By Karli Lukas
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreading: Issac
Source: Senses of Cinema (July 2005)
The films of Michael Powell and Emerick Presberg are rich and quirky. Masterpieces or clumsy works, amazing or disappointing, they always have strange angles, hook people's interest or tease people's minds.
—British film critic Raymond Durnart
I love movies... I'm not a director with a personal style. I'm just the one who makes movies.
—Michael Powell
For me, the above two sentences best sum up the cleverness and boldness of Michael Powell and his films. Since first viewing Black Narcissus (1947) on borrowed videotapes, Powell has become one of my favorite directors.
Black Narcissus (1947)
I like his films because of their revered visual and poetic beauty; the use of color or other cinematic means to create psychological ruptures in the text; the powerful women in the film and the "journeys" they experience and ultimately transcend (often to their disturbing ends); the vivid depictions of places; the apparent nostalgic moments; and Powell's (and of course, Priceberg's) playful sense of humor through visual puns and concise, witty dialogue. But most of all, I love Powell's films because of their determined style and clever attempts to "imagine" the world of the characters. "Red Diamond" is no exception.
Red Diamond (1948)
As a director, Powell's career has been prolific and long-lived, precisely because he has never been shy about experimenting with different genres, film styles and techniques, and perhaps most convincingly, he is willing to accept the challenge of working with different producers on a limited production budget to complete the shooting, but at the same time, leaving his unique and indelible mark on the finished film.
His career spans 50 years. In the 1960s and 1970s, his fascinating, extremely British films began to be re-evaluated by American "movie boys"—Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, and de Palma—as well as by British film critics and scholars such as Raymond Durnett and Ian Christie. Such accolades led to reissues and reviews of all his works, eventually placing Powell among the temples of the world's greatest film directors.
"Red Diamond" is a landmark dance film, because it is the first dance film to transcend the drama of dance and enter the level of "pure film". As a "play-within-a-play", the film's structure and production provide a concrete example of how films about dance can be interpreted more inspiringly. It has influenced countless song and dance films, most notably Jean Kelly, Vincent Minnelli, Stanley Donan and others: An American in Paris (1951), In the Rain (1952) and Caravan (starring Fred Astaire, 1953).
An American in Paris (1951)
As Ian Christie puts it, "Before Red Diamond, there were some movies that included dance performances. After that, a new medium emerged that combined dance, design and music to create a fantastic scene." In order to make "An American in Paris" a smooth release, Jean Kelly repeatedly screened "Red Diamond" for MGM executives – which proved its brilliance.
However, during the first internal screening, "Red Shoe" was despised by Rank Organisation executives, but the british government finally gave the film a strong support due to the unprecedented demand for quotas for British films due to the introduction ban imposed by the British government at that time.
The film, adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, exceeded budgets by more than double the budget, and in an era of post-war rationing and crude realist cinema, the ending was too frightening and nihilistic; in short, it was something non-British, non-fairytale. Like The Hundred Battles General (1943), the film was considered "a constant attack on good manners and good taste".
The Hundred Battles General (1943)
According to crew members who attended the internal screening, executives did not hide their disdain for the film. They rose from their seats in an unprecedented posture and left in silence. Anticipating a public backlash, Rank Pictures cancelled the premiere of Red Diamond and did not produce a theatrical poster for its first release. The film was screened in a theatre in London's West End for 10 days before it was released on a short, smaller release.
However, much of the film's positive reviews in britain and later abroad suggest that Rank Pictures executives were short-sighted and ultra-conservative about its product and its independent production company, The Archers. Picturegoer, for example, called it "a very beautiful movie... You should never miss it, even if you are one of those so-called "indifferent to ballet".
The enterprising Shooter Pictures has once again opened up a new world... The use of Technicolor color is very acute—it's just that the blood stains in the closing scenes are a bit excessive, and the film as a whole presents the audience with a feast of beauty and superb performance." It is said that the royals also enjoyed the film very much, except for its ending.
After a private screening at Alexander Kodak's home in London, the young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were said to be "both shocked by the film's ending... They tearfully thanked him for showing them "such a wonderful - (crying) - movie".
Since then, "Red Diamond" has been re-released several times, and its enduring status as a classic film stems in large part from the miraculous screening season of The Bijou, a small 200-seat cinema off Broadway in New York. The cinema initially negotiated a 6-month theatrical show with Rank Pictures, but due to audience demand, they renewed their contract for a season, extending it for a total of two years, and received a box office equal to Ranke Pictures' total expenditure on the film.
As mentioned earlier, the film's (and Michael Powell's) reputation in the United States was boosted as a result, and despite mixed reviews, it inspired a renaissance in color cabaret production in Hollywood. The New York Times called it a "must-see" film: "An unrestricted romantic film... Visually and emotionally interprets the elegance, rhythm and power of ballet. The colors, excitement and bizarre intoxication of dancing life can be seen everywhere. And the ecstasy and heartbreak that only passionate and beloved people can experience."
However, perhaps it is the cinematic interpretation of "emotion" and "passion" in "Red Lingyan" that makes the audience disagree. Those who either lack a romantic spirit or are more familiar with the "high art" of ballet and its background seem to see the film as a series of ignorant disguises that bear no realistic resemblance to the norms of dance or life. Pauline Kyle is a prominent figure in this school, and she considers the film to be "a tear-jerking and self-conscious work created by the suppliers of high kitsch".
To disparage the film in this way is to completely ignore its intent and production context, because Powell said in an interview later in life that he believed the film's success lay in the fact that "for ten years, for one reason or another, we were told to die for freedom and democracy, and now that the war is over, Red Diamond tells us to go out and dedicate ourselves to art."
The problematic image of the film's dance troupe leader Boris Lermontov is reflected in Powell's real life, which also inspires future directors, including Coppola and Scorsese, to have the same enchanting ambitions as children who watched "Red Diamond" as children.
At the end of the day, it was Powell's focus on the multitude of identities played by Moira Shearer in the film, including the ballet dancer, daughter, and virtuous wife, which fascinated me and was unforgettable. These sublime and disturbing moments are seen throughout the film, and they also foreshadow the doom she is about to face, so they are even more delicate.
Today, "Red Diamond" is not just a film about art, ambition and sexuality, with shocking visual and structural complexity, it is also an exciting exploration of what a "modern" woman can mean from a man's point of view – sandwiched between individualistic career ambitions and the desire as a wife/mother to satisfy family life.