The Films Of Michael Powell (A Matter of Life and Death, Age
of Consent/Sony DVD)
Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Films: B+
Filmmaker Michael
Powell is perhaps one of the most underrated and underappreciated filmmakers of
all time. He is certainly at the top of
this if not at the very top of this list.
He is easily one of the most important filmmakers that still to this day
very few people are familiar with his body of work and it’s only through the strong
efforts of people like Martin Scorsese who is making every attempt to get his
work the attention that it finally deserves.
Some people might be aware of some of the earlier films that director
Michael Powell worked on with his partnership with writer/director Emeric
Pressburger. Together the two churned
out some terrific films and really had a strong run through the 1940s and
1950s. Their collaboration saw the likes
of Contraband, 49th Parallel, The Life and
Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where
I’m Going, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, and The Tales of Hoffmann.
In this set we have two
films from two different eras in Powell’s life, the first film is A Matter of Life and Death from 1946,
which is actually co-directed by Pressburger and written by him as well. The second film is from 1969 called Age of Consent, which was solely
directed by Powell and marks his more independent era, which is often times the
more under-seen of Powell’s work. More
people need to become aware of Powell’s brilliance as he emerged as one of the
more creative and influential filmmakers with the start of this in 1959’s Peeping Tom, which rivals in many
respects Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. In this set we get the best of Powell’s work
with a sample from each era in his career and decent samples of just that. Age of
Consent is a more risqué venture and the world of cinema was becoming more
tolerant of such films as the 1960’s were coming to a close and sex was
becoming more familiar on the big screen.
Age of Consent stars James Mason as a struggling and elderly artist who retreats to
a remote island to find his inspiration again, which comes in the form of a
young girl named Cora (played by Helen Mirren).
A Matter of Life and Death is
quite different altogether as it stars David Niven as a young WWII airman who
is killed, but wages with the heavenly forces to remain on earth and those
familiar with Heaven Can Wait know
the basis of the story.
It’s interesting to see
the contrast between these two films, which demonstrate the wholesome and
warmth that Powell could present in his films as well as the lustful desires
and temptations that could also exist in the world, which it would seem that
Powell was most fascinated with all aspects of the human condition, and was
just waiting for Hollywood to allow these explorations to take place.
Quality on this set
from Sony is quite good with a strong full-frame transfer on A Matter of Life and Death and a flat
1.85 X 1 framing on Age of Consent. The colors are particularly stronger on Age of Consent with a load of
saturation that looks quite stunning.
Fidelity and depth is a bit softer on A Matter of Life and Death, which has some resolution problems as
well that would take a heavy restoration to really clean up some of the
problems. By default Age of Consent looks superior, is worth
owning for this release and consider the other film a bonus. Audio is also satisfactory with a 2.0 Dolby
Digital mix that sounds a bit dated, but is never really an issue.
The real bonus of this
set though is the fantastic commentary track by Ian Christie and the fantastic
8-minute discussion by Martin Scorsese, who has also appeared on many of
Powell’s films that were released through Criterion. Just having these two films together and the
extras are worth picking up this disc and sharing with others who will also be
amazed that Powell’s work is not more widely known. Spread the word!
- Nate Goss
