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I read it first when I was 21, now I'm 32 and every time I think of just a short dip into it again, I find myself dipping long enough to end up with prune-like, wrinkled fingers. This book is a joy. Michael Powell was by all accounts not an easy man to get on with but his writing has real joi de vivre, drawing you into a world of movies that sadly no longer exists. He is a cocky, confidant narrator with a gift for dialogue and in some cases, unnervingly, dispassionate observation. For those who love his films, it's a hugely rewarding experience to revisit the creation of some of the most evocative images in world cinema. The story of "I Know Where I'm Going" and his affectionate portraits of its stars, is as satisfying a piece of travel writing as autobiography or film history. His discussions with partner and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger are detailed with the same skilled storytelling instinct that the Archers films excelled in: he asks Pressburger why the girl in the story wants to go to the island of Kiloran and Pressburger replies with 'one of his mysterious smiles..."Let's make the film and find out"'.
Powell's honest description of his tangled love life (as he struggles to decide whether to marry the actress Deborah Kerr, or the woman who became his wife, Frankie) is disarmingly frank and unrepentant but it's a measure of the charm of his writing that you don't judge him for it, full as it is with loving praise for both women. It's this enthusiasm for people, places and communication through cinema that suffuses this book. It's a happy experience to be in the company of a generous raconteur who wants to share his passions with the world. When he talks of making Roger Livesey's "lovely, husky voice beloved all over the world" or of Frankie christening "I Know Where I'm Going" by singing the title song on a London bus and then disappearing, it's enough to make anyone feel that film making is the ultimate creative pleasure.
But here's an irony - no pictures in my paperback copy!
In the book Powell details his early experiences attempting to break into the film business, including his initial encounters with the maverick Irish-born film director Rex Ingram, who directed Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1921) and Ramon Novarro in Scaramouche (1923). It is easy to see why someone such as Ingram would appeal to Powell, who was also, of course, very resistant to the Hollywood money-making machine. Also during this early stage of Powell's career he charts his developing relationship, and work as a stills photographer, with Alfred Hitchcock - a relationship that was rekindled when Powell met up with Hitch again in Hollywood in 1945, during the latter's difficult spell working with David O. Selznick.
Following some initial low-key directorial experience, Powell then charts his signing by Hungarian film impressario Alexander Korda (founder of London Films), and his subsequent introduction to Pressburger, who initially worked on the screenplay of the film The Spy in Black. The rest, as they say, is history. Powell's account of his war-time experiences in the production of the aforementioned cinematic masterpieces is entirely engrossing, detailing as it does his working relationships with some of the most innovative cinema technicians ever to grace the industry - such as cinematographer Jack Cardiff, art directors Alfred Junge and Hein Heckroth, and film composers Allan Gray and Brian Easdale. Also fascinating are the political battles that Powell witnessed between cinematic giants Alex Korda, Arthur Rank and their Hollywood counterparts.
Powell has been criticised in a number of quarters for embellishing the truth, and telling the story from his own, perhaps rather one-track, perspective. Indeed, Powell does not come across as a character brimming with humility, but I suspect, given the business he was in, he may have had little choice in order to achieve any degree of success. His treatment of, and references to, women are also those of a man from a bygone era as he details somewhat vainly his marriages to Gloria Rouger (an American dancer with whom his marriage lasted three weeks) and his long-term spouse Francis 'Frankie' Reidy, and his various affairs with his leading actresses, including Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron.
These aspects aside, however, A Life in Movies charts the career of one of the most important and influential film-making talents in the history of cinema, a fact supported by the citing of Powell's influence by numerous current film-makers. including Martin Scorcese and Francis Coppola.
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