Michael Powell

The films of Michael Powell are remarkable for their range of subjects, the eccentric treatment of their themes and their imaginative experimentation with music, colour and photography - qualities which were at their greatest during Powell's partnership with screenwriter Emeric Pressburger.James Howard traces Powell's career from his early days as stills photographer and screenwriter to Hitchcock, through his long directorial apprenticeship in the 'quota quickies' of the 1930s, to his extraordinarily fertile Archers partnership with Emeric Pressburger and the frustration of his later years. A comprehensive survey of all Powell's movies - including for the first time a systematic appraisal of his early work - is accompanied by full cast and production details and contemporary reviews. Many exclusive interviews and previously unpublished photographs complete a rounded assessment of a man increasingly regarded as one of the key independent film-makers of this century.