The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Release date: 1943-07-26
Votes: 261
Genres: War, Drama, Romance, Comedy
General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.
Reviews
CinemaSerf
Roger Livesey is superb in this wonderfully colourful depiction of the life of "Clive Candy". We start with his rather undignified seizure at the steam baths by the home guard he is supposed to command and by way of a continuous retrospective, discover just how this man arrived at this embarrassing predicament. First there was the South African campaign, then the Great War saw him gain some prominence and also, after quite a few scrapes, sees him befriend his opposite number, as it were, in the form of the dashing German "Theo" (a beautifully understated contribution from Anton Walbrook). Becoming firm friends, they share the same social circles and it's here that "Candy" meets his future wife - Deborah Kerr. Trials and tribulations and then WWII all affect this man as he is promoted through the ranks and faces tragedy very close to home before the realisation that, at an elderly age, perhaps he is no longer of any value! What Powell and Pressburger have encapsulated into just over 2½ hours here, is a delightfully evocative story that deals with friendship and honour, with love, despair and the human desire to feel needed and wanted - but never without losing sight of the humanity of the situations and, quite often, with some degree of dark and stoic humour. There is a lovely chemistry between Livesey and Walbrook, and Deborah Kerr positively glows as she remains the woman in his life - in various guises - throughout. The contrast between the evolving behaviours is subtly but potently drawn here: we see a society that no longer considered any "niceties" of war - symptomatic of a sea of changing attitudes with which both men struggle to adapt. Sure, there's nostalgia - but it's of a palpable and immersive nature. IT's not at all sentimental. We take sides initially - jingoism isn't far away, but certainly as it progresses and the decency of these individuals is laid bare, I found myself rather admiring the integrity on display here from two different but remarkably similar perspectives. As to that display, the aesthetic of this film is glorious. The wartime sets, the bucolic and peaceful scenes, the romance, the disaster - all delivered here with great skill by Georges Périnal's artistic touch and Allan Gray's charmingly complementary score. I can't really pick a favourite P&P film, but the three leads and the accomplished supporting cast assembled here make this one of their very best, complex and thought-provoking efforts that looks fantastic on a big screen.
Movie Recommendation
Trouble in Paradise1932-10-30Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.More...
A Matter of Life and Death1946-12-15A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.More...
I Know Where I'm Going!1945-11-16Plucky Englishwoman Joan Webster travels to the remote islands of the Scottish Hebrides in order to marry a wealthy industrialist. Trapped by inclement weather on the Isle of Mull and unable to continue to her destination, Joan finds herself charmed by the straightforward, no-nonsense islanders around her, and becomes increasingly attracted to naval officer Torquil MacNeil, who holds a secret that may change her life forever.More...
Raining Stones1993-09-09Proud, though poor, Bob wants his little girl to have a beautiful (and costly) brand-new dress for her First Communion. His stubbornness and determination get him into trouble as he turns to more and more questionable measures, in his desperation to raise the needed money. This tragic flaw leads him to risk all that he loves and values, his beloved family, indeed even his immortal soul and salvation, in blind pursuit of that goal.More...
The Children Are Watching Us1943-10-27In his first collaboration with renowned screenwriter and longtime partner Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica examines the cataclysmic consequences of adult folly on an innocent child. Heralding the pair’s subsequent work on some of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism, The Children Are Watching Us is a vivid, deeply humane portrait of a family’s disintegration.More...
Mountains of the Moon1990-02-16The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire.More...
Jude1996-02-06In late 19th-century England, Jude aspires to be an academic, but is hobbled by his blue-collar background. Instead, he works as a stonemason and is trapped in an unloving marriage to a farmer's daughter named Arabella. But when his wife leaves him, Jude sees an opportunity to improve himself. He moves to the city and begins an affair with his married cousin, Sue, courting tragedy every step of the way.More...
Lucio Flavio1977-02-01The story of a famous Brazilian bandit in the early 1970s and his fight against a paramilitary organization known as the Death Squad.More...
The Railrodder1965-06-20After literally swimming across the Atlantic Ocean, an Englishman takes a country trip across Canada on a railcar.More...
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing1942-04-24During a raid on Germany, a British bomber crew is forced to bail out after their plane is damaged. They land in Holland, where they're aided by Dutch civilians.More...
Life, and Nothing More…1992-10-21After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.More...
The Long Day Closes1992-05-22Bud is a lonely and quiet boy whose moments of solace occur when he sits in rapture at the local cinema, watching towering and iconic figures on the movie screen. The movies give Bud the strength to get through another day as he deals with his oppressive school environment and his burgeoning homosexuality.More...
Oliver Twist1948-06-28When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.More...
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie1976-02-15Cosmo Vittelli, the proprietor of a sleazy, low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for the women who strip in his peepshows and the staff who keep up his dingy establishment. He also has a major gambling problem that has gotten him in trouble before. When Cosmo loses big-time at an underground casino run by mobster Mort, he isn't able to pay up. Mort then offers Cosmo the chance to pay back his debt by knocking off a pesky, Mafia-protected bookie.More...
Aparajito1956-10-11Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.More...
An Autumn Afternoon1962-11-18Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.More...
The Cameraman1928-09-10A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.More...
Gorillas in the Mist1988-09-23The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.More...
Black Narcissus1947-05-26A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.More...
The Young and the Damned1950-12-09A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.More...
Similar Movies
It Happened One Night...
1934-02-22A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.Modern Times
1936-02-05A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time..His Girl Friday
1940-01-18Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.My Darling Clementine...
1946-10-17Three brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find one of their brothers dead and their cattle stolen. They decide to take revenge on the culprits.The Quiet Man
1952-07-21An American man returns to the village of his birth in Ireland, where he finds love and conflict.A Star Is Born
1954-10-01A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.The Night of the Hunt...
1955-07-27In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.Midnight Cowboy
1969-05-25Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.Nashville
1975-06-11The intersecting stories of twenty-four characters—from country star to wannabe to reporter to waitress—connect to the music business in Nashville, Tennessee.Gangs of New York
2002-12-14In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.Badlands
1974-01-05An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.Bambi
1942-08-14Bambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.Barry Lyndon
1975-12-18An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.Battle Royale
2000-12-16In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.Valiant Hearts
2022-05-11In August 1942, during the Second World War, Six Jewish children are trying to escape the Nazis. They are hidden by the resistance in the Chambord Castle, where paintings from Le Louvre are being stored as well. The Nazis are looking for paintings from private collections that would be hidden there as well.The Big Red One: The ...
2005-05-03A re-working, re-editing, and restructuring of Sam Fuller's The Big Red One bringing it closer as originally envisioned by the late filmmaker. It includes forty-seven additional minutes which was not utilized in the film's original release. Supervised by Richard Schickel, Peter Bogdanovich, and editor Bryan McKenzie.Někdo přece musí
1977-01-01There is no descriptionThe Counterfeit Trait...
1962-04-13Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.Hell to Eternity
1960-08-01Based on the story about Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family. After Pearl Harbor, his foster family is interned at the Manzanar camp for Japanese Americans, while he enlists in the Marines, where his ability to speak Japanese becomes a vital asset. During the Battle of Saipan, he convinces 800 Japanese to surrender after their general commits suicide.Kidnapped
1960-02-24Kidnapped and cheated out of his inheritance, young David Balfour falls in with a Jacobite adventurer, Alan Breck Stewart. Falsely accused of murder, they must flee across the Highlands, evading the redcoats.