A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

We’ve been talking about it for years, and now it’s finally happening: we are dedicating an episode of our Damn Fine podcast to the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger – with a special slant. In our May episode, Matt and Alan look at three of the duo’s films that arguably were all made to be propaganda: 49^th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and A Canterbury Tale (1944) were all made during the Second World War, and they all have a purpose and elements that can be described as propagandistic: to persuade the audience, at a time of national crisis, of a certain mindset or course of action. And at the same time, these films very much bear the hallmarks of Powell and Pressburger’s work: they are whimsical, inventive, humorous, earnest, and cinematically adventurous, playing with the audience’s expectations. (For instance: who would expect a precursor of 2001‘s famous time jump from prehistoric times to the Space Age in a whimsical tale set in rural Kent?) Join our baristas as they discuss what makes propaganda, and how Powell and Pressburger – a born Brit and an immigrant who made England his chosen home – put their own spin on the format.

P.S.: For listeners interested in the topic of cinema and propaganda, check out our episode from last year’s summer series on propaganda feature films from the Third Reich: Lost Summer – Films from the Poison Cabinet.