A Canterbury Tale

Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. They worked together under the name of "The Archers" and produced a series of classic British films, notably 49th Parallel , The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp , A Matter of Life... and Death , Black Narcissus , The Red Shoes , and The Tales of Hoffmann . His controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, however, was so vilified that his career was seriously damaged. Powell was the second son and youngest child of Thomas William Powell, a hop farmer, and Mabel, daughter of Frederick Corbett, of Worcester, England. Powell was born in Bekesbourne, Kent, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury and then at Dulwich College. He started work at the National Provincial Bank in 1922 but quickly realised he was not cut out to be a banker. Powell entered the film industry in 1925 through working with director Rex Ingram working at the Victorine Studios in Nice, France .
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Emeric Pressburger was a Hungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in a multiple-award-winning partnership known as The Archers and produced a series of classic British films, notably 49th Parallel , The... Life and Death of Colonel Blimp , A Matter of Life and Death , Black Narcissus , The Red Shoes , and The Tales of Hoffmann . Imre József Pressburger was born in Miskolc, Hungary of Jewish heritage. Pressburger means someone from the town of Pressburg He was the only son of Kálmán Pressburger, estate manager, and his second wife, Kätherina Wichs. He attended a boarding-school in Temesvár, where he was a good student, excelling at mathematics, literature and music. He then studied mathematics and engineering at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart before his father's death forced him to abandon his studies. Pressburger began a career as a journalist.
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