Crown v Stevens (Powell, 1936) & Behind the Mask (Powell, 1936):
BFI Southbank, Studio, 3pm
This presentation is part of the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger season at BFI Southbank. There is a further screenings of this double-bill on December 9th. You can find the details here.
BFI introduction to Crown v Stevens:
Powell’s penultimate quota production was this proto-film noir for
Warner Bros., stylishly shot by Basil Emmott. Patric Knowles stars as a
naïve young man who becomes embroiled in the murderous, money-hungry
scheming of his boss’s wife, played with real femme fatale relish by
Beatrix Thompson, a renowned theatre actress appearing here in her only
starring role for the cinema.
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BFI introduction to The Man Behind the Mask:
Crucial for being the film that introduced Powell to The Edge of the
World producer Joe Rock, Powell’s final quota film was this bizarre
thriller of masked balls, kidnapping and master criminals. It was long
considered lost and listed on the BFI’s ‘Most Wanted’ list, but a 16mm
print of a truncated version survived at the George Eastman Museum, and
it is from that print that this new scan was taken.
James Bell
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