Budapest Classic Film Marathon: 49th Parallel

Director: Michael Powell

Screenplay by Emeric Pressburger, Rodney Ackland
Director of photography: Freddie Young
Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Cast: Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey

In the footsteps of a filmmaking dynasty: from Pressburger to Macdonald / Emeric Pressburger, the experimenter genius 

“Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda but I thought I'd show him a thing or two,” said screenwriter Emeric Pressburger. The fact is, the aim of the Pressburger-Powell duo was for the film to boost the Allies’ war efforts. In a complex plot involving countless elements from Native American Indians to Niagara Falls that were otherwise unusual in a film, the story was designed to confirm to the American public that they should get involved in the war in Europe and that it should end as soon as possible. Thus one can safely state that this is a film that had a very specific impact on people and the course of history.

More information about the Budapest Classic Film Marathon's program in Uránia >>