Review of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) by Jareth S — 09 Aug 2011

Though I don't love it as much as Powell & Pressburger's 3 consecutive masterpieces (The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, and A Matter of Life and Death), "I like it VERY MUCH" (to borrow a quote from the film). Roger Livesey gives his best performance in the epic story of a career British military officer's life, with Anton Walbrook (one of my favorite actors) playing his German friend who fights on the opposite side of WWI and Deborah Kerr as the woman they both loved and whom Livesey never forgets (hence Kerr playing 3 roles in the film).

It was a controversial film for its time, due to showing a sympathetic German character (he is NOT a Nazi) and the war offices fears that people might get the idea that there were officers in the military like the fictional Maj.Gen. Clive Candy. One of the film's messages is that the Nazis were not going to fight the type of gentlemanly war that Candy is used to and that they must be stopped to preserve freedom in the world. Though Candy has outdated notions of how war is conducted, he is still a very likeable and sympathetic character. He's just someone who needs to learn to change with the times.

Things to keep an eye out for: Walbrook has a great monologue when trying to enter the country of his wife. The duel scene is filmed and edited brilliantly in a non-traditional way.

Apparently, cameraman Jack Cardiff's work on this film got him the job as the directors' cinematographer on those 3 aforementioned Technicolor masterpieces which made him famous (and which you should go rent now).