Man With A Movie List

Directors: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Year: 1943 Run-time: 2 hr 43 min This is a pretty fascinating film that takes an unpredictable turn out the front gate - it takes an unflattering comic book caricature of a pompous English general and spends two hours humanizing him, in the meantime philosophizing about what it will take to win the war. As Patton Oswalt said while praising the film, it's as if someone were to adapt Family Circus into The Ice Storm . There are many unflattering aspects of being British on display here - not the least of which is the colonialism which is unfortunately only indirectly hinted at - but whatever your final verdict on the message of the film, it's a powerful one that deserves to be watched, especially in these uncertain times.

Director: Michael Powell and others Year: 1940 Run-time: 1 hr 46 min - This was a pretty fun one, a Technicolor special effects spectacular similar in tone to Robin Hood .  Staying close to an Arabian Nights theme, it mostly sidesteps outright racism, although it's just as orientalist as its source material.  It's pretty fun to explore how they did most of the effects - Ebert claims there's almost no effect in Star Wars that wasn't seen (in less advanced form) here. - The other striking thing that almost all of the plot ingredients in Disney's Aladdin  would originate here, to such a degree that I'm surprised no lawsuit was involved.