THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP

UK, 1943, 163 minutes, Colour.
Roger LIvesy, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook, David Hutcheson, Roland Culver, Ursula Jeans, John Laurie, A.E.Matthews, Muriel Aked, Felix Aylmer.
Directed by Michael Powell, Emmerich Pressburger.

Winston Churchill wanted, sight unseen, to have the film banned in 1943, considering that it would be undermining British morale and patriotism during the war. That was a kind of Blimpish thing to do. Churchill had misunderstood or had been misinformed.

Audiences critical of the UK could have some, perhaps mean-minded, enjoyment of the satirical look at superior British self-confidence, with the cartoons of David Low, his barbs at pretentiousness, and military smugness with his Colonel Blimp, but it certainly seemed that writers-directors, Michael Powell and Emmerich Pressburger, had been spurred on to a different kind of cinema war effort than might have been expected. It was not that they were not patriotic, we think of 49th Parallel, One of Our Aircraft is Missing as well as A Canterbury Tale. They were taking on a fuddy-duddy military establishment that believed in a blend of a real and make-believe past, that could be detrimental to Britain’s involvement in World War II, especially considering the impact of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain.

In the 1970s, audiences were ready for anti-establishment of criticism. Audiences had seen Kubrick’s critique of the French in World War I in Paths of Glory. But, in the 1960s, it was accepted, even the done thing, to enter into post Dr Strangelove satire on things military. Joan Littlewood upped the pace with Oh What a Lovely War. There was John Lennon in How I Won the War. Then, after M*A*S*H, open slather.

Roger Livesy brought the pomposity of Clive Candy immediately alive when he is astounded at the presumption of a raid on the Turkish baths when “the war begins at midnight�, relying on past and gentlemanly codes of engaging in battle. But, the screenplay shows he was not always like that, taking us back to the period post-the Boer War, his challenging the Germans in the Kaiser years, his participation in World War I, searching out his old German friend, Theo, in the British POW camp, he and his friends offering support to the defeated enemy, an appeacement.

But, with his bafflement by the 1930s, by the rise of Hitler, his bellicose assumptions about war and his being banned to lecture like so on the BBC, we appreciate that, living in the past, he had become outmoded. Actually, he is saved by more down-to-earth war participation, The Home Guard (with John Laurie playing his aide, Murdoch, eventually marching into 80 episodes of televisions Dad’s Army).

We are treated to changing attitudes and stances over a 40 year period, 1903-1943. But each of the three eras looks like history to us but the opening and closing, 1943, was contemporary, modern, up-to-date, how Britain was fighting World War II. Audiences on your first release were seeing themselves as they were, clothes, band music, slang, cheeky attitudes… For the audiences of those days, the period of Colonel Blimp was over.

This change was powerfully dramatised by the three characters played by Deborah Kerr, the continuity of the English woman but, some extraordinary changes from 1903 to 1943. At first we saw her as a strong-minded governess in Berlin, conscious of explicit anti-English antagonisms, a suffragette, something which Clive Candy could not understand or approve of. By 1918, she has gone on active service as a nurse, becomes a wife who could stand side-by-side with her husband, not dominated by him. And, by 1943, there she is a military driver, eagerly participating in the war games, down-to-earth, a modern woman.

While it is difficult to put oneself in the place of the 1943 British audience, Colonel Blimp is still a sometimes sly, sometimes cheekily ribbing, classic of British cinema, fine to look at with striking colour photography, re-creating those different periods, Roger Livesy giving a tour-de-force performance as Clive Candy living through the different eras. Britannia used to rule – but, Britannia’s time came and went.


1. Classic status? Impact during the war, afterwards, enduring?

2. The work of the writers, directors? British themes? The 1940s, World War II, propaganda and morale? (Later career, entertainments, the controversy of Peeping Tom, the Australian films?)

3. David Low, his cartoons, British pomposity, Colonel Blimp? Blimp and war, the first 40 years of the 20th century?

4. The impact in 1943, opening and closing as contemporary, the look, the big band music, audiences identifying? The flashbacks within this framework? Churchill wanting to ban the film?

5. The situation of World War II, England and involvement, the range of flashbacks, returning to the contemporary situation at the end? The spirit of Britain during the war, after the Battle of Britain, War games, the squad, the message, the war starting ar midnight? Old style agreements, the squad and the decision, the pursuit of Mata Hari? The headquarters, reception, Angela under the table, the phone calls, the going to the Turkish Baths, the old men, the military establishment, Clive in the baths, his bluster, rules of war and gentlemanly codes, taking them in as a hostages, wargames and war tactics, the reprise at the end, Angela and her driving, wanting to warn her boyfriend?

6. The device for transitions of time, Clive emerging from the baths to 1902? The atmosphere of the Boer War, the contact, agreements, prison camps (and the sole record played over again)? Clive and Hoppy, their experiences, the aftermath, military conduct, going to the theatre? The experience of Kaunitz and his spying for both sides? Poor relationships between England and Germany, the politics, Betteridge and old school style, forbidding Clive to act, preferring diplomacy? The military issues? The emergence of codes for the conduct of duels?

7. Clive, Roger Livesy and his performance and the various ages? Hoppy giving him the letter, the connections, Edith and her concern, poor opinions of the British, the spy? Clive going despite being forbidden? Meeting Edith, her being strong minded, dignified, suffragette, Clive and his old style manners? The place of women? Going to the restaurant, the orchestra, playing the prison melody, Kaunitz and his reaction, the beers, the punching, the setting up of the duel?

8. German rules, codes, authoritarian? Clive arriving, Theo, sight unseen, his reputation? The sabres, the setting up of the duel, not showing the fight? Each of the men in hospital, the wounds and bandages? Edith and her visits? Meeting with Theo, his limited English, “very much�? The cards, playing bridge, the growing friendship? Theo Germanic, but Edith falling in love with him, explaining to Clive? Clive going back to England, the outing with Edith’s sister? His realisation that he loved Edith?

9. The devices for the passing of time, the den, dates and places, hunting, trophies?

10. 1918, the experience of the war, the ending of the war? The American presence? Clive, age, promotions? Stranded, hungry, going to the convent? Seeing Barbara among the nurses? From Yorkshire? The talk, Clive’s driver? The return home, the charity event, the Bishop present, Clive explaining his search for Barbara? The wedding, going to London, the house, his den? Searching for information about Theo, the camp, the men listening to the music, Theo refusing to meet Clive? The phone call, Theo at the station, his change of heart, the dinner, the men present, a more friendly policy towards Germany?

11. The transition to the 1930s? Hunting, trophies, dates? Barbara’s death? Her portrait in the den?

12. The attitude towards Germany in 1938, Neville Chamberlain, possibilities for war? Clive, old, eager, very much old school?

13. Theo, apprehended, in England, the relation of his story, Edith’s death, his boys becoming Nazis and not coming to her funeral, his being interrogated, his work, Clive and his testimony? Angela driving him home?

14. Angela, her nickname of Johnnie, Deborah Kerr and her three roles, the decades of British women, suffragettes and getting the vote, involved in the military, modern? Her relationship with her boyfriend?

15. Clive, old hat, back 40 years, different wars, his stubbornness, his being captured, defiance? The significance of the broadcast, his being stopped? The reaction of Theo and Angela?

16. The issue of the home guard, the old men and their defence, “Dad’s Army�? Giving Clive a new lease of life?

17. The impact of the storytelling, the insertion of morale boosting speeches by the three central characters?

18. The film and its time? Seen in retrospect?