Doing a viewing fest of titles by auteur film makers in 1942,I was happy to stumble on a copy of Carol Reed's The Young Mr. Pitt,I looked for a movie to pair it up with. Having found his works to be outstanding,I was happy to spot a Michael Powell creation from '42,which led to me searching for the aircraft.
View on the film:
His fourth collaboration with co-writer Emeric Pressburger,but the first made under The Archers banner co-writer/directing auteur Michael Powell takes a unique approach of tearing any background score or songs off the soundtrack, leaving the raw, ambient sounds of engines, bombs and water hitting against boats,subtly placing the audience in the mind-set of bomber crew trying to escape. Closely working with editor David Lean & cinematographer Ronald Neame, Powell separates the activities of the bomber crew with montages of the most mundane requests from the Netherlands having to be signed off/approved by the Nazis, which expresses in a compact manner the message to British viewers a warning that this could happen to the UK.
Keeping the crew undercover by the local Dutch Resistance, Powell returns to the front line of his espionage stylisation, landing on imposing dark shadows over Resistance members trying to keep the crew hidden under the floorboards. Powell also shines glowing outdoor light digging into the earthy countryside life of the town,which sails into impressive long takes drenched in the anxiety of the crew, thanks to Powell placing the camera in the middle of their shaking escape boats.
Whilst proudly patriotic of the stiff upper lip bomber crew, the screenplay by Powell & Pressburger raise the heroism to be from the Dutch Resistance, who in tense exchanges with the crew, trust they are not secret Nazi infiltrators,and in straight-lace manner of Else Meertens and the calculating Jo de Vries taking the lead, guiding the crew to a victory they'd have been unable to reach on their own. Reuniting with Powell after The Man Behind the Mask (1936-also reviewed) Hugh Williams joins Eric Portman in giving wonderfully Bravo!, calm under pressure turns in the Bomber Crew,while elegant Pamela Brown and Googie Withers give excellent performances as Meertens and Vries,coiled on anxiety over one of our aircraft being missing.
View on the film:
His fourth collaboration with co-writer Emeric Pressburger,but the first made under The Archers banner co-writer/directing auteur Michael Powell takes a unique approach of tearing any background score or songs off the soundtrack, leaving the raw, ambient sounds of engines, bombs and water hitting against boats,subtly placing the audience in the mind-set of bomber crew trying to escape. Closely working with editor David Lean & cinematographer Ronald Neame, Powell separates the activities of the bomber crew with montages of the most mundane requests from the Netherlands having to be signed off/approved by the Nazis, which expresses in a compact manner the message to British viewers a warning that this could happen to the UK.
Keeping the crew undercover by the local Dutch Resistance, Powell returns to the front line of his espionage stylisation, landing on imposing dark shadows over Resistance members trying to keep the crew hidden under the floorboards. Powell also shines glowing outdoor light digging into the earthy countryside life of the town,which sails into impressive long takes drenched in the anxiety of the crew, thanks to Powell placing the camera in the middle of their shaking escape boats.
Whilst proudly patriotic of the stiff upper lip bomber crew, the screenplay by Powell & Pressburger raise the heroism to be from the Dutch Resistance, who in tense exchanges with the crew, trust they are not secret Nazi infiltrators,and in straight-lace manner of Else Meertens and the calculating Jo de Vries taking the lead, guiding the crew to a victory they'd have been unable to reach on their own. Reuniting with Powell after The Man Behind the Mask (1936-also reviewed) Hugh Williams joins Eric Portman in giving wonderfully Bravo!, calm under pressure turns in the Bomber Crew,while elegant Pamela Brown and Googie Withers give excellent performances as Meertens and Vries,coiled on anxiety over one of our aircraft being missing.