C.’ ‘Analysis of the Idea behind the Story of Blimp'. ‘Analysis’ ** The Faber edition of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’ is a combination of screenplay and film transcript, ian Christie identifies The Life and Death of Sugar Candy’ screenplay as the one used for this edition. Quotations I make from the screenplay are, with one exception, taken from this publication, and quotations from the film from my own transcript. Preface This thesis examines the films Powell and Pressburger planned or made between 1939 and 1946 with the aim of determining in what way and to what degree their content and style conform to definitions of fantasy, and which realities are evident in these films, or could have influenced their production. I will maintain that the films Powell and Pressburger constructed rarely try to convince us that what we are witnessing is absolute reality, but encourage us to be aware that the version of reality we are given is a distorted and selective one. This is achieved by the following means: using characters who are types’, rather than individuals; playing with the function and nature of perception; and choosing genres which conform to notions of fantasy rather than reality.

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