Michael Powell filmography

For his films with Emeric Pressburger, see Powell and Pressburger.

Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, best known for his films which were made in partnership with Emeric Pressburger.

Early films

Many of his early films are disparagingly referred to as "quota quickies". Not all of them were really quota films, and the ones that were are often of a much higher standard than most other quota films. Some of his early films are now missing and are believed lost. But those that have survived often show some very sophisticated techniques and early versions of ideas that were reused, done better, in his later films. Those marked with an * are "Missing, believed lost".

Year	Title	Production Company	Other notes
1928	Riviera Revels	G. Ventimigla and Marcel Lucien	A series of comedy shorts. Powell co-directed with Harry Lachman
1930	Caste	Harry Rowson (Ideal)	Uncredited as director, main director was Campbell Gullan
1931	Two Crowded Hours *	Film Engineering
1932	My Friend the King *	Film Engineering
	Rynox	Film Engineering
	The Rasp *	Film Engineering
	The Star Reporter *	Film Engineering
	Hotel Splendide	Film Engineering. A Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Ltd
	C.O.D. *	Westminster Films
	His Lordship	Westminster Films
1933	Born Lucky *	Westminster Films
1934	The Fire Raisers	Gaumont-British
	Red Ensign	Gaumont-British	US title: Strike!
	Something Always Happens	Warner Brothers. First National Productions Ltd
1935	The Girl in the Crowd *	First National
	Lazybones	A Real Art Production
	The Love Test	Fox British
	The Night of the Party	Gaumont-British Picture Corporation	US title: The Murder Party
	The Phantom Light	A Gainsborough Picture
	The Price of a Song *	Fox British
	Someday *	Warner British	a.k.a. Young Nowheres
1936	Her Last Affaire	New Ideal Productions Ltd
	The Brown Wallet *	Warner Brothers. First National
	Crown v. Stevens	Warner Brothers. First National Productions Ltd	a.k.a. Third Time Unlucky
	The Man Behind the Mask	Joe Rock Studios	reissued as Behind the Mask. Only exists as a cut-down US print.

Major films

Aside from some short films, Powell wrote, produced and directed all of his films from 1939 to 1957 with Emeric Pressburger

Year	Title	Production Company	Other notes
1937	The Edge of the World	Joe Rock Productions
1939	The Spy in Black	Harefield	US title: U Boat 29
	Smith	D&P Productions. Embankment Fellowship Co.	10-minute short film
	The Lion Has Wings	London Film Productions	RAF documentary footage with some fictional intercuts
1940	Contraband	British National	US title: Blackout
	The Thief of Bagdad	Alexander Korda Films Inc.	co-director
1941	An Airman's Letter to His Mother		a 5-minute short
	49th Parallel	Ortus Films (and Ministry of Information (United Kingdom))	US title: The Invaders
1942	One of Our Aircraft Is Missing	The Archers. British National
1943	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp	The Archers/ Independent Producers
	The Volunteer	The Archers. Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)	a short propaganda film
1944	A Canterbury Tale	The Archers
1945	I Know Where I'm Going!	The Archers
1946	A Matter of Life and Death	The Archers	US title: Stairway To Heaven
1947	Black Narcissus	The Archers for Independent Producers Ltd.
1948	The Red Shoes	The Archers
1949	The Small Back Room	The Archers. London Films
1950	Gone to Earth	The Archers. London Films	US title: The Wild Heart (1952) – substantially re-edited version additional scenes directed by Rouben Mamoulian
	The Elusive Pimpernel	London Film Productions (and The Archers)	US title: The Fighting Pimpernel
1951	The Tales of Hoffmann	British Lion Film Corporation (with Vega Productions and The Archers)
1955	Oh... Rosalinda!!	Associated British Picture Corporation. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
1956	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	20th Century-Fox Film Corporation/ Norddeutscher Rundfunk	a short ballet
	The Battle of the River Plate	Arcturus Productions. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger	US title: The Pursuit of the Graf Spee
1957	Ill Met by Moonlight	Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger for Rank Organisation Film Productions (and Vega Productions)	US title: Night Ambush
1959	Luna de Miel	Michael Powell Production for Suevia Films-Cesáreo González (Spain)/Everdene (GB)	a.k.a. Honeymoon
1960	Peeping Tom	Michael Powell Production
1961	The Queen's Guards	Imperial. Michael Powell Production
1963	Herzog Blaubarts Burg	Süddeutscher Rundfunk. Norman Foster Produktion	a.k.a. Bluebeard's Castle
1966	They're a Weird Mob	J. C. Williamson Film Company (Australia)/ Michael Powell Production	Pressburger wrote the script as Richard Imrie
1969	Age of Consent	Nautilus Productions
1972	The Boy Who Turned Yellow	Roger Cherrill Ltd for the Children's Film Foundation	Script by Pressburger
1978	Return to the Edge of the World	Poseidon Films/ BBC Television	For British TV, framing of the original 1937 film

Television work

Powell also directed episodes of the TV series The Defenders, Espionage and The Nurses.

Year	Title	Production Company	Other notes
1963	Never Turn Your Back on a Friend	Herbert Brodkin Ltd.	Episode for the Espionage series
1964	The Frantick Rebel	Herbert Brodkin Ltd.	Episode for the Espionage series
1964	A Free Agent	Herbert Brodkin Ltd.	Episode for the Espionage series
1965	The Sworn Twelve	Herbert Brodkin Ltd.	Episode for The Defenders series
1965	A 39846	Herbert Brodkin Ltd.	Episode for The Nurses series

Non-directorial work

Powell was also involved in the following films in a non-directorial role:

• The Silver Fleet (1943) – Producer
• The End of the River (1947) – Producer
• Aila, pohjolan tytär (a.k.a. Arctic Fury) (1951) – Producer
• Sebastian (1968) – Producer
• Anna Pavlova (1983) – Associate Producer