Arts: Film director's lost musical is found

A "lost" film from one of the great directors of British cinema has been uncovered and is to be screened for the first time in 65 years, it was announced yesterday.

His Lordship, by Michael Powell, dates from 1932 and was unearthed in Cheshire by a private collector who initially thought he had a well-known movie. It was Powell's eighth film, made when he was an unknown director. But he went on to make The Red Shoes in 1948, and to collaborate with Emeric Pressburger.

His Lordship is a musical comedy with a complex plot featuring a Cockney plumber who is also a peer, and a couple of conmen. It is regarded as one of the better "quota quickies" produced at that time to satisfy the production requirements imposed on studios by the 1928 Cinematograph Film Act. It will be shown on 22 November at the British Film Institute's theatre at South Bank during the annual London Film Festival.

Ten pictures directed by Michael Powell Pictures are still unaccounted for, but it is feared that they may be lost forever as they were made on unstable film which decayed rapidly. Powell, regarded as an influential director, died in 1990.

The film His Lordship was found by a team from the BFI's archive unit, which said it was a lucky find. An archivist from the institute, Anne Fleming, said: "It is unlikely more than a handful of these films will resurface so when the archive is lucky enough to come across a lost orphan of cinema it is cause for celebration."