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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) is a film by the British writer-director-producer team of Powell & Pressburger under the banner of 'The Archers'. It stars Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr and Anton Walbrook. The title derives from the satirical Colonel Blimp comic strip by David Low but the story itself is original. Image File history File links DVD-Blimp. ...
Michael Powell film-maker. ...
Emeric Pressburger in Paris. ...
Roger Livesey as Clive Candy, in the duel scene from Colonel Blimp. ...
Deborah Kerr, CBE (born 30 September 1921) is a Golden Globe award winning Scottish actress who is a recipient of an Academy Honorary Award for a motion picture career that has always represented Perfection, Discipline and Elegance. ...
Anton Walbrook as Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, in the duel scene from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. ...
Allan Gray (born 23 February 1902, Austria, died 10 September 1973, England, U.K.) was a composer, noted for his film scores. ...
General Film Distributors (GFD), was a British film distribution company active until the 1950s. ...
The current United Artists logo (a variant was used during the 1980s). ...
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June 10 is the 161st day of the year (162nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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July 26 is the 207th day of the year (208th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (89th in leap years). ...
Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...
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is the 124th day of the year (125th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...
See also: 1942 in film 1943 1944 in film 1940s in film years in film film // Events Top grossing films North America For Whom the Bell Tolls The Song of Bernadette This is the Army Stage Door Canteen Random Harvest Star Spangled Rhythm Casablanca Journey Into Fear Academy Awards Best...
Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ...
Roger Livesey as Clive Candy, in the duel scene from Colonel Blimp. ...
Deborah Kerr, CBE (born 30 September 1921) is a Golden Globe award winning Scottish actress who is a recipient of an Academy Honorary Award for a motion picture career that has always represented Perfection, Discipline and Elegance. ...
Anton Walbrook as Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, in the duel scene from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. ...
The cartoonist David Low first drew Colonel Blimp for Lord Beaverbrooks London Evening Standard in the 1930s: pompous, irascible, jingoistic and stereotypically English. ...
Sir David Alexander Cecil Low (7 April 1891–19 September 1963) was a New Zealand-born political cartoonist. ...
Synopsis The film begins with a British Home Guard exercise during the Second World War. The leader of the defenders, Major General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey) is 'captured' by soldiers of the 1st Battalion the Loamshire Regiment who have decided to strike early (despite Candy's protestations that "War starts at midnight!"), as they believe this is how the Germans would fight. Candy then scuffles with the young lieutenant in charge of the soldiers and both fall into the bathing pool. The film then flashes back to Candy's days as a young officer. Roger Livesey & Anton Walbrook in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. ...
Roger Livesey & Anton Walbrook in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. ...
Roger Livesey as Clive Candy, in the duel scene from Colonel Blimp. ...
Anton Walbrook as Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, in the duel scene from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. ...
“The Great War †redirects here. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ...
Roger Livesey as Clive Candy, in the duel scene from Colonel Blimp. ...
Loamshire Regiment is a placeholder name used by the British Army to provide examples for its procedures. ...
Boer War Candy is an officer in the Light Infantry, on leave from the Boer War in South Africa where he has been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. One day, he receives a telegram from Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr) who is working in Germany as an English teacher. She complains that people are spreading anti-British propaganda and she wants an official from the embassy to investigate. When Candy brings this to his superiors' attention, they refuse him permission to intervene as he is a soldier, not a diplomat. He decides to act anyway. Combatants British Empire Orange Free State South African Republic Commanders Sir Redvers Buller Lord Kitchener Lord Roberts Paul Kruger Louis Botha Koos de la Rey Martinus Steyn Christiaan de Wet Casualties 20,000 6,500 Civilians killed [mainly Boers]: 24,000+ The Second Boer War (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede...
The Victoria Cross (VC) is a military decoration awarded for valour in the face of the enemy to members of armed forces of some Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories. ...
Deborah Kerr, CBE (born 30 September 1921) is a Golden Globe award winning Scottish actress who is a recipient of an Academy Honorary Award for a motion picture career that has always represented Perfection, Discipline and Elegance. ...
In Germany, he meets Edith. At a cafe, he recognizes one of those responsible for the propaganda as a former spy his division had caught in South Africa. He creates a major diplomatic incident when he confronts him. Provoked, he inadvertently manages to insult the entire German army. As a result, he is forced to fight a duel with a German officer, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). In order to avoid a full-scale crisis, the duel is ostensibly about Edith's honour and afterwards it is agreed that the matter will be closed. A duel is a formalized type of combat. ...
Anton Walbrook as Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, in the duel scene from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. ...
After the duel while they are recuperating from their wounds they become friends. Edith visits them both regularly in the hospital and although it's implied that she has feelings for Clive (as suggested by Powell in the commentary track), she marries Theo. Candy is delighted and leaves for home. He soon realizes to his consternation that he loves Edith.
The film then flashes forward to the next war, showing time passing through a fast montage of trophies from Candy's hunting trips in Africa.
World War I As a Brigadier General in the First World War, Candy is older and more like the blimp-like figure seen in the beginning. He believes that the Allies won the war because 'right is might',[1] even though it is implied in one scene that the Allies use unsportsmanlike methods to extract information whilst Candy's back is turned. A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ...
“The Great War †redirects here. ...
He meets a nurse, Barbara Wynne (Kerr again) at a convent where he is eating dinner and is surprised by her resemblance to Edith. He learns that the nurses are from Yorkshire and stages a party for Yorkshire war nurses upon returning home, in the (successful) hope that he would meet her again. He courts and marries her despite their age difference. Upon entering their house, Barbara makes Clive promise that he will 'never change'. Candy swears not to until his house is flooded and 'this is a lake'.
Concerned for the welfare of his friend, Candy tracks Theo down at a POW camp. Candy greets his friend as if no time had passed, much to Theo's distaste, as evidenced by his snubbing of Candy. Theo later apologizes and accepts an invitation for dinner with other army officers but he returns to Germany with little hope, unconvinced by Candy's assertions that his country will be treated fairly. Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...
In another montage to the final flash-forward, it is disclosed that Candy's wife dies between the World Wars of unrevealed causes.
World War II Theo is in an immigration office in wartime England. Older and sadder, he relates to the official how his children had been caught up in the Nazi ideology and estranged from him. He had refused to travel to England at his wife's urging before the war, by the time he was ready to leave, she had died (like Barbara, of unrevealed causes). Candy shows up in time to vouch for Theo and save him from internment.
As Candy and Theo share memories, Candy reveals to his friend that he loved Edith and only realized it when it was too late. He admits that he never got over it and even shows Theo a portrait of his dead wife (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Edith). Theo does not immediately notice the similarity, since he and Edith had grown old together. This scene further illustrates that, while Theo has moved on with the times, Candy is still unabashedly nostalgic and lives on memories. Theo then meets Clive's driver, Angela 'Johnny' Cannon (Kerr yet again), who reveals that Candy had chosen her out of 700 women soldiers. She mentions that her boyfriend is in the army as well.
Candy, who was restored to the "active list", is sent back into retirement after his address for the BBC (regarding the British Army after the retreat from Dunkirk) is cancelled. Candy had planned to say that he would rather lose the war than use the methods employed by the Nazis. Theo realized that this would happen and urges his friend to accept modern warfare. Candy forms a Home Guard for Britain's defence. His resolve strengthens after his house is bombed in the Blitz. He moves to his club and is in the Turkish bath shown in the opening scene after having arranged a war exercise to train his troops. French troops rescued by a British merchant ship at Dunkirk British evacuation on Dunkirk beach Operation Dynamo (or Dunkirk Evacuation, the Miracle of Dunkirk or just Dunkirk) was the name given to the World War II mass evacuation of Allied soldiers from May 26 to June 4, 1940, during the...
Heinkel He 111 German bomber over the Surrey Docks, Southwark, London (German propaganda photomontage). ...
A Turkish bath is a method of cleansing the body and relaxation that was particularly popular during the Victorian era. ...
The film has turned full circle. It is revealed that the young lieutenant who captures Candy is in fact Johnny's boyfriend. He used her to learn about Candy's plans and location. She tries to warn Candy but fails. Candy is held prisoner for a few hours and is humbled by the incident and at last understands the necessity for modern methods to defeat the Nazis. Candy, Theo and 'Johnny' wait for the soldiers to march past Candy's old house. Candy then recalls that when he had visited Germany against orders, he had been given a dressing down by his commanding officer. Afterwards, he had declined an invitation to dinner which he now regrets. He then asks 'Johnny' to invite her boyfriend to dinner and 'he better come'. Theo then muses whether or not the young lieutenant would become a 'grand old man' like Candy.
The bombed out house, like many others during the blitz has been converted to a water tank. Remembering his promise to Barbara, he realizes that 'here is the lake and I still haven't changed.' The film ends with Candy saluting the new guard as it passes by him and at last accepting that his time has passed. The death of the old ideas is the death referred to in the title. The final shot is a close-up of the motto on the tapestry used as the background in the opening scene which states "Sic Transit Gloria Candy" (thus passes the glory of Candy; this is a parody of the well known saying, "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi - "Thus passes the glory of the world" ie, fame is fleeting.). Sic transit gloria mundi is a Latin phrase that means Thus passes the glory of the world, but is more commonly interpreted as Fame is fleeting. ...
Production According to the directors, the idea for the film did not come from the newspaper comic strip by David Low but from a scene cut from their previous film, One of Our Aircraft is Missing, in which an elderly member of the crew tells a younger one, "You don't know what it's like to be old." Powell has stated that the idea was actually suggested by David Lean (then an editor) who when removing the scene from the film, mentioned that the premise of the conversation was worthy of a movie on its own right.[2] Sir David Alexander Cecil Low (7 April 1891–19 September 1963) was a New Zealand-born political cartoonist. ...
One of our Aircraft is Missing (1942) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Film editing. ...
The film was shot in four months at Denham Studios and on location in and around London. Filming was made difficult by the wartime shortages.
Powell wanted Wendy Hiller to play Kerr's parts but she pulled out due to pregnancy. The character of Frau von Kalteneck, a friend of Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff was played by Roger Livesey's wife Ursula Jeans; although they often appeared on stage together this was their only appearance together in a film. Wendy Hiller in I Know Where Im Going! (1945) Dame Wendy Hiller (August 15, 1912 – May 14, 2003) was a distinguished English film and stage actress. ...
Ursula Jeans (May 5, 1906–April 21, 1973) was a British actress on film, stage, and television. ...
Further problems were caused by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who sent a memo suggesting the production be stopped. Churchill's reasons and why he did not succeed have been debated by film historians. Although the film is strongly pro-British, it is a satire on the British army and has a sympathetic German character. It suggests that Britain needs to 'fight dirty' in the face of such an evil enemy.[3] There is also a certain similarity between Candy and Churchill and some historians have suggested that Churchill may have mistaken the film for a parody of him.[4][5] The reasons remain unclear and one should bear in mind that Churchill was acting only on a description of the planned film from his staff, not on a viewing of the film. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician, soldier in the British Army, orator, and strategist, and is studied as part of the modern British and world history. ...
Releases The film was released in the UK in 1943. Due to the British government's view of the film, it was not released in the United States until 1945 and then in a modified form, as The Adventures of Colonel Blimp or simply Colonel Blimp. The original cut was 163 minutes. It was reduced to a 150 minute version, then later to 90 minutes for television. In his Criterion Collection commentary on the film, Martin Scorsese claims to have seen the 90 minute version. One of the crucial changes made to the shortened versions was the removal of the flashback structure of the film.[6] Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...
The Criterion Collection is a joint venture between Janus Films and The Voyager Company that was begun in the mid 1980s for the purpose of releasing authoritative consumer versions of classic and important contemporary films on the laserdisc and DVD formats. ...
Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (born November 17, 1942) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America award winning American film director, writer and producer and founder World Cinema Foundation. ...
In the 1980s, the original cut was restored for a re-release, much to Emeric Pressburger's delight. Pressburger as affirmed by his grandson Kevin Macdonald on a Carlton Region 2 DVD featurette, considered Blimp the best of their works. Emeric Pressburger in Paris. ...
Kevin Macdonald (born October 28, 1967) is a Scottish documentary film director, best known for One Day in September (2000) and Touching the Void (2003). ...
Carlton is the name of many places: Carlton, Bedfordshire is a small village in the county of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom. ...
The following is an excerpt of the article entitled DVD. For the sake of convenience, the terms Region 0, Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Region 5, Region 6, Region 7 and Region 8 redirect to this page. ...
Criticism - "What is it really about?" – C. A. Lejeune, The Observer, 1943.
- "Colonel Blimp is as unmistakably a British product as Yorkshire pudding and, like the latter, it has a delectable savor all its own." – New York Times March 30, 1945.
- "It addresses something I've always been profoundly interested in – what it means to be English... it is about bigger things than the war. It takes a longer view of history which was an extraordinarily brave thing for someone to do in 1943, at a time when history seemed to have disintegrated into its most helpless, impossible and unforgivable state." – Stephen Fry, interviewed by the Daily Telegraph, 2003.
The film provoked an extremist (and unintentionally funny) pamphlet The Shame and Disgrace of Colonel Blimp by "right-wing sociologists E. W. and M. M. Robson," members of the obscure Sidneyan Society: Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...
This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ...
This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ...
- "[A] highly elaborate, flashy, flabby and costly film, the most disgraceful production that has ever emanated from a British film studio."
In recent years, particularly after the highly successful re-release of the film, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp has been re-evaluated critically [1] and is today regarded as a masterpiece of British cinema. The film is praised for its dazzling technicolor cinematography (which with later films like The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus would become The Archers' greatest legacy), the performances by the lead actors as well as for transforming in Roger Ebert's words; 'a blustering, pigheaded caricature into one of the most loved of all movie characters'. [2] Helpmann, Shearer and Massine in The Red Shoes. ...
This page is about the film. ...
Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ...
Popular culture The portrait of Barbara Wynn shown by Candy to Kretschmar-Schuldorff when they meet at the start of the Second World War was later used as a prop in the film The League of Gentlemen in which Roger Livesey appears as a drunken defrocked clegyman. The League Of Gentlemen was a 1959 British crime film, directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Hawkins and Nigel Patrick with Terence Alexander, Richard Attenborough, Norman Bird, Bryan Forbes, Roger Livesey and Kieron Moore. ...
References - ^ Moor, Andrew (2005). Powell and Pressburger: A Cinema of Magic Spaces (Cinema and Society). London: I. B. Tauris, p76. ISBN 1850439478.
- ^ Michael Powell, commentary on the Criterion Collection Laserdisc (also available on the Criterion DVD)
- ^ As is shown in the film in Theo's speech to Clive after Clive's broadcast is cancelled
- ^ Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (1994). in Ian Christie: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-14355-5.
- ^ A. L. Kennedy (1997). The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. BFI. ISBN 0-85170-568-5.
- ^ As may be seen in the shortened version available at some national libraries like the BFI
The Criterion Collection is a joint venture between Janus Films and The Voyager Company that was begun in the mid 1980s for the purpose of releasing authoritative consumer versions of classic and important contemporary films on the laserdisc and DVD formats. ...
Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ...
A. L. Kennedy (full name Alison Louise Kennedy) is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. ...
Further reading - Chapman, James. "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: reconsidered." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 03/95 15(1) p. 19-36. [7]
- Christie, Ian. "The Colonel Blimp File." Sight and Sound, 48. 1978
- Includes the contents of Public Record Office file on the film
- Christie, Ian. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (script) by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. London: Faber & Faber, 1994. ISBN 0-571-14355-5
- Includes the contents of Public Record Office file on the film, memos to & from Churchill and the script showing the difference between the original and final versions
- Kennedy, A.L. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. London: BFI Film Classics, 1997. ISBN 0-85170-568-5
Sight and Sound is a British monthly magazine about film. ...
External links The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and...
screenonline is a website devoted to the history of British film and television, and to social history as revealed by film and television. ...
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and...
DVD Reviews
Region 2 UK Carlton DVD Carlton Television was the United Kingdom Channel 3 (ITV) licensee for London and the surrounding areas from 9:25am every Monday to 5. ...
Region 2 France Warner Home Vidéo / L'Institut Lumière This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Region 1 USA Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection is a joint venture between Janus Films and The Voyager Company that was begun in the mid 1980s for the purpose of releasing authoritative consumer versions of classic and important contemporary films on the laserdisc and DVD formats. ...
DVD Comparisons
Films by year: Pre 1920 • 1920s • 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Films A–Z • Actors • Directors • Cinematographers • Production designers • Editors • Producers • Score composers • Screenwriters Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ...
Michael Powell film-maker. ...
Emeric Pressburger in Paris. ...
Conrad Veidt in The Spy in Black. ...
The Lion Has Wings (1939) is a documentary style British propaganda film. ...
Contraband (1940) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
An Airmans Letter to His Mother (1941) is a documentary style British propaganda short. ...
Forty-Ninth Parallel (1941) is the third collaboration by the British-based filmmakers Powell & Pressburger. ...
One of our Aircraft is Missing (1942) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
The Volunteer (1943) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
A Canterbury Tale (1944) is a British film by the film-making team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) and Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey) look on at a Ceilidh. ...
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is a film by the British writer-director-producer team of Powell and Pressburger. ...
This page is about the film. ...
Helpmann, Shearer and Massine in The Red Shoes. ...
The Small Back Room (1949) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger, based on The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. ...
Farrar and Jones in Gone to Earth. ...
This article is about the film. ...
Oh. ...
The Battle of the River Plate is a 1956 film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...
Poster for Ill Met by Moonlight. ...
Peeping Tom is a 1960 psychological thriller film by the British film director Michael Powell. ...
Poster for Theyre a Weird Mob. ...
Age of Consent (1969) is the penultimate feature film directed by British film-maker Michael Powell. ...
The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972) is the last film collaboration by the British filmmakers Powell & Pressburger. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Michael Caine in Get Carter (1971). ...
This is a list of some of the more notable British films. ...
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