For whom the bell tolls… Black Narcissus (1947), Cinema Ritrovato XXXVII, 2023 Part 2

If, watching one of the greatest British films, on a fresh 35mm copy (created in 2020 from an interpositive printed from the original three-strip negatives...) and on the biggest screen possible with thousands of others in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore is not peak Cinema Ritrovato then I don’t know what is… In fairness this is a festival with many summits yet how many of those are introduced by leading Archers-ologist and “friend of the band” Ian Christie and, especially, one of cinema’s finest editors and, for ten years, Mrs Michael Powell, Thelma Schoonmaker.

 

If Ivan was Man of the Week in Silence then surely our Man of the Week in talkies, and some silents, has definitely been Michael Powell as we’ve been treated to restorations of some of his so-called Quota Quickies which in an excellent primer for the series, Christie and Schoonmaker explained were often budgeted on one pound sterling per foot in an attempt to protect British film when the American talkies were just out-competing the domestic industry. An act of parliament resulted which insisted that British films be shown before any imported headliner. They were of varying quality but, as Alexander Korda’s Reservation for Ladies (1932 and recently screened on stunning nitrate stock at the BFI) showed, an able director could do a lot with the right talent available.

 

Powell, who learned his trade in the South of France working in any capacity he could to aid Rex Ingram, first produced a series of silent comedy travelogues in which he played the odd butterfly collector who also did all his own stunts. They’re charming and a vital piece in the projected Powell history I had never seen, slapstick but doing the main job of making the locations look interesting.

Riviera Revels, Michael Powell as Cisero Simp in the snow 

The “quickies” followed and these were definitely a mixed bag each one of which shows the director making the most of cast, crew and budget as well as his tightly regimented small ensembles. First up,  Hotel Splendide (1932) is a fun piece with that well-drilled troupe making the most of classic but predictable misunderstandings; pretty much a farce with extra beats for cross-dressing and criminality. I was less impressed with His Lordship (1932) about an impoverished nobleman who prefers plumbing to the ‘ouse of Lords, it’s still worth watching though for some cheery songs that occasionally rise above mere British “pluck” (code: giving your all on a limited budget).

 

Something Always Happens (1935) was my favourite not least for the easy-going assurance of Ian Hunter whose character Peter always believes his salvation is only just a flash of luck and sales genius away… the stakes rise suddenly when he “adopts” a waif and stray (excellent performance from young John Singer as Billy and then meets an attractive young women, Cynthia (Nancy O’Neil) who encourages him to pitch his revolutionary ideas about forecourt trading to the market leader and notorious corporate killer, Benjamin Hatch (Peter Gawthorne) who is, unbeknownst to Peter, Hatch’s daughter.

 

Nancy O’Neil and youngJohn Singer with Ian Hunter

Peter heads off to the competition and really brings it on the Hatch crew who, at some point are going to have to recognise the man’s business genius as well as the fact that he’s won the heart of hard-hearted Hatch’s daughter.  Powell was pleased, writing in his autobiography, A Life in Movies: “A very good comedy… We played it all out for laughs and great speed, excellent dialogue. It was about a chap who never pays for anything.”

The Red Ensign (1934) was another more successful project helped considerably by the lead actor, Leslie Banks as shipping magnate David Barr. It’s a bit of a propaganda film calling for workers to support the ideas of new leaders as the country fought to revive its merchant navy – those who fly the Red Ensign – in the face of competition from across the globe. Barr has a revolutionary new idea to improve loads and capacity but he needs to persuade his stuffy old directors to invest and his loyal workers to skip the odd payment, it’s flag-waving fantasy but still effective drama. I wonder what happened…

 

Judy Gunn is not impressed with Louis Hayward

The Love Test (1935) was promising with Judy Gunn’s Mary Lee being the leading scientist of a group dedicated to the discovery of flame-proof celluloid. When the time comes and her boss has to resign for his health, Dr Mary is the obvious choice to run the team but, not so, comes the response from all but one of the old school chauvinists who will now be working under her. Rather disappointingly they decide the thing to do is to get one of the team, John Gregg (Louis Hayward) to romance her and put her off the project through his manly wiles… He doesn’t want to do it but former school bullied like Thomson (Dave Hutcheson), clearly have no interest in science just one-upmanship.

 

It's a rather depressing premise and one that threatens to run away with the film in then end… thank Heavens for a classy, brassy secretary Minnie (Googie Withers in her first part?), who outshines most of the dinosaurs. 1935, and industrial competition at a height and these men only want to mess around to bring their female boss down? I don’t think so.

 

On a lighter note, the Phantom Light (1935) is a perfectly serviceable adventure featuring some lovely location work in Snowdonia as well as the classic situation of an isolated lighthouse in a storm with a killer on board. Ian Hunter is in board as is the ace Gordon Harker, so you know it’s going to be well acted. Then there’s Liverpool’s Binnie Hale to prove that high heels are the correct response to any crisis and Donald Calthrop to provide much needed gravitas.

Close to the edge... Eric Berry and Belle Chrystall

By 1937, Powell had achieved enough to be given a larger project, The Edge of the World, to be filmed on the remote island of Foula with a cast including Finlay Currie and the great John Laurie which examined the recent depopulation of the island of St Kilda in the 1920s as the economy dwindled, young folk opted for the mainland and the critical communal mass broke down.

 

Here Powell is the anti-Flaherty – the two we not on good terms as per Ian Christie - with the Englishman preferring to use actual actors for his acting and presenting a way of life in more pointed and honest ways. EOTW is about as political as Powell gets as he highlights the failure of government to support the islanders as they drown their dogs and cut their losses in the saddest of circumstances. I wonder what happened to the folk of St Kilda, Rachel Johnson, the last of the native St Kildans, died in April 2016 at the age of 93, having been evacuated at the age of eight… what stories did she and other tell of their traumatic changes?

 

It’s a beautiful film to watch with highly-skilled cinematography, consistency of tone and vision, "Edge" is infused throughout with Powell's trademark mysticism. It clearly features many of the signature elements that would underpin his wonderful career. Made over many difficult months in the remote and inhospitable environment of the island of Foula, having been refused permission to film on the deserted St Kilda, the making of the film was an epic adventure in itself. ("200,000 feet on Foula" was Powell's original title for his book on the making of the film and references the immense amount of footage shot.)

 

Apart from Currie and Laurie there are smart turns from Eric Berry as the gifted engineer Robbie Manson who wants to use his skills in the wider world; Belle Chrystall, as his sister Ruth (possibly the only woman with plucked eyebrows in the whole of the western isles...) who is being romanced by Niall MacGinnis’ Andrew Gray. The three are the future of the island and that’s on or off depending on the outcome of a treacherous cliff race and the immovable object of Laurie versus Currie’s gentler but no less resolute pragmatism.

Findlay and John

It's a film to relish on the big screen as is Black Narcissus which looks simply remarkable for a film of its vintage and which was filmed largely in studio and in England… across every element this is near perfection from Powell and Pressburger, Jack Cardiff and Alfred Junge with W. Percy Day's eye-boggling matte painting. The colours are stunning, the images sparkle, and Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, David Farrah and company are all magical. The film manages to convey an eerie sense of place, huge scale and yet all crowded in by the distance all around and the endless wind pushing through everything, a restless force that crushes all but the hardiest of souls.

 

There’ll be more time to examine all of these things in more detail for the BFI’s Autumn Powell Festival but this selection, and the stunning centrepiece, really whetted the appetite not just for a broader appreciation of Powell and Pressburger’s work, but also the director’s separate projects. It’s going to be a fascinating programme and likely one which will make us see the Archers and their most frequent collaborators in a different light: the best of British Cinema operating at a high level less than a decade after we almost lost the industry for ever. Thank goodness the Government of the day intervened and that we still had the talent to make the most of the opportunity offered.

 

See them all at the BFI in October, meanwhile thanks to the Cinema Ritrovato for showing the international appeal of Britain’s greatest film makers.

 

*I missed just one film in the strand, Her Last Affair (1936), something to save for London especially as it features another show-steeling turn from Googie Withers not to mention John Laurie.

W. Percy Day's craft and