the film’s tone. Based on the 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, the film was originally intended to be a musical showcasing magnificent musical scores. This sensibility remains in the revised, completed film which adds dimension to the lavish production design and whimsical dialogue executed by brilliant performances from stars David Niven, Jack Hawkins, and Margaret Leighton. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. WITH: David Niven, Margaret Leighton, Jack Hawkins, Cyril Cusak. 1950. 109 min. UK. Technicolor. English, French. 35mm. Print courtesy of BFI National Archive.
and Janus Films. Restoration funding provided by the Golden Globe Foundation, The Film Foundation, and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation. Print courtesy of The Film Foundation Conservation Collection at the Academy Film Archive.
The Small Back Room in 4K Sun, Aug 11 | 2pm | TMT The Archers return to the “basics” for their 1949 feature The Small Back Room , immediately following the extravagance of their film The Red Shoes (1948). Based on Nigel Balchin’s 1943 novel of the same name, the film depicts the complex inner world of Sammy (David Farrar), a British military bomb-disposal expert, who struggles with depression, alcoholism, and self-pity. Despite the realist cinematic approach, The Archers gift Sammy with fantastical hope for redemption and love. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. WITH: David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Jack Hawkins, Leslie Banks. 1949. 106 min. UK. B&W. English. 4K DCP. Restored by The Film Foundation and BFI National Archive in association with Studiocanal. Funding provided by The Film Foundation and Studiocanal. Special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker for their consultation. 4K scanning by Silver Salt Restoration Limited, London; picture restoration by Cineric, Inc., New York; audio restoration by BFI National Archive.
Gone to Earth in 35mm Thu, Aug 15 | 7:30pm | TMT
PEEPING TOM
Peeping Tom in 4K Mon, Aug 19 | 7:30pm | DGT
Her bare feet traipsing across the late 19th century English countryside, free-spirited Hazel Woodus (Jennifer Jones) is happiest when tending to her animals. After meeting two men of equal intrigue, she leaves her future to fate by agreeing to marry the first suitor who proposes, tearing her between the virtuous Edward (Cyril Cusack) and the volatile Jack (David Farrar). Unhappily co-produced by Jones’s husband David O. Selznick, the original version of this vivid picture was drastically cut and scenes reshot by director Rouben Mamoulian, and was then re-released under the title The Wild Heart in 1952. This screening will showcase the version of the film as originally envisioned by The Archers. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. WITH: Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack, Sybil Thorndike. 1950. 110 min. UK/USA. Technicolor. English. 35mm. Print courtesy of BFI National Archive.
Perfectly executed in popping Eastmancolor from its leering, first-person point-of-view opening sequence, Michael Powell’s solo effort (only his second since his 18-film run with Emeric Pressburger) draws out that intrinsic link between voyeurism and movie-watching so masterfully explored by Hitchcock ( Rear Window comes to mind) to its chilling extreme. Condemned for its moral bankruptcy upon its initial release, film theorist Laura Mulvey was one of the first to reappraise the picture in the 1990s, understanding that Powell’s masterpiece “creates a magic space for its fiction somewhere between the camera’s lens and the projector’s beam of light on the screen.” DIRECTED BY: Michael Powell. WRITTEN BY: Leo Marks. WITH: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley. 1960. 101 min. UK. Eastmancolor. English. 4K DCP. Restored by The Film Foundation and BFI National Archive in association with Studiocanal. Funding provided by The Film Foundation and Studiocanal. Special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker for their consultation. 4K scanning by Silver Salt Restoration Limited, London; picture restoration by Cineric, Inc., New York; audio restoration by BFI National Archive.
THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL
The Elusive Pimpernel in 35mm Sat, Aug 17 | 2pm | TMT
The Elusive Pimpernel is an idiosyncratic manifestation of a period piece, set during the French Revolution, in which ironic humor plays a key role establishing
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