Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
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
Product Description
THIS IS NOT A PROMO - This Dvd Is Brand New & Sealed - Another Dvd Is Now Becoming Very Collectable & Sought After. Posted From The UK
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
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!
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!
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
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.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
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.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Movie needs no introduction, but what are the extras??
I don't need to add anything to what has been said about this wonderful movie, but why, oh, why don't Amazon list the Special Features of a DVD when it's described as "Special... Read more
Published 12 days ago by AK 1957-05
Another Great Archers Production
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's war parable, made in 1943, attracted the ire of one Winston Churchill and probably would never have got made without the determination of... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Keith M
The Life & Times Of Colonel Blimp
This is a wonderful heart warming film. Highly recommended for fans of romantic genre films. A must see film.
Arrived as described in perfect condition and on time.
Arrived as described in perfect condition and on time.
Published 7 months ago by A. Unitt
Superb cinema
It begins in energized war-games fashion. Even the music hall style of music captures the boyish enthusiasm of a serious business; the middle of World War 2 (the film was made in... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ian Hunter
Colonel Blimp lives on
Wonderful acting, gorgeous colour, humour, compassion, warmth and the adorable Deborah Kerr playing 3 roles.
No CGI, sex or violence so if you want these go elsewhere.
No CGI, sex or violence so if you want these go elsewhere.
Published 11 months ago by Supersnake
Excuse me for being old!
The film is held together by Deborah Kerr's watchability and the purely strange and audacious way she has to play three different characters. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mario
Over-rated
Sorry, but I didn't like this film. It just seems to ramble on, as evinced in the descriptions "then he did this" "then he...". Read more
Published 18 months ago by Maxwell R. Allen
Entertaining British historical panorama
One of Powell and Pressburger's great wartime "propaganda" films from a time when the British and their government were more patriotic (in the face of Nazi aggression)than they... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2009 by Fiction Fan
A wonderful piece of film making
The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp [DVD] [1943]
I cannot recommend this film too highly. Read more
I cannot recommend this film too highly. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2009 by John T
Overblown, over-acted and over-rated
Hailed by critics as a great British masterpiece, I was eagerly anticipating great things from this film. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2009 by Bunty
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
