Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

dsewizzrd-1 J. Arthur goes for quantity rather than quality is this interminable life story of a British officer, not a comedy as the comical newspaper character and whimsical incidental music implies, but a contemporary wartime drama, with some lovely swing and German music.The officer falls in love with a woman with extraordinary hats (one with an entire dead bird sprawled down the front) who ends up marrying a German officer in 1902.They later meet in WW1 and in WW2. Despite the title, the soldier is still alive at the end of the film. Product placements – Fry's cocoa and W. H. Smiths (newsagent).

Turfseer 'Colonel Blimp' is a difficult film to explain. First of all, 'Blimp' has little to do with its protagonist who's named Major General Clive Wynne-Candy. Colonel Blimp is actually a comic strip by David Low which was popular when the film was made in 1943. The comic features a stereotypical Englishman, known for his pomposity and was written by Low to satirize what he perceived as the reactionary views of certain politicians of the time (including Winston Churchill). Director Michael Powell indicated that the film is really a tribute to those who maintain their dignity, in their old age.The film begins awkwardly in the present time of 1943. Wynne-Candy is now the leader of the Home Front, staffed with civilian volunteers and retired military men such as the General himself. Wynne-Candy is about to get his comeuppance at the hands of 'Spud' Wilson, the young lieutenant who also happens to be the boyfriend of Wynne-Candy's driver, 'Johnny' Cannon (role #3 played by Deborah Kerr). Spud breaks the rules by using Johnny as an unwitting spy, gathering intelligence on the General's plans during war games between the General's group and his. We then flashback to the time of the Boer War in 1902, where Wynne-Candy is on leave and receives a letter from Edith Hunter (Role #1 played by Kerr), a friend of a friend, who is now working as an English teacher in Berlin.Edith complains to Wynne-Candy in the letter that a German, Kaunitz, is spreading lies about the conduct of the British Army in the Boer War. Against orders to intervene in a diplomatic matter, Wynne-Candy confronts Kaunitz in a café, who slaps him, and then Wynne-Candy manages to insult the entire Imperial German Army Corps. He ends up in a duel with a German officer, Theodor Kretschmar-Schuldorff, played by an excellent Anton Walbrook, and they both end up hospitalized. An unlikely friendship develops between the two men at the hospital, despite Theo's limited grasp of the English language (the running joke is Theo's response of 'very much' to almost every comment he responds to). At the end, Edith falls for Theo and we never see her again. All this would be mildly interesting (and/or entertaining) except for the fact that the scenes are drawn out for way too long and is done in the style of the typical drawing room comedies of the time.Now a Brigadier General in the First World War, Wynne-Candy ends up meeting a young nurse, Barbara, (Role #2 played by Deborah Kerr) who he eventually marries. There's an interesting scene where Wynne-Candy finds out that Theo is now interned in a British prisoner of war camp following the Armistice. Theo refuses to speak to him presumably because he doesn't want to appear as a collaborator in front of his fellow prisoners. But later, about to depart for Germany, Theo calls the General, who brings him out to meet his various cronies, all a bunch of stuffed shirts. This group collectively personifies the title character. They all act as if the war never happened and want to be immediate friends with Theo, who after leaving the party, speaks of the group contemptuously, indicating that the British are 'weak'. Wynne-Candy is no different from his colleagues in their naive belief that the enmity between the two nations will soon be forgotten!In perhaps the weakest part of the film, time passes in a series of montages. In one instant, a newspaper clipping from 1926 notes the passing of Wynne-Candy's wife. When Theo re-appears at an immigration hearing in 1939 in England, he reveals that Edith too is dead. So Powell manages to ensure that we learn virtually nothing about each of these female characters. Meanwhile, Theo, who looked like he was fast becoming a hardened Nazi when he gets on the boat back to Germany in 1919, now is a virulent anti-Fascist, after presumably softening up, following the death of his wife. Unfortunately, all of this plays out off-screen. Had the duel machinations perhaps been a bit shorter, there could have been some scenes, effectively depicting Theo's transformation.Following Britian's entry into World War II, Wynne-Candy's dark moment comes when his BBC speech is canceled. Acting like the pompous Blimp, Wynne-Candy wants to employ 'nice guy' tactics against the Nazis and argues that the British shouldn't stoop to their level, when fighting them. The 'gentleman warrior' is deemed irrelevant and is forced to retire from active service. Theo also lectures Wynne-Candy on the necessity of pulling out 'all the stops', in the war against the Nazis.We're now back to the present time, in the middle of those War Games between Wynne-Candy's Home Front and the regular army. Wynne-Candy is literally caught with his pants down, while he enjoys himself in a Turkish bath. While at first, he's humiliated by the young lieutenant's 'below the belt' tactics, and plans on punishing him, he recalls his own youth, when he disobeyed orders and confronted the wretched Kaunitz in the café. Realizing the error of his ways, he decides to invite the lieutenant to dinner. The older codger is not so bad after all, finally realizing his error in not adapting to the new times.Deborah Kerr was a beautiful woman who sadly here has little to do in her three roles. Roger Livesey is saddled by the weak character of Wynne-Candy, who is both noble as the principled soldier and buffoonish, in his desire to ingratiate himself with just about everyone he meets. Only Walbrook as Kretschmar-Schuldorff, steals the show, with his nuanced performance as the bad guy/good guy Teuton.'Colonel Blimp' will keep your interest more as a period piece than a great work of art. In the earlier scenes it needed to be more compact and at the mid-point, more detailed. At the end, its message is spot on, but comes off as agitprop, rather than compelling drama.

soreyes I had the honour of watching The life and death of colonel Blimp and A matter of life and death both today, both films I thoroughly enjoyed. As a 27yr old British lad, it has only been now that I have been exposed to such gems that I wish I watched them earlier. I preferred TLANDOCB than AMOLAD, not to say that either one was an abomination because for me they are both marvellous. The main reason I liked TLANDOCB, for me, was how Roger Livesey played his character very well, such warmth almost satire like of what my perceived opinion of a British officer would had been in those days. Yes it was, in most ways, a satirical of the officer gentry types of that age. Although for me it wasn't all that, there was a lot more. The friendship struck between Clive Candy and Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff gives hope in this world that everyone should not be tarred with the same brush and good comes from anywhere irrespective from where they come from or what they have done. It has a theme of love and affection in the presence of the beautiful Deborah Kerr playing three characters (Edith Hunter, Barbara Wynne and Angela "Johnny" Cannon). How many other films would you see gentleman fight over the same woman yet here it is a lot more deeper which suggests more to the audience, without spoon feeding (which annoys me more about modern films in my era), as I do like to discuss films with my house mate. What I liked most about this film was how remarkable and fresh it was, considering this film was out in the early 40's it could easily pass as a film that was released later, much later. This film, without a doubt, should be comparable as an equal to "the third man", "It's a wonderful life", "The Godfather" or "12 angry men" to name a few. Moviegoers deserve more humbling productions as this and less mundane and mediocrity.Please send suggestions of what gems I should embark on next @ http://www.imdb.com/list/QdM7nPjVErY/Going to my local cinema is hard, there are only two screens there!

ackstasis 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)' was produced at the height of World War Two, and that such an illustrious Technicolor production was completed amid both nightly London bombings and the opposition of Prime Minister Churchill is a testament to the consummate professionalism of The Archers, producer/writer/director team Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Certainly one of the more magnificent British productions of the 1940s, the film starred Roger Livesey as Clive Wynne-Candy, an illustrious veteran who with the onset of WWII, to his dismay, finds himself ignored by those who should be respecting his military experience rather than dismissing it. Livesey (a replacement for Laurence Olivier) plays Candy in three stages of his life, authentically and sympathetically tracing his fluctuating disillusionment with "honourable warfare" through years of hard-earned living. The portrayal sidles a delicate line between geniality and parody, and as a lifetime-spanning dramatic performance, it's easily on par with Robert Donat in 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)' and Orson Welles in 'Citizen Kane (1941).'The film's title was borrowed from a comic strip by David Low, in which the titular Colonel Blimp was presented as dim-witted British reactionary, a bloated old man with a walrus moustache who issued absurd political commands from the comfort of a Turkish Bath – "Gad, sir," he once says, "we must have a bigger Army to protect the Navy, and a bigger Navy to protect the Army." As a political candidate, Low's Colonel Blimp proposes "shooting down politicians and establishing a Dictatorship of colonels to safeguard democracy." Contradictory and anachronistic, a symbol of both jingoism and complacency, the character epitomised Low's dissatisfaction with contemporary British politics. Powell and Pressburger's version of Colonel Blimp is substantially more sympathetic, tracing in flashback the leading character's transformation from a young, impetuous Boer War soldier to a pot-bellied veteran with an outmoded belief system. As the times changed, our Colonel Blimp didn't. But a new World War demands a new set of rules, and if Britain is to survive she must embrace the dishonourable tactics of her enemy.I originally decided to watch 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' as a tribute to the recently-deceased cinematographer Jack Cardiff, but I apparently got the film confused with a later Powell and Pressburger production, 'A Matter of Life and Death (1946).' Cardiff did, indeed, serve as a camera operator in 'Colonel Blimp,' but the praise for the film's breathtaking Technicolor photography must go to Georges Perinal, who captures and savours every vibrant hue, transforming each frame into a vivid cinematic canvas. If for no other reason, then the decision to shoot in Technicolor was worthwhile for capturing the stunning green eyes and red hair of Deborah Kerr in her first major role. As Clive Candy's "romantic ideal," to which all other women in his life must aspire, Kerr demonstrates such beauty, elegance and independence that you just about want to marry her – not once, but three times. Antony Walbrook also does an excellent job as the impressively-named Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, Candy's German duelling opponent and later best friend.Powell and Pressburger, to their credit, didn't deal in stereotypes. Even in propaganda pieces like '49th Parallel (1941),' the enemy Germans were portrayed as ordinary humans, with their own hopes and ambitions. Likewise in 'Colonel Blimp,' the character of Kretschmar-Schuldorff is inherently good, despite his occasional disenchantment towards the "winning" side. Note, for example, how readily Candy and his adversary reconcile their differences in the Berlin nursing-home, not with violence – as was forced upon them by their respective nations – but through mutual understanding; its with some irony that the filmmakers satirise how easily individuals, but not countries, can reach a satisfactory compromise. The manner in which Powell and Pressburger goodnaturedly (and even nostalgically) poke fun at the stuffy ceremonial formality of traditional warfare reminded me of the exploits of fictional French patriot Brigadier Ettiene Gerard. Pressburger must certainly have been aware of the stories, since he worked in a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle {and while we're on the topic, watch out for Arthur Wontner and Ian Fleming, who had previously played Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, respectively}.