The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Film Review

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is one of the remarkable films to come out of the legendary partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, two of the most important figures in British cinema.  Although it belongs to the impressive series of wartime dramas made by Powell and Pressburger in the 1940s, it stands apart.  It isn't so much a conventional war film as a light-hearted character study and a satirical comment on how military ethics changed between the Boer War and WWII.  Many regard this as one of Powell and Pressburger's greatest achievements.

The film takes its title from the cartoon character Colonel Blimp (created by David Low) who featured in the London Evening Standard.  Blimp was a caricature of the pompous, old-fashioned army officer types who had a very visible presence in Britain at the time and who always complained about how things only ever changed for the worse.   In the film, Blimp is personified by General Clive Candy, an idealistic army officer who fails to change with the times, with tragicomic consequences. 

From the outset, the film's production met with fierce opposition from Britain's War Office.  Having seen the screenplay, the Ministry of Information formed the view that the film was unpatriotic and would have a demoralising effect on the armed services.  Not only did the film poke fun at British army officers, but it also showed a German officer in a sympathetic light.  The War Office refused to allow Laurence Olivier to take the part of Clive Candy and made it difficult for the film's producers to get hold of military staff and hardware for the film.   Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who had many Blimp-like traits) was incensed by the film and tried unsuccessfully to ban it.  Although Churchill did manage to impose an export ban, this was later removed when the film proved to be successful in the UK.  Another problem was the shortage of colour film, which compelled Pressburger to remove around 20 minutes of material, resulting in the loss of the flashback narrative structure.  The film was restored in 1986 by the British National Film Archive.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a sublime example of British cinema with many strong selling points - a great screenplay, impeccable direction, imaginative art design, gorgeous colour photography, etc.  What makes the film so memorable, and so enjoyable, are the performances, particularly those of Roger Livesey and Anton Walbrook.  Far from being a figure of fun, Livesey's Clive Candy is an immensely complex character of great charm and nobility.  Walbrook's Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff is just as well played, but with an extra note of pathos which makes some of his scenes exquisitely poignant.  Deborah Kerr also has a strong presence in the three very distinct roles she plays in the film.  All three actors would appear in subsequent Powell-Pressburger productions - Livesey in I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)  and A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Walbrook in The Red Shoes (1948) and Kerr in Black Narcissus (1947).

Watching the film today, the antipathy that was shown by the War Office towards it appears to be unfathomable.  The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is manifestly one of the most patriotic films that Powell and Pressburger made.  The values of Clive Candy - traditional British values of fair play, honour and decency - are shown in a positive light, not ridiculed.  The point the film is making is that whilst we should try to live up to these values whenever we can, there are circumstances when this is impossible.   If the Nazis are prepared to use any means to secure victory, we would be foolish to adhere to a moral code which will only result in our defeat.   For all its charm and humour, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is actually a remarkably effective piece of wartime propaganda, using reasoned arguments rather than the usual didactic (and often xenophobic) approach employed by the War Office.

Film Synopsis

London, 1943.  Humiliated in a Home Guard training exercise by an impulsive young army officer, General Clive Wynne-Candy casts his mind back forty years to the time when he too was a dashing man of action.  In 1902, just after serving in the Boer War, Clive Candy defies his superiors by going off to Germany to single-handedly deal with an agent who is spreading anti-British propaganda.  Very soon, Clive runs into difficulties.  He falls in love with his informant, Edith, offends the entire Germany army and ends up having to fight a duel with a German officer he has never met before, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff.  Fortunately, the dispute is resolved amicably, although Clive loses Edith to Theo.  During World War I, Clive encounters a nurse who has the exact likeness of Edith.  Convinced this woman is his ideal, he pursues her on his return to England and marries her.  When his next war comes along twenty years later, Clive is an old man, but he is still determined to do his bit for his country.  Unfortunately, times have changed and the values he sets so much store by make him an object of ridicule...