The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp poster & wallpaper

Albert Lieven, Anton Walbrook, Deborah Kerr

Portrays in warm-hearted detail the life and loves of one extraordinary man. We meet the imposingly rotund General Clive Wynne-Candy, a blustering old duffer who seems the epitome of stuffy, outmoded ...( read more  read more... )values. Traveling backwards 40 years we see a different man altogether: the young and dashing officer "Sugar" Candy. Through a series of relationships with three women and his lifelong friendship with a German officer, we see Candy's life unfold and come to understand how difficult it is for him to adapt his sense of military honor to modern notions of "total war."

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11 critics

Unrated, 163 min.

Directed by: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell

Release Date: June 10, 1943

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DVD Release Date: October 22, 2002

Stats: 213 reviews

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The German Band The original poster dinnertime a color version of the poster Clive knows all Walbrook in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' Candy Contemplating A young Theo Edith upset Edith Roger Livesey A more rousing poster a cartoon Walbrook in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
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Flixster Reviews (213)

  • her69eyes
    August 9, 2009
    her69eyes
    It's hard to take him seriously at first - with his fat, red cheeks and an absurd walrus mustache. He looks like such a caricature because, in fact, he was based on a cartoon: Colonel Blimp, of David Low's political cartoons in The Evening Standard. As we're slowly introduced to ...( read more)him, however, by the prolific writer-director team of the Archers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, we realize that in every old dog there is a wealth of experience - love, loss, friendship, pride.

    When "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" was first released, then Prime Minister Winston Churchill banned the film for overseas release, perceiving the film to hurt England's image by the buffoon military general (this was in 1943, of course, with England fully immersed in the war). Churchill agreed to a completely castrated form, but finally the full presentation received a proper release in 1983. Since then, it's been hailed by American critics as the best film to ever come out of Britain, and even Britain's answer to Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane".

    Clive Wynne Candy (Roger Livesey) is the bald mustached British army officer in the beginning, however it's not long before we're taken back decades earlier to a younger and more handsome version. We meet him returning from the Boer war in 1902, in an episode that features a duel with a German officer, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook), and a meeting of Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr), an old friend of Candy. Although Candy loves Edith, Theo has his eyes on her as well and the two marry. After their duel, and despite their longing for the same woman, Candy and Theo become good friends through the next few decades.

    Years later, Candy finds Barbara Wynn (also played by Deborah Kerr), a mirror image of Edith, at a World War I hospital. Another Edith appears as Angela Cannon (Deborah Kerr, again) as Candy's driver during World War II. This was one of Kerr's first major film roles, a triple-performance, and it immediately shot her up amongst the ranks of the great actresses working in Britain. She would go on to star in the Archers' acclaimed "Black Narcissus".

    Of the many memorable things in the film, there are some remarkable transitions. The flashbacks are initiated by an old Candy wrestling in a pool, and the camera traces to the other end in which a young Candy gracefully exits and dries himself off. We go from the Boer war to World War I with a German helmet mounted alongside the trophy heads of animals from Candy's hunting expeditions.

    Although Churchill thought Candy was a buffoon, he's a remarkably sympathetic individual as likable as any other film hero. The ending of the film, in which he recalls his earlier self by looking through a pool, shows the old man as the culmination of an entire lifetime - a national treasure.
  • jsd35
    June 6, 2009
    jsd35
    Released in 1943 it would be surprising if this were not to some extent jingoistic. And indeed it is. Yet it is also so much more. It is a film that is quick to introduce us to a German soldier who acts throughout the film as a voice of sympathy for Germany. He impassions in the ...( read more)audience the pain of defeat.

    The narrative sense of the film is so very keen, driving forward the story by the simple addition of an animal head to a wall, or the flickering pages of a journal. More than anything else it is a truly tremendous essay on growing old.
  • binky013
    November 26, 2007
    binky013
    I'm still churning the title of this film in my head, wondering what exactly it has to do with the story. Colonel? Blimp? Whatever. Still, a great movie about war. I don't want to say it's anti-war; there is a definite militaristic patriotism running through this. I think t...( read more)he term "jingoistic" applies, and I don't mean that as a negative criticism. I've read at least one comment that this is "an anti-war saga." I have to disagree. The British are upheld repeatedly, as a point of pride, for fighting "fairly," and this is why they have been so successful in, say, World War I. It is true, however, that the consequences of war are also weighed, and they tip the scales heavily.

    Excellent performances by an amazingly aged Roger Livesay and a young and radiant Deborah Kerr playing three roles. Above all, Anton Walbrook, as Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, is a superb scene stealer.
  • rubystevens
    November 26, 2007
    rubystevens
    war starts at midnight! a wonderful epic adventure of a british soldier's life. highly recommended to those who enjoy such stuff as much as i do. actually filmed during the london blitz! churchill was not amused.
  • garyX
    September 1, 2007
    garyX
    An acknowledged classic of british cinema, this journey through the life of a career military man is as modestly noble as the man it portrays. It has a light and comic tone punctuated by moving moments of extreme profundity, and tackles the subject of war and the fighting man wit...( read more)hout resorting to propaganda or manipulation. The three leads are all excellent, Deborah Kerr oddly playing three different parts, but it works. Roger Livesey in the role of the archetypal englishman (or at least the ideal of one) is immensely likeable and believable as history and politics shifts around him. Elegant, charming and intelligent.
  • Ghw12158
    August 15, 2009
    Ghw12158
    amazing detail and finely crafted
  • thrusz
    August 7, 2008
    thrusz
    Oh so British. You actually are getting the maximum amount of British in one sitting. Most British you can get for a dollar wtihout converting to pounds.

    This really is an epic kind of film. I have to say that this movie made me have a deep respect for Powell and Pressburge...( read more)r. The only other thing that I've seen of theirs (because I am a bad movie watcher) is The Red Shoes and I thought that was darned close to getting to be a perfect movie. This is a very different film than Red Shoes simply in tone. This is far more of a comedy, but really (like I said) takes the British mentality and, in many ways, puts it on trial. Apparently, the character of Colonel Blimp (who is actually named Major Candy) is based on a British comic strip poking fun at the old aristocracy of the empirical Britiain. This is primarily what this movie is about. Candy is a representative of a by-gone era who has so distanced himself in his own morality. The funny thing is that Candy's morality, while extremely naive, is quite admirable. He's a man who lives in a world of black and white. Accepting a world full of greys is dark. But the idea behind the black and white isn't bad, but his reasoning behind that strict morality is. He believes that the West is always right and that England will always be a shining light of example to teach those who live in ambiguous morality the way to success and reason. I love the relationship that Candy creates with the German officer. (I know the name, but I will not try to spell it, despite seeing it on screen time and time again.) There is this very powerful relationship between these two men, similar to brothers, yet I have never seen a friendship so strained by conflicts in personality. It's a heck of a statement on the value of friendship and the person.

    The really interesting, and in many ways slightly perverted, concept is the of the woman that everybody loves. It is a reminder of youth, but moreso, it is coveting your neighbor's wife to the extreme. The value of this person is not in the person (although the second wife lives up to her memorial reputation), but in the value of what that person serves in terms of memory. Candy falls in love with a woman who resembles the woman he sincerely loves. He lives, in all essence, a lie and is quite content. Although the two women prove to be different in many ways, he is still in love with that idea of the past. Really, the woman is the empirical England. It is almost poetic that both versions of her die far before their spouses, despite the distance in age. There's all kinds of metaphor here and I think that it is masterfully woven into the plot and imagery.

    It is a little hard to understand what is always going on. On a superficial level, their accents are crazy heavy. I can't critique that because that just means that I'm critiquing the fact that I'm an uncultured American bastard person. But on a deeper level, Powell and Pressburger (and I applaud this more than anything) are very playful with their movie at the beginning. We meet a character who plays very little into the main story, but we become invested in him only to discover that he is a tool in a greater game. There's a joy to this sequence and how it comes into play at the end of the film which I absolutely love, but you start off the movie thinking "What the hell is going on?"

    You really have to respect this film because it was shot in 1943. The war was still in full swing. Now, while I may not know the fine-tuned details, I would not be surprised if the destroyed buildings were all shot on location. Either way, this is a heck of a film and I really recommend you sit down and Brit it up for a while.
  • tsigur
    August 6, 2008
    tsigur
    Great movie! You really have to respect the craftmanship that goes into this film. Every shot is gorgeous and you can see where directors like Martin Scorcese were influenced. I didn't expect the happy tone of the film and was a little surprised at how it affected me. At certain ...( read more)points, the film is flat out funny and Albert Lieven is fucking fantastic. I figure since I won't get cable in the swamp for another week, I'll probably burn through these Janus films with the quickness.
  • hypathio7
    July 11, 2008
    hypathio7
    nominated for best picture by NBR
  • philliprenke
    July 8, 2008
    philliprenke
    This movie bored the crap out of me. I think you have to be an elderly English gentleman to appreciate this movie.

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Critic Reviews

November 19, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The movie looks past the fat, bald military man with the walrus moustache, and sees inside, to an idealist and a romantic. To know him is to love him. full review

View more The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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  • The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Joe versus the Volcano, Vertigo, Mullholand Drive: What do these movies all have in common?  Answer »
  • In which British film does Deborah Kerr play three different characters?  Answer »
  • What movie did Winston Churchill want banned during World War II?  Answer »
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