Category Archives: Michael Powell

Top 20 Spy movies

Posted on 27 November 2012 by

The release of Ben Affleck’s smart historical satire Argo, based loosely on the true extraction by the CIA and Canadian officials of six American Embassy staff members out of Tehran in 1980, made me reflect on the spy genre as … Continue reading →

Posted in 'Best of' lists, Adam Hall, Alfred Hitchcock, Amnesia, Billy Wilder, Brian de Palma, Cold War, Elleston Trevor, Eric Ambler, Espionage, Film Noir, George Smiley, Ian Fleming, James Bond, John Frankenheimer, John le Carre, Len Deighton, London, Michael Powell, New York, Paris, Quiller, San Francisco, Scene of the crime, Spy movies | 77 Comments

Rynox (1932) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 24 April 2012 by

Rynox is writer-director Michael Powell’s earliest surviving film and a fine adaptation of Philip MacDonald’s eponymous novel (also known as ‘The Rynox Murder’). In 1928 the out-of-work Powell arrived in London to find the British film industry in a state … Continue reading →

Posted in London, Michael Powell, Philip MacDonald, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Overlooked Film | 18 Comments

The Phantom Light (1935) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 3 April 2012 by

The work of Michael Powell, the director of such classics as Peeping Tom and The Red Shoes, falls into several distinct phases. During his ‘apprentice’ period in the 1930s he made two dozen low-budget movies in many genres. Often dismissed … Continue reading →

Posted in Michael Powell, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Overlooked Film, Wales | 18 Comments