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IMDbPro

Emeric Pressburger(1902-1988)

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Director
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Emeric Pressburger
Three Reasons Criterion Trailer for The Red Shoes
Play trailer1:39
The Red Shoes (1948)
2 Videos
4 Photos
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London--but as a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with "renegade" director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting (IMHO) and complex films of the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.
BornDecember 5, 1902
DiedFebruary 5, 1988(85)
BornDecember 5, 1902
DiedFebruary 5, 1988(85)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos

Emeric Pressburger
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in The Red Shoes (1948)

Known for

The Red Shoes (1948)
The Red Shoes
8.1
  • Writer
  • 1948
Stairway to Heaven (1946)
Stairway to Heaven
8.0
  • Writer
  • 1946
The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
The Tales of Hoffmann
7.2
  • Writer
  • 1951
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
7.0
  • Writer
  • 1942

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972)
    The Boy Who Turned Yellow
  • They're a Weird Mob (1966)
    They're a Weird Mob
    • (as Richard Imrie)
  • Operation Crossbow (1965)
    Operation Crossbow
    • (as Richard Imrie)
  • Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
    Behold a Pale Horse
  • Men Against Britannia
  • John Gregson and Belinda Lee in Miracle in Soho (1957)
    Miracle in Soho
    • (uncredited)
  • Night Ambush (1957)
    Night Ambush
  • Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956)
    Pursuit of the Graf Spee
  • Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955)
    Oh... Rosalinda!!
  • Twice Upon a Time (1953)
    Twice Upon a Time
  • Robert Montgomery Presents (1950)
    Robert Montgomery Presents
  • The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
    The Tales of Hoffmann
  • Gone to Earth (1950)
    Gone to Earth
  • The Fighting Pimpernel (1949)
    The Fighting Pimpernel
  • Hour of Glory (1949)
    Hour of Glory

Producer

  • The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972)
    The Boy Who Turned Yellow
    • (uncredited)
  • John Gregson and Belinda Lee in Miracle in Soho (1957)
    Miracle in Soho
  • Night Ambush (1957)
    Night Ambush
  • Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956)
    Pursuit of the Graf Spee
  • Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955)
    Oh... Rosalinda!!
  • Twice Upon a Time (1953)
    Twice Upon a Time
  • The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
    The Tales of Hoffmann
  • Gone to Earth (1950)
    Gone to Earth
  • The Fighting Pimpernel (1949)
    The Fighting Pimpernel
  • Hour of Glory (1949)
    Hour of Glory
  • The Red Shoes (1948)
    The Red Shoes
  • Bibi Ferreira in The End of the River (1947)
    The End of the River
  • Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Kathleen Byron, David Farrar, Judith Furse, Jenny Laird, Flora Robson, and Sabu in Black Narcissus (1947)
    Black Narcissus
  • Stairway to Heaven (1946)
    Stairway to Heaven
  • I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
    I Know Where I'm Going!

Director

  • Night Ambush (1957)
    Night Ambush
  • Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956)
    Pursuit of the Graf Spee
  • Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955)
    Oh... Rosalinda!!
  • Twice Upon a Time (1953)
    Twice Upon a Time
  • The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
    The Tales of Hoffmann
  • Gone to Earth (1950)
    Gone to Earth
  • The Fighting Pimpernel (1949)
    The Fighting Pimpernel
  • Hour of Glory (1949)
    Hour of Glory
  • The Red Shoes (1948)
    The Red Shoes
  • Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Kathleen Byron, David Farrar, Judith Furse, Jenny Laird, Flora Robson, and Sabu in Black Narcissus (1947)
    Black Narcissus
  • Stairway to Heaven (1946)
    Stairway to Heaven
  • I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
    I Know Where I'm Going!
  • A Canterbury Tale (1944)
    A Canterbury Tale
  • The Volunteer (1944)
    The Volunteer
  • The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
    The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Videos2

The Red Shoes: [Blu Ray]
Trailer 1:39
The Red Shoes: [Blu Ray]
Black Narcissus
Trailer 2:35
Black Narcissus

Personal details

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    • December 5, 1902
    • Miskolc, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]
    • February 5, 1988
    • Saxstead, Suffolk, England, UK(bronchial pneumonia)
    • Wendy OrmeMarch 29, 1947 - 1971 (divorced, 1 child)
    • Angela Pressburger
    • Kevin Macdonald(Grandchild)
  • Other works
    Novel: "Killing a Mouse on Sunday" (filmed as Behold a Pale Horse (1964)).
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Biographical Movies
    • 5 Print Biographies
    • 10 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    His grandson Kevin Macdonald is an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker. He has also written a biography about his grandfather.
  • Quotes
    The worst things that happened to me were the political consequences of events beyond my control ... the best things were exactly the same.
    • Men Against Britannia
      (1957)
      £175

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