“My best film.”
— Michael Powell

“The strength and confidence in Powell and Pressburger’s film-making is a pleasure — as is their distinctive love of adventure and romance.”
— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Don’t miss this criminally underseen film noir thriller from British directing duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (THE RED SHOES, BLACK NARCISSUS), newly restored in 4K by Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation and the BFI!

FRI August 9th at 4:00 PM
SAT August 10th at 4:00 PM
SUN August 11th at 1:45 PM
TUE August 12th at 4:00 PM
WED August 13th at 4:00 PM
THU August 14th at 4:00 PM

In London, bomb disposal expert David Farrar (BLACK NARCISSUS), part of a WWII “back room” team and embittered by a prosthetic leg, battles the bottle (visualized with a tour de force German Expressionism-inspired delirium fantasy sequence) while struggling with his bosses — including British cinema stalwart Jack Hawkins (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) — and a strained relationship with lover Kathleen Byron (BLACK NARCISSUS, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH), until he’s faced with the ultimate challenge: a seemingly unbeatable German booby trap on a gravelly beach in Dorset.

Following their sumptuous Technicolor box office sensation THE RED SHOES, the British filmmaking team of Michael Powell (1905-1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902-1988) returned to scaled down, classic romantic suspense, and the moody black & white of their earlier work. Critically acclaimed, THE SMALL BACK ROOM was nominated for a BAFTA as Best British Film of its year, but, as Powell wrote in his memoir Million Dollar Movie, “The public stayed away. They refused to accept that it was a love story. It was a war film. And war films were out—O-U-T.” In the ensuing decades, though, THE SMALL BACK ROOM has risen to the very top of Powell & Pressburger’s filmography. In an interview with French director Bertrand Tavernier, Powell said of it, “I think this is my best film.”