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Martin Scorsese Loves Old Movies by Powell and Pressburger
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Intermediate
Intermediate
This image released by Cohen Media Group shows Emeric Pressburger, left, and Michael Powell on the set of "The Red Shoes." (Cohen Media Group via AP)

Martin Scorsese Loves Old Movies by Powell and Pressburger

July 15th, 2024

Martin Scorsese, a famous movie director, loves films made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They made movies together and are called the Archers. Scorsese saw their film "The Red Shoes" when he was a child, and it made him love cinema. Scorsese made friends with Powell when Powell was older. Thelma Schoonmaker, who edits Scorsese's movies, also loved Powell's films when she was young. She met Powell through Scorsese and later married him. Since Powell died, she has worked hard to make people remember his films. There is a new documentary called "Made in England" about Powell and Pressburger's films. Scorsese talks about how these movies are very special to him in the documentary. Scorsese and Schoonmaker have also made old films of the Archers look new again. They love these films a lot. Schoonmaker had a good life with Powell and remembers him as a happy person. She still works on movies and might share Powell's diaries with everyone in the future. The story of Scorsese, Schoonmaker, Powell, and Pressburger shows how much they loved making movies.
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💭 Discussion Questions


1
. Who is Martin Scorsese and what movies made him love cinema?
2
. How did Thelma Schoonmaker meet Michael Powell and what is her relationship with him?
3
. What have Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker done to honor the Archers' films?

📖 Vocabulary


🌐 Cultural context


Martin Scorsese is a well-known film director from the United States. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, known as the Archers, were British filmmakers. Their work is highly regarded in the film industry, and their influence is international.

🧠 Further reading


Classical Hollywood cinema
In the past, Hollywood had a special way of making movies that started around 1910. This way of making movies was most popular from 1927 to 1960. During this time, movies were very powerful and famous all over the world. Long ago, theater was the only way to tell stories with pictures. When movies first started, they were very much like theater. Many people who made movies used to work in theater. They tried to make movies feel like theater, but they also wanted to make things look real. Movies could show time and space in ways theater couldn’t. By the 1910s, people were making better movies. They were starting to use this new way of making movies we talk about when we talk about the old Hollywood style. This way of making movies helped tell the story better. It made movies look more real.

Audio restoration
Audio restoration is like fixing old or damaged sounds so they become clear again. Imagine an old music record that has lots of noise and scratches. People who fix these sounds try to take away the bad noises, like hiss or crackles, and make the music sound better. They can clean the actual music record with special soap, or they can use a computer to work on the music after it has been turned into computer files. There are special computers called DAWs and tools that help take out the bad noises. Sometimes, experts have to listen very carefully and fix the sounds one by one. A lot of the time, people want to fix the music we listen to at home or the sound in movies and TV shows. Because we like to listen to music on CDs or watch movies on DVDs, we need the sound to be really good. Fixing the sound takes a lot of time and skill, but it helps make old music and movies sound new again.

Wicked (2024 film)
A new magical movie called "Wicked" is coming soon. It is about a place called the Land of Oz. Before a girl named Dorothy comes from Kansas, two other girls live there. One girl has green skin and later becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the West. Her name is Elphaba. She meets another girl named Galinda at school. They become friends but then they don't agree anymore. Galinda turns into Glinda the Good. The movie has many actors. Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba, and Ariana Grande plays Galinda. There are also other actors like Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, and Jonathan Bailey. People have been waiting for this movie for a long time. They had to wait longer because a sickness called COVID-19 made it hard to make the movie. Then they had to wait again because of a big work stop in 2023. But they started making the movie in England and finished in January 2024. The movie will be in cinemas in the United States on November 22, 2024. There will be another part, "Wicked: Part Two," one year later. So, if you like magic and stories about friends and witches, get ready for "Wicked"! It will be a big adventure!