Michael Powell

Also known as Michael Latham Powell

English film director (1905-1990)

Person · Open Library

Works: 137

Top works

The Guide for Guys
The LowBrow Guide to World History
The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee
"Graf Spee"
Teaching Poetry

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Directing · Bekesbourne, Kent, England

Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. They worked together under the name of "The Archers" and produced a series of classic British films, notably The Thief of Bagdad (1940), 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also…

Known for

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger — Self (archive footage)2024
Inside Rupert Pupkin — Self (archive footage)2014
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff — Self (voice) (archive sound)2010
Chaplin Today: A Woman of Paris — Self (archive sound)2003
A Very British Psycho — Himself1997
The Scorsese Machine — Self1990
Laughter — Himself

~19 min read

Article

Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a series of classic British films, notably The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Stairway to Heaven in the U.S.), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948) and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951).

His controversial Peeping Tom (1960), which was so vilified on first release that it seriously damaged his career, is now considered a classic, and possibly the earliest "slasher movie". Many renowned filmmakers, such as Francis Ford Coppola, George A. Romero, Brian De Palma, Bertrand Tavernier and Martin Scorsese have cited Powell as an influence.