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Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. They worked together under the name of "The Archers" and produced a series of classic British films, notably The Thief of Bagdad (1940), 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948). His controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, however, was so vilified that his career was seriously damaged.
He was a pioneering British filmmaker and one half of The Archers, the creative production partnership he formed with screenwriter Emeric Pressburger.
He is celebrated for directing visually inventive and influential cinema, including The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, and A Matter of Life and Death.
The 1960 thriller was so controversial upon its release that it severely damaged his career, though it is now re-evaluated as a masterpiece of psychological horror.