The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - Criterion Collection

Starring:James McKechnie, Neville Mapp, Vincent Holman, Roger Livesey, David Hutcheson, Spencer Trevor, Roland Culver, James Knight, Deborah Kerr, Dennis Arundell, David Ward, Jan Van Loewen, Valentine Dyall, Carl Jaffe, Albert Lieven, Eric Maturin, Frith Banbury, Robert Harris, Arthur Wontner, Theodore Zichy
Director: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's first Technicolor masterpiece, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), transcends its narrow wartime propaganda to portray in warm-hearted detail the life and loves of one extraordinary man. The film's clever narrative structure first presents us with the imposingly rotund General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey in his greatest screen performance), a blustering old duffer who seems the epitome of stuffy, outmoded values. But traveling backwards 40 years we see a different man altogether: the young and dashing officer "Sugar" Candy. Through a series of affecting relationships with three women (all played to perfection by Deborah Kerr) and his touching lifelong friendship with a German officer (Anton Wallbrook), we see Candy's life unfold and come to understand how difficult it is for him to adapt his sense of military honor to modern notions of "total war." Notoriously, this is the film that Winston Churchill tried to have banned, and indeed its sympathetic portrayal of a German officer was contentious in 1943, though one suspects that Churchill's own blimpishness was a factor too. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews:

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.......2007-06-25

The lengthy but immensely rewarding "Blimp" is a warm, fond salute to a colonial British Empire which would never exist again. Livesey is superb as the beloved central character who ages forty years over the course of the film, and Walbrook is equally astonishing as Wynne-Candy's German friend whom he's forced to oppose in wartime. And young Deborah was never more luminous than in this early role. Criterion deserves credit for a gorgeous high-definition transfer of this masterpiece, which makes the old new again.

Outstanding film for then and now. But about that title...???.......2007-04-10

As with the other reviewers of this film, I must agree that
in its restored and complete form, this is an outstanding
film. The supplemental material is also quite interesting.
The themes in this film are just as relevant today as they
were when it was made. Most anything else I could write would
be redundant with what others have written.

I will admit that at points I felt the film dragged a bit,
having made a point but not moving on. Maybe I am just too
much a product of watching too many fast paced films of today.

One thing I find curious about this movie is the title. Since
the main character is not Colonel Blimp and is really a much
deeper character than the cartoon character, I wonder why the
film was given the name it was. I wonder how many people went
to see this movie expecting a comedy based on a cartoon character.

My minor quibbles aside, this is really an excellent film and
worth seeing.

You've won the war but have not learned anything.......2007-03-03

A young military officer, "Spud" Wilson (James McKechnie), in the ecstasy of a mock war confronts an old officer Clive Candy (Roger Liveseys) who appears to be set in his way and unaware of today's (1943) attitude toward war. The young officer ridicules the older officer's ways and looks without giving a thought as to why or how the older officer became that way.

The explanation is through a flashback that Candy explains the apparent differences and that one day you may also find your self ridiculed. In the process we see how some decisions stay with us for life.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are well known for movies that have a mythical deep meaning like "I Know Where I'm Going!" (1945.) In one film "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" (1942) the deleted scene of a confrontation between a younger and older officered was deleted. This scene was the seed for this movie "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943.)

At first the film does not seem to have quite the stature of the earlier Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger films but as the personalities evolve and the story unfolds you see that they still maintain the magic.

Two performances I find of special interest are those of Anton Walbrook as Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (the Uhlan officer) as he goes through attitude changes in life, and that of Deborah Kerr who plays the three women (Edith Hunter/Barbara Wynne/Johnny Cannon) in the life of Clive Candy.

Last note be sure to get the restored Criterion presentation of this Janus film.

An irrepressible and perennial classic.......2007-02-02

I recently watched this film after having seen it for the first time 25 years ago when I was a young man. Simply stated, it held up on a second viewing and in fact confirmed my impression that it is one of the most magnificent films of all time. Restored to its original length and with newly enhanced color, the film has even more appeal now. The acting is superb, with Livesey, Walbrook, and Kerr all turning in great performances, with Livesey's being possibly the best of his very distinguished career. Walbrook is superb also and I wasn't familiar with him, being an Austrian actor mainly, until I saw this film, Kerr at only age 18 performs all three of the main women's roles and also does a terrific job.

The film's anti-war message was of course controversial at the time and Churchill unsuccessfully tried to get it banned. The film follows Livesey's 40-year career from the Boer War to WWII and shows how difficult it was for an officer from an earlier, more civilized age to adapt to the grim realities of World War II. He is a grand, honorable, dignified soldier of the "old school," the kind of disciplined but principled and compassionate man our civilization no longer has any use for. But WWII was a war that had to be won at all costs lest the Nazi's and Axis powers prevail, and the General's approach is now long obsolete.

The exigencies of WWII notwithstanding, half a century later, we can see even more clearly how far our civilization's values have deteriorated and can only imagine how Livesey's character would have fared in an age of terrorism--or an age in which it seems that there are no more true good countries left (including the U.S.)--only greater and lesser evils. Despite our greater scientific and technological achievements, we live in a less civilized and more barbaric age.

Overall it's still a great movie with a timeless message about the type of honor and values that existed once but that our "civilization" (if one can call it that) abandoned a long time ago.

remarkable on a number of counts.......2006-08-07

The film itself is compelling theater in its own right, even 60 years on, as a touching look at friendship, lost romance, aging, and personal obsolescence. Roger Livesay (Lt. Clive Candy) hands in a brilliant performance as he ages from a dashing young officer of the Boer War period to a dumpy, elderly warhorse in mid-WWII. Aging with him is Anton Walbrook as a German officer who was his friend, then his enemy, then his friend once more -- but even more displaced by time and circumstance. Deborah Kerr is splendid as three different romances in Clive Candy's lifetime.

Criterion, as usual, has restored scenes and visual quality. Its extras are important, as we see the context of the film and its controversy. The Colonel Blimp cartoons are worth seeing as how they might have damaged the film: the cartoon character was a blustery, stuffy duffer from the inter-war years -- dumpy, red-faced, white walrus mustache like the aged Clive Candy. Blimp was not really likeable in print, who could have easily made the movie character a forgettable cartoon figure as well. Powell, Pressburger and Livesey dodged that bullet. Blimp was not likeable, but the film makes you care about Livesay's character.

We also see the controversy around the film in the documentary. Easily enough imagined: it was 1943, the title character is both conservative and friendly to (one) German at the same time. The DVD includes memoranda to and from Churchill trying to stifle the film. Also, the film's message -- that Candy wanted to fight a gentlemanly war (although the real message was that the UK should not), was also something jarring in bomb-damaged Britain at that time. It's worth remembering that controversy and memoranda were raging in the same month (July 1943) that the RAF launched Operation Gomorrah, the horrific fire-bombing of Hamburg.

This film is worth having, and not just for buffs of film history or British cinema.

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