The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp

Released in 1943, THC finally got around to viewing Colonel Blimp this week.  A splendid film!

It's also deceptive as the first, fast-paced, scene leaves one a bit befuddled about what the film is about.  And then it looks like it's going to be a satire about the British military and the last days of imperialism.  But it ends up as something more deep and profound.  It does satirize the military, but also conveys the sense of duty and responsibility of soldiers.  It is about friendship, love, and patriotism and how people respond when under strain.  

The movie was filmed in Britain in 1942 and early 1943, in the midst of the world war.  For various reasons the British military and Winston Churchill preferred it not be made but the filmmakers, director Michael Powell and screenplay writer Emeric Pressburger (who also made The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus) forged ahead.  

The movie stars Roger Livesey (as the British soldier Clive Wynn-Candy who eventually rises to Major General), Anton Walbrook as German officer Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, and Deborah Kerr in one of her first lead roles playing three different characters.  All are indeed splendid.

The story begins in 1902 when then Lt. Livesey fights a duel in Berlin with Kretschmar-Schuldorff, leaving them both wounded and hospitalized and where they meet Kerr's first character.  We then see both soldiers during World War One and its immediate aftermath.  Finally, they are reunited in wartime England after Theo has fled Germany.

Two scenes from near the end:

Theo, a refuge in England in 1939, is being questioned by British security which needs to decide his status.  This is the latter part of a nine-minute scene.  Walbrook is so good, doing so little, but conveying so much.  You've never heard anyone say "Heil Hitler" like he does.

In this scene, General Candy was to have delivered a talk on the BBC in the aftermath of Dunkirk, but it is cancelled at the last minute.  He arrives home to find he has also been discharged from the military.  Kerr is now playing Candy's driver.  Theo speaks to him of the changed world and the need to fight differently.  Theo's message was one of the aspects of the film that gave the British military and Churchill pause.  It is also a message that resonates today - the eternal question.

The restored version of Colonel Blimp you can know see was made under the direction of Martin Scorsese, a huge fan of the film since he was a teenager.