The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Special Edition) [VHS] [1943]: Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook, Roland Culver, James McKechnie, Albert Lieven, Arthur Wontner, David Hutcheson, Ursula Jeans, John Laurie, Harry Welchman, Reginald Tate, Georges P�rinal, Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, Richard Vernon: Amazon.co.uk: Video

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Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1943 film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp was intended to bolster the propaganda effort. Colonel Blimp was a cartoon character conceived to parody the hidebound, elder military types whose attitudes towards war were irrelevant when it came to fighting the Nazis, a point made in the first few minutes of the movie when a platoon of young troops cheekily capture walrus-faced General Candy (Roger Livesey) during a training exercise, oblivious to his splutterings that "war starts at midnight!" Thereafter, Powell and Pressburger forge a more complex portrayal of Candy, following his career over 40 years, from the Boer War through World War I. There are strong, touching reminders of Goodbye, Mr Chips in his relationship with a German officer, played by Anton Walbrook, (a reflection, perhaps of Powell's own alliance with the German Pressburger), while Deborah Kerr recurs in three different roles, reminding Candy of the lifelong love he has missed out on. By the end, Candy's inability to recognise that the Nazis are not playing by his own, proper military rules is reaffirmed but more sympathetically. No one could mistake Powell and Pressburger's patriotic intentions here yet Winston Churchill was sufficiently disconcerted by the film to try to have it banned. It wasn't--and it proved a huge, deserved success. --David Stubbs

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Powell and Pressburger's first Technicolor masterpiece, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) transcends its narrow wartime propaganda remit 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 of the Home Guard (Roger Livesey in his greatest screen performance), a blustering old buffer with spreading handlebar moustache and stomach to match. Confronted by a youthful regular army Captain he seems the epitome of stuffy, outmoded values. But travelling backwards 40 years we see a different man altogether: the young and dashing officer "Sugar" Candy, just returned from earning a Victoria Cross in the Boer War. 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 honour to modern notions of "total war".

If Livesey's engaging Clive Candy is the film's heart, Anton Wallbrook's Theo is its conscience; his exile speech delivered to an uncomprehending immigration officer is a heartfelt tour de force made all the more poignant by the Austrian actor's own circumstances, as well as those of Hungarian scriptwriter Emeric Pressburger. Powell's technically masterful and innovative direction illuminates every scene, from the surprising camera move in the duel sequence to the hunting montage of stuffed animal heads on a wall. Notoriously, this is the film that 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.

On the DVD: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp looks in excellent condition on this special edition DVD. The mono sound is crisp and the picture largely free of grain, allowing the subtle lighting and muted colours to be seen as intended. The main extra is a 25-minute documentary feature which tells us nothing revelatory about making the film, but has good new interviews with cinematographer Jack Cardiff (then an apprentice) and eloquent admirer Stephen Fry. Text biographies and stills are also included.--Mark Walker

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

War starts at 12 o'clock! 1 May 2006

By Political Manoeuvre

Format:DVD

I saw this film a few nights ago, and although it was almost 3 hours long, I stayed glued to the screen the entire time. The plot, writing and acting is perfect, and by the end I felt as if I had been watching an old friend. The film is about an idealistic man who was a young solider in the Boer war, who was brought up on the idea of 'gentlemanly' fighting, with no dirty tricks. We see him progress from being a young man, to a man as a senior officer in WW1, already seeing him out of place. Then we go through the years until we finally see him in WW2. He's the same man, but the world around him has changed completely. The film affected me on many levels.

Will I end up like Clive Candy when I'm older, disillusioned and out of place in an ever changing society, will I have to change my ideals and beliefs to fit in with the people around me? I'm 16 and this film is definatley an eye opener and I already know that this film has changed my view on things. Now, if you haven't already, GO SEE THIS FILM!

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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

You can hardly tell it's propaganda 1 Mar 2006

By Sally-Anne

Format:DVD

The film starts with a silly old soldier being affronted by the rude disdain of a young officer who is using his initiative - and cheating in order to win. The old fellow is made to look ridiculous. The message thrown in his face is that "fair play never won a war". Then the scene travels back 40 years to see the pathetic old fool when he was young and his ideals were the norm, at a time when fair ends didn't justify foul means. He's just returned from the Boer war with a Victoria Cross, but he's still young and impetuous. We accompany him through his own brash youth, when he annoys his grumpy elders, upsets the diplomatic apple cart for his government and has to fight a duel with an equally "good egg" in the army of Britain's enemy, in order to save face on both sides and restore the balance. Lifelong friendship blossoms from this violent ritual and love is almost found with the young lady who dragged him into the situation that led to the dual. He loses the girl with good grace to his new friend and returns to England. Then he goes off to distant lands to convert beautiful, live animals into sad, dead trophies for a few years, until another war comes along. He's the same man of honour through WWI, even though the lessons about doing whatever it takes to win are there if he should choose to learn them. He never changes. He'll never choose to do what's expedient over what's right. By WWII the atmosphere has changed and the young officer introduced at the beginning of the film, doesn't have any respect for a bumbling old buffoon who doesn't understand modern warfare. But by the time we come back to the scene of the disrespectful youth insulting and abusing the venerable old gentleman, we're seeing things from the old gentleman's point of view and sharing his sense of outrage.

I enjoy this film so much that I can watch it over and over. There are one or two things I could object to in it. For example, the reason young Candy gets in a bind in Germany and has to fight a duel, is that he's there to deny that Britain did some terrible things in the Boer war, involving concentration camps and the deaths of large numbers of Boer women and children. The concentrations camps and the deaths of the women and children are well documented and no longer denied. Churchill may have tried to have the film banned for other reasons, but it was still a propaganda film. It was made during WWII after all. General Candy seems such a nice old buffer though, it just seems he'd have been as shocked about the treatment of the innocent Boer non-combatants as any decent person, if he'd known. In order to really enjoy the cosy view on offer here, you have to accommodate a couple of uncomfortable carbuncles like the wildlife slaughter (not shown, but represented by a wall of mounted heads) and the concentration camp denial. Those bits only take up two or three minutes of this almost 3 hour film and both offer us a bit of information about what went on back in "the good old days" that Blimp harks back to with such nostalgia and detachment from reality. It's nice to share the rosy view of an idealised past from time to time. I recommend it.

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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

There is more to Colonel Blimp than his huge moustache 19 April 2002

By deblangner@email.com

Format:VHS Tape

As the film opens, our hero Clive Candy seems a bumbling, unsympathetic character, shouting red faced at a young British soldier from behind his enormous moustache. As the plot develops, however, we see a touching portrait of a man whose unchanging sense of fair play becomes out of step with the values of war torn Europe. Roger Livesey is excellent as Candy, with Deborah Kerr as the various incarnations of the woman he has always loved, and Anton Walbrook as his equally decent and honorable German friend. The film is, perhaps, a little dated for some tastes, but there is a point at which I reach for my hanky and start to snuffle. I will always love it.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Special Edition) [VHS] [1943]

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