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Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on a famously satirical cartoon strip that mocked outmoded attitudes of fair play at a time of "total war", Blimp subsequently became notorious as the film Churchill tried to have banned. Because the War Office objected to the screenplay, they refused to allow P&P's first choice for the role, Laurence Olivier, and the duo cast unknown stage actor Roger Livesey in his place. It is Livesey's sympathetic performance that transforms Clive "Sugar" Candy from an object of satire to one of warm affection, effectively reversing the film's intended message about old-fashioned decency versus wartime pragmatism. Anton Walbrook is a profound presence in a role that mirrored the actor's own plight as a German in Britain, while Deborah Kerr is a living leitmotif in the film, playing no fewer than three distinct but deliberately related roles.
Briefed by the Ministry of Information to make a film that would foster Anglo-American relations in the post-war period, the duo, known as "the Archers", came up with A Matter of Life and Death, an extravagant and extraordinary fantasy in which David Niven's downed pilot must justify his continuing existence to a heavenly panel because he has made the mistake of falling in love with an American girl (Kim Hunter) when he really should have been dead. National stereotypes are lampooned as the angelic judges squabble over his fate. In a neat reversal of expectations, the heaven sequences are black and white, while earth is seen in Technicolor. Daring cinematography mixes monochrome and colour, incorporates time-lapse images, and even toys with background "time freezes" 50 years before The Matrix. Roger Livesey and Raymond Massey lead the fine supporting cast.
On the DVD: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Matter of Life and Death are presented in reasonably sharp 4:3 ratio with good mono sound. Blimp comes with a 25-minute documentary feature that 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. Life and Death has no extras. --Mark Walker
Special Features
Region 2
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'A Matter of Life and Death' pits the dashing David Niven against death: he falls to earth in his warplane during WW2, his plane wrecked beyond repair, and the girl on the radio tells him not to worry...he falls in love only to find he's dead. Someone up in heaven has made an error, and only with the help of an angel (reminiscent of 'It's Wonderful Life') can he sort out whether or not love will prevail...it's called 'Stairway to Heaven' in the USA, which gives you a clue as to one of the more mmeorable sequences, accompanied by suitably unnerving music...
'Blimp' is an absolute masterpiece, with Roger livesey's best performance against the dazzling Deborah Kerr, both of them pulled through forty years of Empire and the realisation that the war against Hitler is life or death - it could almost have been given the same title as the Niven film.
A DVD in which both films display why Michael Powell and emeric Pressburger are two of the most enduring British film-makers of all time.
This film has a fabulous opening sequence, and a lovely opening scene featuring David Niven as... Read more
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