Review of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) by Jeff B — 08 Feb 2011

Amazing film, like The Stunt Man, I loved every moment of it, the opening grabbed my attention and I was hooked the whole way through. The whole cast was excellent, Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, but for me the best part of the film was Anton Wolbrook. The scene we first meet him was so much fun, the duel. To be honest, after that scene, I thought we'd never see him again, so I loved the way his character developed and we followed him throughout the film. And man, what a speech near the end of the film, I can't believe he wasn't nominated for that (or rather, I can't believe the film wasn't nominated for anything). One thing that really surprised me, and maybe it was just Criterion's job of cleaning it, but if I didn't know this movie was from 1943, the picture quality of the film was so great, I would have thought it was a new release (but they obviously don't make movies like this anymore). Bravo to this, an incredible film.

*One thing that bugged me, and it's not the film's fault, I think it's just the transfer, but there were a lot of moments on the DVD that the color tint would change, and it was pretty noticeable and a little annoying. But that was jus a minor problem. The film itself is pretty much perfect.