Capital Celluloid 2012 - Day 196: Sun July 15

The Spy in Black (Powell 1939): Rio Cinema, 1.15pm
A chance to catch a rare screening of Michael Powell's atmospheric World War One spy thriller.

Chicago Reader review:
'This offbeat 1939 British B film was the first collaboration of director Michael Powell and writer Emeric Pressburger, whose partnership would continue through the 50s (The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus). Most of the Powell-Pressburger perversity is already in place in this story of a German spy ring at work in England, told entirely from the villain's point of view. The film is dark and beautifully textured, though not as visually rich as the later, higher-budgeted Powell pictures.'
Dave Kehr


Here is an extract.


This film is part of a double-bill with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp the re-release of which I wrote about here recently.