Director Martin Scorsese Inspired by Hungarian Filmmaker

World-renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese served as both producer and narrator of Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a documentary about how Englishman Michael Powell and Hungarian-born Emeric Pressburger became legends of British cinema, Index reports.

Martin Scorsese first encountered the films of Emeric Pressburger (born Imre József Pressburger) and Michael Powell when he was a child, sitting in front of the family television. The world-famous film director also clearly remembers the famous logo of The Archers production company appearing on the screen. “When their famous logo came up on screen,” he says, “you knew you were in for fantasy, wonder, magic – real film magic.”

Scorsese worked as producer and narrator on the documentary about the successful film careers of Englishman Michael Powell and Hungarian-born Emeric Pressburger. The pair produced such classics of the golden age of British cinema as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), and 49th Parallel (1941).

For the latter, Pressburger won an Academy Award in 1943, in the category of Best Writing (Original Story).

As the Italian news agency Ansa writes, the world premiere of the film will take place at the currently on-going Berlin International Film Festival.

Scorsese was so influenced by the duo’s films that they had a profound impact on his own work. He believes that the pair’s films were great, poetic, wise, adventurous, headstrong, rapturous, deeply romantic, and totally uncompromising. “Certain films you simply run all the time and you live with them,” says the world-renowned filmmaker. “As you grow older they grow deeper. I am not sure how it happens, but it does.

For me, that body of work is a wondrous presence, a constant source of energy, and a reminder of what life and art are all about.”

Using a rich treasure trove of archival material, Scorsese explores in full the collaboration between Englishman Powell and the Hungarian Pressburger, who, despite many difficulties, prospered during the Second World War and in the 1950s, forever etched themselves into the history of British filmmaking.

According to the National Film Institute‘s website, the duo have been a constant inspiration for Scorsese’s work. For instance, in Boxcar Bertha, the supporting characters are named Powell and Pressburger, and in New York, New York, Robert De Niro’s character Jimmy Doyle checks into the hotel as Mr. Powell.

Via Index, Ansa, Featured image: Wikipedia