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ESPIONAGE:
MICHAEL POWELL

DVD

Click image for full cover

 

Images: Network Distributing
with thanks to Rob White

Released: 24 March 2008
(source: World of Books)
Publisher: Network
Discs: 1
Catalogue No.: 7952798
EAN: 5027626279844
BBFC Certification: 12
Region Code: 2
Design: Rob White

Episodes

The Frantick Rebel • Never Turn Your Back on a Friend • A Free Agent
Special Features
  • Image Gallery, including a number of colour photographs

Notes
  • Following the fallout from his making of Peeping Tom (1960), a controversial psychological thriller that was mauled on moral grounds by film critics but lauded by cineastes, Michael Powell's directorial career had suffered a major setback. Previously highly regarded for his work with Emeric Pressburger on films such as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948), suddenly Powell was ostracised by the British Film Industry and unofficially blacklisted. Consequently, Powell struggled to find work and looked to the nascent television industry to ply his trade, initially working for Sόddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR) in West Germany on Herzog Blaubarts Burg ('Bluebeard's Castle', 1963).

  • Aside from a 1961 feature film - The Queen's Guards - which was in production at the time of Peeping Tom's release, Powell's engagement to direct three episodes of Espionage in 1964 marked his first work in the United Kingdom since the critics' backlash of 1960. The production afforded him the opportunity to work in his familiar field of expertise - 35mm film - rather than an electronic studio and therefore played to his strengths.

  • After Espionage, Powell directed two single episodes of television drama in the United States - The Defenders: The Sworn Twelve (1965) and The Nurses: A39846 (also 1965) - and the Australia-set feature films They're a Weird Mob (1966) and Age of Consent (1969). His final feature was for the Children's Film Foundation, the quirky The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972).

  • Network released this DVD knowing the interest in Michael Powell amongst film buffs who may well not have been interested in the full series of Espionage. It also served as a teaser for the complete series set that was in the works and eventually released in 2009.

 

 

ESPIONAGE:
THE COMPLETE SERIES

DVD

Click image for full cover

 

Images: Network Distributing
with thanks to Martin Cater

Released: 16 March 2009
(source: Browns Books)
Publisher: Network
Discs: 6
Catalogue No.: 7952797
EAN: 5027626279745
BBFC Certification: 12
Region Code: 2
Design: Martin Cater

Episodes

The Incurable One • Covenant with Death • The Weakling • The Gentle Spies
He Rises on Sunday, and We on Monday • The Dragon Slayer • To the Very End
The Light of a Friendly Star • A Tiny Drop of Poison • Festival of Pawns • The Whistling Shrimp
Never Turn Your Back on a Friend • Medal for a Turned Coat • Final Decision • Do You Remember Leo Winters?
The Frantick Rebel • Castles in Spain • Snow on Mount Kama • Once a Spy… • We, the Hunted
The Liberators • Some Other Kind of World • A Free Agent • A Camel to Ride
Special Features
  • Script PDFs for Castles in Spain and Snow on Mount Kama

  • Extensive image galleries, including many colour photographs

Notes
  • Originally teased by Network for March 2008, this complete series set of Espionage was ultimately released nearly a year later.

  • The Network catalogue numbers of this complete series set (7952797) and the Michael Powell disc (7952798) suggest that the two releases were originally planned to be published simultaneously.

  • Even though Network had released the three Michael Powell episodes a year earlier, their 2009 complete series release still recognised his marketability, with the cover featuring a strapline noting his involvement. However, this suggested that his three plays had not been seen in more than 40 years, which arguably overlooked their own release of 2008!

 
 
 

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