Bluebeard’s Castle

Herzog Blaubarts Burg

An intense psychodrama based on the Béla Bartók opera with a libretto by Béla Balázs, alongside Powell’s newly restored ballet short, with designs by Hein Heckroth.

  • Director

    Michael Powell

  • With

    Norman Foster and Ana Raquel Satre

  • Germany 1963. 62min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    PG

  • English subtitles

It was once declared ‘unperformable’ due to its lack of stage action. But Powell turned this to his advantage when he adapted Bluebeard’s Castle for German television. The result is a dark, intense opera in one act. In this new restoration by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, Hein Heckroth’s sets have to be seen to be believed, as shards of colour, shadow and light symbolise Bluebeard’s tortured soul.

Claire Smith

Restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation in association with The Ashbrittle Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by the BFI National Archive, The Louis B. Mayer Foundation and The Film Foundation.

A digitally restored version of the film will be released on BFI Blu-ray on 20 November.

Also available on BFI Player

+ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

  • Director

    Michael Powell

  • With

    Sonia Arova and the Ballet of the State Opera Hamburg

  • Germany 1955. 13min

  • Digital 4K (restoration)

The first ballet film to be shot in CinemaScope, Powell’s dance short saw him teaming up once again with designer Hein Heckroth, cinematographer Christopher Challis, camera operator Freddie Francis and editor Reginald Mills to bring some of the Archers’ magic to Goethe’s 18th-century tale. An ageing sorcerer leaves his workshop, and chaos ensues as his apprentice brings inanimate objects to life.

Claire Smith

Also available on BFI Player

The screening on Friday 15 December will be introduced by writer Lillian Crawford.